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<b>music Richard Rodgers, book & lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
directed by Max Reimer & David Connolly
Theatre Aquarius, Dofasco Centre, Hamilton
February 24-March 11, 2006
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"You’re Doin’ Fine, ‘Oklahoma!’"
Theatre Aquarius is currently presenting a straightforward, entertaining production of the great old musical “Oklahoma!” as part of its celebration of Max Reimer’s tenth anniversary as Artistic Director. This first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II is so full of dancing and well-known melodies, it’s surprising there has been no major professional revival of it in Southern Ontario before now. Toronto hasn’t seen it for ages and neither the Stratford nor Shaw Festival has ever presented it. All the more reason, then, to head over to Hamilton to catch a performance at the Dofasco Centre.
“Oklahoma!” from 1943 is from the golden days of the American musical when having only one memorable song was not enough to make a show a hit. “Oklahoma!” boasts one great tune after another--“Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’”, “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top”, “Kansas City”, “I Cain’t Say No”, “People Will Say We’re in Love” and, of course, the title song among many others. Act 1 ends with the innovative 15-minute “Dream Ballet”, originally choreographed by Agnes de Mille, in which the central character imagines her fate with the two men vying to take her out later that day. “Oklahoma!” is one of the first musicals where dance sequences are not simply interludes but move the action forward.
The story is simple although its implications are not. Laurey, a young woman on a farm in the Oklahoma Territory in the early 20th century, loves the cowboy Curly and he loves her, but each is too proud to admit it. To spite Curly, Laurey says she’ll go to the box social (a party where girls’ lunch baskets are auctioned off for charity) with her farmhand Jud Fry. Jud, however, is pathologically obsessed with Laurey. His moodiness and habit of collecting pornographic postcards make one worry should Laurey find herself alone with him. Meanwhile, in operetta fashion, this main plot is paralleled with a comic subplot in which Ado Annie, the girl who “Cain’t Say No”, is unable to choose between the itinerant Persian peddler Ali Hakim, who just wants to get her in bed, and the cowboy Will Parker, who wants to marry her if only he can get the $50.00 together that her father demands. All these tensions come to a head at two communal meetings in Act 2.
Theatre Aquarius has assembled an excellent cast. Amy Walsh gives one of her best-ever performances as Laurey. Her bright soprano is ideal for conveying both Laurey’s innocence and her determination. Not only is she a fine singer and actor, but she is also an accomplished dancer and moves with beautiful poise throughout the “Dream Ballet”. Paul Nolan is a real find as Curly. He may not have the rich baritone associated with the role on recordings and film, but he makes up for it by being matched in age with Laurey and having a voice appropriate to a young man. While Walsh delivers her songs in an operetta style, Nolan tends to choose a pop style but always comes through with a big voice and strong top notes when needed. He’s also a fine actor and dancer and, what’s especially important for this role, has that mysterious something called charisma.
George Masswohl as Jud gives the most intense and complex performance of the evening. He shows a man who has been beaten down and despised so long he has begun to despise himself. His belief that Laurey likes him seems to be the only thing that keeps him going. Masswohl makes Jud a slow-witted, unattractive character but one for whom we feel both fear sympathy. If “Oklahoma!” were “The Great Gatsby”, Masswohl makes Jud the George Wilson figure, one of society’s outcasts excluded from life celebrations by a callous world. The audience rightly greeted his curtain call with a roar of acclaim.
Among the comic characters, Jennifer Waiser is hilarious as a squeaky-voiced Ado Annie. Jay Davis as an athletic Will Penny, the one so bowled over by Kansas City, is much better as an actor and dancer than as a singer. Ed Sahely shows what a master of comic timing and intonation he is as Ali Hakim. Karen K. Edissi is a pleasure throughout as Laurey’s good-hearted Aunt Eller, Kara Purdy has come up with a truly annoying laugh for man-crazy Gerty Cummings and Sandy Winsby has a wonderful scene at the end as Andrew Carnes, a judge whom people heed only when it’s convenient.
Jean Claude Olivier has created a simple set with two solid building fronts on opposite sides of the stage between a painted scrim and backdrop evoking the wide open spaces of the Plains. By contrast, the smokehouse room for Jud is claustrophobic and reflects a man’s mind that has turned in on itself. Michelle Vanderheyden has designed a lovely set of period costumes that stay within the sunny palette of the piece. Kevin Fraser’s lighting enhances every scene but is particularly effective when a mood of menace of conflict is called for.
“Oklahoma!” is directed and choreographed by Max Reimer and David Connolly. Their choreography is lively and at its most inventive in the box social scene in Act 2 when events start to descend into chaos, but overall it tends to be over-reliant on a small repertoire of staple moves. As directors, the two deserve credit from not attempting to skim over the show’s darker aspects. Why hasn’t Laurey told Jud off before now since he always spies on her, and why does she use him to make Curly jealous? How nice a guy can Curly be in visiting Jud to try to play on his despair to drive him to suicide? And why does Hammerstein emphasize that the happy ending comes at the expense of true justice? Reimer and Connolly bring all this out and as a result make the musical a richer experience.
My main complaint with the Theatre Aquarius production has to do with the sound. The 11-piece band under conductor Steve Thomas uses two keyboards to simulate the sound of strings but includes only a bass as a real stringed instrument. As a result the accompaniment sounds distinctly undernourished and artificial. It always helps to have at least one violin in the pit to give an authentic timbre that a synthesizer can help fill out. Besides that, two thirds of the pit is covered making the orchestral sound boxy and monaural. As has become common in musicals, all the singers were miked, but whoever was manning their microphones was frequently too slow in switching them on in time, so that opening words were often missed, and off in time, so that we got to hear the dancers panting after their exertions. The amplification was also not set at a uniform level with some too loud and some too soft. The production had already had two previews and four regular performances by the time I saw it--time when such technical problems should already have been solved.
Luckily imprecise miking is the only blot on an otherwise highly enjoyable evening. Once that is fixed this excellent, energetic cast can be even more confident that they are showing off “Oklahoma!” for the great work it is.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a <i>Stage Door</i> exclusive.
Photo: Paul Nolan as Curly. ©2006
<b>2006-03-06</b>
<b>Oklahoma!</b>