Oklahoma!

‘Oklahoma!’ is one of the finest of all Rodgers and Hammerstein’s   collaborations and it completely changed the direction of musical comedy.  It was known as ‘Away we Go’ in try-outs and it held the record for the longest running Broadway show – 15 years --  until ‘My Fair Lady’ came along. The first performance at St. James, New York in 1943 was acclaimed by critics as ‘jubilant and enchanting’ and it arrived in London to play at The Drury Lane Theatre in 1947. The musical score must surely be one of the best known ever and contains an abundance of hits.

The accomplished orchestra under the baton of Dick Stockton were first rate. At no time did it overpower any of the underscored dialogue which is sadly rare in amateur theatre.

Lighting was particularly good and complemented the settings and the moods perfectly. The lighting on the backcloth in the opening scene of outside Aunt Ella’s House was the first of many I noted and the projections worked nicely for the ‘woodland’. Sound was good too.

The first exchange between Aunt Ella and Curly portrayed their comfortable relationship and in the role of Aunt Ella, Jennifer Bye was super. She brought out the comedy and was a really lovable character –very tough but protective of Laurey. Jonathan Pane gave a sound performance as Curly and his singing was good.

As Laurey, Claire Leonard was commendable. She sang and moved well and her scene with Jud, after the bidding for the box social was a powerful one.

Jud Fry, the unappetising misfit who has hopes of winning Laurey – hard to believe he’d think it possible – was strongly played by Phil Street, whose vocal ability was notable. Jud was clearly a lecher and yet as the bidding became more pressing at the box social he provoked feelings of sympathy toward him. In that scene, the company were totally involved in the action on stage.

Natalie Turville was good as Ado Annie, a really fun, light-hearted role to play and she put across her song ‘I Cain’t Say No’ convincingly.  I felt she could have stayed in the more ‘belting voice’ for the whole song rather than changing for the top notes.

The man she really wanted to marry, Will Parker, was played convincingly  by Will Parsons who was energetic and moved well – the ‘All or Nothin’ ‘ number was good.

Ali Hakim is one of the choice roles in ‘Oklahoma!’ and Andy Cox brought out the comedy and clearly enjoyed taking on the character of a Middle Eastern salesman of, well more or less anything!

As Ado’s father, Richard did a sterling job on Richard Calnes, leading the opening of Act Two securely and it was an especially good number- bursting with energy.

Choreography by Samantha Finch was attractively varied. She had a simple approach for the company numbers, which were as usual well-rehearsed and confidently presented. ‘Many a New Day’ came across effortlessly. There were realistic fights and the whole of the dream sequence was extremely well done. As the dream becomes more of a nightmare the four dancers, representing Jud’s thoughts on women, were scarily threatening with their dead-pan expressions. I loved that section and it really did conjure up the strangeness of frightening dreams.

I appreciate the difficulty in choosing what might be cut out of that particular section, perhaps very little, but the show is already overly long and perhaps the reprise of some of the other numbers could have been shortened?  It did feel as though at the end of most songs the chorus got yet another stab at it, and the audience were visually ready for the interval break after such a long first act.

The finale rendition of ‘Oklahoma!’ was excellent and I liked Lee’s setting for the walk down. Grouping around the Surrey was a refreshing change from the traditional walk down.

Costumes were attractive and hair styles suitable. One odd pair of white shoes did stand out amidst all the other beige ones but possibly only noticed by me.

The set was fairly simple but effective , the cabin aptly dark and seedy and the properties were appropriate for the piece.

All of the American accents were good and Ali Hakim had cultivated one that sounded reasonably Middle Eastern.

Your programme has plenty of information and is nicely set out.

The production team presented a commendable ‘Oklahoma!’ and my guest and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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