Synopsis
Programme
WARNING SPOILER!!! - Click here for Short Synopsis (Teaser)
ACT I
In Oklahoma territory in 1906, cowboy Curly McLain visits the ranch where farmgirl Laurey Williams lives with her guardian, Aunt Eller. It is a beautiful day as Curly contemplates Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'. Laurey teases Curly as he tries to get around to asking her to accompany him to the box social that evening where there will be an auction of lunch baskets prepared by the girls. The man who wins each basket will get to share the lunch with the girl who prepared it. When Laurey rejects his invitation, Curly tries to persuade her with a description of the beautiful carriage they will go in, The Surrey With a Fringe on Top. When Laurey mocks him for spending all his money on hiring such a carriage he tells her he made it all up and she flounces off. The brutish and sinister farm-hand, Jud, who runs the ranch for Aunt Eller, asks Laurey to the dance and she accepts to spite Curly, even though she is afraid of Jud. Curly then reveals, to Laurey's consternation, that the surrey was real after all and offers Aunt Eller a ride to the social. The cowboy Will Parker arrives, having returned from a visit to Kansas City. He tells of the modern wonders he saw there and reveals that he won fifty dollars at the fair, the amount his girlfriend Ado Annie's father insists he be worth before he will allow Will to marry her. Will departs and Ado Annie arrives in company with the peddler Ali Hakim, who she has been spending a lot of time with while Will was away. Laurey tells her she will have to choose between them, but Annie insists she loves them both and tells Laurey that when men talk of love to her "I Cain't Say No". The other local girls arrive (Entrance of Ensemble) to prepare for the social and Gertie, who has an obnoxious laugh, monopolises Curly's attention. When the other girls worry that Laurey is upset by Curly's attention to Gertie, she responds that there's "Many a New Day" in a vain attempt to convince them she doesn't care. Meanwhile, Ado Annie, who thinks Ali Hakim wants to marry her, breaks the news to him that she is going to marry Will instead. Ali, who never had thoughts of marrying her, is relieved but tells her his heart is broken. But then Annie's father arrives and catches them together. Questioning Annie about their relationship, he forces Hakim at gunpoint to agree to marry her. Hakim joins the other men and tells them what has happened. They all agree that It's a Scandal, It's an Outrage. Catching Laurey alone, Curly tries to persuade her to go the social with him instead of Jud (People Will Say We're in Love). Laurey, afraid of Jud's violent temper, refuses. Curly visits Jud in thye smokehouse where he lives, and playfully suggests that if Jud, who feels unappreciated, hung himself it would make people realise how much they did appreciate him (Pore Jud is Daid). When the mood turns ominous, Curly leaves, and Jud's resolve to win Laurey becomes even stronger – determined to spend no more time alone in his Lonely Room. Laurey purchases a bottle of elixir (really smelling salts) from Ali Hakim whish he tells her is guaranteed to help her see things clearly. She sniffs the bottle and dreams of whay it would it would be like to marry Curly, but the dream turns into a nightmare when Jud kills Curly and drags her away (Out of My Dreams/Dream Ballet).
ACT II
At the social, the menfolk take part in a barn dance. But there is tension between The Farmer and the Cowman as the farmers and cowboys argue over fences and water rights until Aunt Eller eventually succeeds in getting them to make peace. Meanwhile, Laurey becomes upset when she sees Curly at the dance with Gertie. The auctioning of the lunch baskets begins and and the bidding gets serious when it comes to Laurey's basket. Jud has been saving for months to win her basket but Curly sells all his prized cowboy possessions - his horse, saddle and gun - and outbids him. Ado Annie's basket comes up. Will bids fifty dollars to win her basket, but then he will not have the money to satisfy her father. Desperate to escape a shotgun marriage, Hakim outbids Will so that Will will still have the money to claim Annie from her father. Later that evening, Will and Annie work out their differences (All Er Nuthin') and Annie realises how much she loves him. Later, Jud makes advances to Laurey, and when she rejects him he threatens her. Laurey fires him as ranch-hand andorders him off the property. He leaves, but not before threatening her again. Laurey calls for Curly and tearfully tells him what has happened. Seeing that she has has turned to him in her need for comfort, Curly is reassured of her feelings for him. He proposes and she accepts (People Will Say We're in Love [reprise]). Three weeks later, on the morning of Curly and Laurey's wedding, a drunken Jud turns up and attacks Curly with a knife. In the course of the scuffle, Jud falls on his own knife and dies. The wedding guests then hold an impromptu 'trial' for Curly over the killing and quickly declare a verdict of "not guilty". Everyone then joins in a celebration of the territory's impending change in status to statehood (Oklahoma!) and rejoice further as Curly and Laurey depart on their honeymoon in the surrey with the fringe on top (Finale).
