Oklahoma!
My thoughts on Oklahoma! or… Oh! What a beautiful night.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s groundbreaking 1943 musical Oklahoma! is getting a first-class mounting at The Firehouse Theatre. Director Jason Craig West pays homage to the original staging of the play while bringing a freshness to the material.
Logan Uhtenwoldt’s scenic design includes a floor to ceiling wooden upstage wall with a central door which becomes various locations in the story set in the Western Territory in 1906. The wall is painted by Caitlin Martelle and excellently suggests both the beauty and expansiveness of the soon to be state of Oklahoma. Costume Designer Maggie Hearn has everyone looking period appropriate in their Western garb. The lighting design by Owen Beans, especially in the dream ballet sequence, is superb and the sound design by Leo Thomas keeps the voices amplified and clear.
About those voices. They range from great to, in the case of Hannah Lovato-Swaim and Dylan Aaron, stunning. Music Directors Molly Robinson and Pam McLain have this Oklahoma! sounding so incredible that you could enjoy the play with your eyes closed. But keep them open or you’ll miss some fun Western flavored high stepping and a gorgeous ballet from Choreographer Jessica Deskewies.
Oklahoma! is the love story of Curley, a cowboy, and Laurey, a farm girl who lives with her Aunt Eller. Their romance is complicated by the presence of Jud Fry, a lonely, troubled farm hand who works for Aunt Eller and is obsessed with Laurey. There are a couple of amusing subplots amidst the problems of the courtship of Curley and Laurey, and there’s a happy ending for everyone, well almost everyone.
Curley, played by Cooper Powell, struts on to the stage crooning “Oh! What a Beautiful Morning” and looking like someone called Central Casting and asked them to send over a handsome cowboy with the requisite curly hair. Powell’s affable demeanor as Curley and his smooth, sweet vocals make for a very engaging leading man.
From the first notes out of her mouth as Laurey, I began mentally casting Hannah Lovato-Swaim in other shows. That exquisite voice of hers…. Marian Paroo, Julie Jordan, Florence Vassy, Maureen Johnson. I’d stand in line to see her play any of them. Her Laurey is a strong, spirited young woman who is guarded about showing her true feelings and Lovato-Swaim, who acts and dances as well as she sings, is sensational in the part.
Dylan Aaron, who plays Jud Fry, has one of those remarkably resonant voices that is compelling when he speaks and thrilling when he sings. What a Sweeney Todd he would be! Here, as the villain of the show, Aaron is terrific conveying not only Jud’s volatility but also manages to illicit some sympathy for the complex, sometimes scary, character.
Makenna Ostrom is Ado Annie, Laurey’s friend who “Cain’t Say No'‘ when it comes to men. Ostrom is a comic delight as the young woman who can’t resist a sweet talking guy and a perpetual problem for her gun toting father Andrew, played by the great Alex Rain. Ostrom, as the naive Annie with her fluctuating affections, brings many laughs and was a crowd favorite on opening night.
In love with Ado Annie is Will Parker played with wit, skill, and stage filling charisma by Evan Christopher Arnold. Arnold, with long strides and high kicks and a lasso, makes Will Parker a lovable goof with endless energy. Arnold and Ostrom deliver a humorous “All Er Nothing” and Arnold’s “Kansas City” is a highlight of the show.
Also into Ado Annie is the Persian peddler Ali Hakim portrayed by the always amazing Preston Isham. The skillful and versatile Isham makes the con man and ladies’ man Hakim impossible to dislike as he persistently avoids marriage and he has a super comic number with “It’s A Scandal! It’s A Outrage.”
I was happy to see Kim Harris back on the Firehouse stage after her dynamite turn as Miss Hannigan in last year’s Annie. Harris, although probably twenty years too young for the role, is a perfect Aunt Eller. Harris captures all of Aunt Eller’s frontier toughness as well as her wonderful humor and big, kind heart. Harris, who would make an incredible Mama Rose, has a voice that is made for musical theater.
In a small but humorous role, Emily-Jade Stewart is Gertie Cummings. Gertie is a beautiful, self-possessed young farm girl with her eye on Curley. Her problem to which she seems oblivious is that her laugh sounds like a horse whinny. And Stewart has mastered the whinny.
Completing the cast of Oklahoma! are Elyse Allen as Virginia, Janie Carr as Aggie, Mikki Hankins Petersen as Ellen, Hailey Hatfield as Vivian, Lauren Johnson Rivera as Kate, Dakota Britvich as Ike Skidmore, Zachary Ressler as Cord Elam, Scott Rice as Fred, and Zane Syjansky as Slim. These singing and dancing cowboys and cowgirls are a major reason this Oklahoma! is so much more than ok.
From the superlatively staged dream ballet to the rousing vocal power of the title song, this is a splendid Oklahoma! This was my first time seeing Oklahoma! outside of NYC and to paraphrase Aunt Eller, “I won’t say that this is any better, but I’ll be damned if it ain’t just as good!”
Photos by Jason Anderson/Pendleton Photography
