Oklahoma!

We settled in to the beautiful Palace Theatre to enjoy the wonderful 1940’s musical, Oklahoma! The theatre was softly lit, the sound track was of birds chirruping and the stage was populated by a great selection of farmyard implements, hay bales, seed sacks and saddles. Occasionally some cast members would stroll across the stage to chat with their Oklahoma neighbours to give a soothing soft start to this well-known show.

But, my word, Simon Lambert (director), you were lulling us into a false state of serenity. This production was far from the usual, comforting version that we are used to.

The action started with the overture superbly played by a 17-piece band under the excellent direction of James Green, Musical Director. This certainly got the audience singing along whilst a spotlight picked out Oklahoma on a gauze in front of the stage. Aunt Ella then entered and commanded the stage with her exhausting range of cleaning and polishing skills. Ashley-Marie Stone played this part beautifully and, as the show progressed, demonstrated just how to play such an authoritative character. She was warm, funny, bossy and all of this alongside a great strong singing voice. Then Curly, Matt Bacon, swaggered onto the stage treating us to Oh What a Beautiful Morning with a suave, Elvis-type vibe about him. I can tell you, he had a bit of a fan club going in the stalls, and as the show progressed, he was able to go from frivolous and cheeky to intense and aggressive. The lifted lip and the clenched teeth when delivering beautiful songs with an amazing voice, all added to his persona. Eleasha Hammond, as the choreographer AND Laurey, delivered such a beautiful performance. Her dancing and choreography were light and balletic and her chemistry with Curly was perfectly conceived. Her voice, too, was light and such a beautiful tone especially in the upper registers.

Will, Danny Mitchell, and his cowboys were so much fun and delivered the Kansas City song with great panache. They certainly didn’t disappoint with their energy and characterisation. I would like to pick you out by name but instead I will say that each of you developed your own personality which was great to watch.

Laurey and her girls had great fun with the choreography which had some quite long dance breaks and it was amazing to see how many good dancers you have in your group. The dances were not regimented or stiff: they just flowed beautifully throughout the show.

Katey Flaherty as Ado Annie was terrific. Her face was alive and registered every confusing and contradictory line in the script. Her costume was perfect, not to mention her lasso-ing skills, and I really enjoyed your partnership with both Will and the fabulous Ali Hakim, played by Jonny Buxton. I really enjoyed Ali’s low-key start to the character which developed as the show progressed into a great comedic role. Your intervention into Jud’s shack was masterly and started us to question if Jud really was a villain or just a very misunderstood man.

Jud’s smokehouse was presented beautifully with drooping cobwebs and a grim atmosphere. This is where we really met Jud Fry, played by Josh Handley. What a great, masterful performance this was, quite unlike any I’ve seen before. The intensity of Josh’s delivery as a stooped, scrawny sinister man with a shocking past and even more shocking intentions, was chilling. His voice varied in volume and intensity to punctuate the mood and what a fabulous voice he has. This scene alongside Curly’s taunting dialogue and Ali Hakims attempts to dilute the intense atmosphere, was one of my highlights. Congratulations to all three of you and Aunt Ella for diffusing the situation so adroitly.

Aunt Ella was back in action with her newly polished gun for the ‘Farmer and the cowman’ which was a fantastic production number introduced by a lone fiddler on a hay bale and quickly developed into a marvellous fight scene involving all members of the cast.

Very few people do the dream sequence all the way through and it was so effective. The costumes, the masks, the storytelling and the performance from each of you was terrific. I certainly needed my ice cream at the interval! Well done Simon for actually doing the whole sequence. With such a talented cast and choreographer, it must have been so much fun to do.

Gertie didn’t disappoint ( Sam Coles). This is such a fun part to play and your cackle and delivery was just right.

‘Many a new day’ allowed a quartet of ladies to sing in beautiful harmony which was a lovely interlude, along with the auction, before the main fight scene took place . My word, this was very skilfully enacted by all participants, from those who held the blood capsules and positioned the weapons to the main antagonists. Jud and Curly, this was really realistic especially from the second row! Jud’s demise was sensitively performed and the reaction was, indeed, shock from the ensemble.

Lighting, from the footlight lit imagined coffin, to the isolated areas of the stage was smoothly operated with quite a bit of haze at some points! Sound was effective and we heard every word.  Costumes and props were outstanding, so, well done the costume and props team, as well as the stage crew. Scenery changes were smooth and discreetly done to allow the action to continue. The singing and the music were so beautiful with a great blended sound coming from the whole ensemble and band. Many congratulations to James Green for this fluid sound, especially when wearing your stetson.

This was a large cast, including many talented children, as well as a long show of over 3 hours.  What a huge amount of work you have all put in.

Well done, to SODS, crew, chaperones, FOH and tech teams for a wonderful show. Thank you very much for inviting me and looking after me and my guest so well.

 

 

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