Impressions/Performances
When Oklahoma first premiered on Broadway in 1943 it was so different from the run of the mill musicals of the day that many critics gave it no chance of success. They were wrong, the show set a new Broadway performances record and has endured as a popular staple of musical theatre ever since. This new touring production impresses with it's quality from the very start when a translucent curtain rises on a very passable representation of Aunt Eller's Oklahoma farm surrounded by corn fields. The production quality is excellent, and the music, whilst perhaps not the writers very best (they brought us "Sound of Music" after all), is nevertheless truly memorable and contains a succession of well loved numbers, including; "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'", "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top", "I Cain't Say No", "People Will Say We're In Love", and of course the title theme, "Oklahoma!".
Set in the Oklahoma Territory in the period leading up to it's attaining statehood, and set against a background of conflict being farmers and cattlemen, the story is based upon a plot and sub-plot surrounding two love triangles. The main plot tells the serious story of easygoing cowboy Curly, petulant farm-girl Laurie and her surly farm-hand Jud. Curly is in love with Laurie, and Laurie in turn loves Curly, but is annoyed at his forwardness and in stubbornly resisting his advances unwillingly delivers herself into the clutches of the dark and dangerous Jud - of whom she is mortally afraid. But if the main plot has sinister undertones, the sub-plot then provides light relief in the story of another cowboy, Will, who wins the fifty dollars he needs to marry the fickle Ado Annie, only to find she has engaged herself to the slippery peddlar Ali Hakim. And it is the latter's attempts at avoiding matrimony that provide most of the comic moments.
The performances from the cast are uniformly excellent, and from the moment we hear Mark Evans, as Curly, beginning the opening number, "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin," from off-stage, we know we are in for a musical treat. For anyone familiar with the powerful, stentorian voice of Gordon Macrae from the Hollywood version of the story, Evans voice is quite a contrast. It lacks the booming resonance of Macrae, but has superb tonal quality and a delicate realism that seemingly opens the door to the very soul of his character. He has great stage presence and a relaxed manner that makes it seem perfectly natural when he slips from dialogue into song and back again. Nor is he any slouch on his feet when called upon to take part in some great, and highly energetic, dance routines. Gemma Sutton, as Laurey, matches him vocally and delivers a beautifully measured performance as the confused young girl with the stubborn streak that runs to the point of self-destruction. The chemistry between these two is electric, and the tender moment when a frightened Laurie turns to Curly for protection is tear-jerkingingly emotional. Their duet of "People Will say We're In Love" was one of the highlights of the evening - enhanced by a subtle addition to the movie version of the song where they each protest the other's imprecations. Pete Gallagher's deep-voiced Jud, Laurey's tormented and dangerous would-be suitor, is suitably menacing and adds an extra element of danger to Curly and Laurey's romance.
In the other trio, Joseph Pitcher is bright and likeable as the affable but none-too-bright Will and Vas Constanti hams it up delightfully as the comical peddlar, Ali Hakim, but it is the delightfully whimsical portrayal of Michelle Crook, playing off them both as the effervescent but essentially mercurial Ado Annie, that really steals the credits. Her Annie was more joyful and abandoned than the Gloria Grahame movie representation and, in my mind, more realistic to the character. She has great timing for the comic moments and a wonderful voice that provided another of the highlights of the evening in her lively rendition of "I Caint Say No".
Tying it all together is the popular and experienced Marti Webb who does a good job despite having little to really her teeth into as the matronly Aunt Eller.
The sets and costumes are excellent and confident direction keeps the story rolling along apace and the choreography is thrilling and impressive - apparently Susan Strohman's choreography for this new touring production is the first time the Rogers and Hammerstein estate have permitted any deviation from the Agnes de Mille original. The extended ballet dream sequence that ends the first half is electric and expressive, rivalling anything seen outside of the West End, and truly complements the dramatic flow.
The only criticism regarding this production is the sparcity of the 'orchestra', consisting only of keyboard, reeds, trumpet, bass and drums. Whilst they do an excellent job their sheer lack of numbers means they inevitably struggle to do full justice to the music. It is understandable that the exigencies of a touring show make it necessary to keep down the numbers, but paring down quite so radically on the musical side does strike as something of a case of spoiling the ship for the proverbial ha'porth of tar. That much aside, however, the singing and dancing are excellent and the music, whilst being a little thin at times, is at least brilliantly performed. Overall, it is sure to keep you foot tapping from the first moment to the last.
Warning - Show contains sudden loud reports (gun shots).
Verdict
Tuneful and exuberant, with excellent sets and costumes and some truly memorable musical numbers.
Don Gillan - www.stagebeauty.net