Speaking in drawls and singing their hearts out, the cast of Studio 58’s Oklahoma did this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic justice.
In Oklahoma Territory (just before it became a state in 1906), Laurey (Alexandra Wever) plays hard to get with Curly (Owen Bishop), a local cowboy who wants to take her to the box social in his “Surrey with the fringe on top” (a fancy horse-drawn carriage).
Meanwhile, her friend, Ado Annie (Adelleh Furseth), does the opposite with any man who “talks purdy” to her. Annie’s song “I Cain’t Say No!” stood out due to Furseth’s hilarious facial expressions and gestures.
Annie has been promised to Will Parker (Sean Sonier), but when the travelling salesman Ali Hakim (Arash Ghorbani) comes through town, she falls for him. Ali Hakim is one of the funniest characters in this musical, as he peddles his wares while trying to stay out the line of fire of Annie’s father.
Laurey likes Curly, but is afraid of being too forthcoming, so she entertains the idea that her farmhand Jud Fry (Kamyar Pazandeh) might take her to the box social. Curly goes to visit Jud at the smoke house where he’s staying to have a heart-to-heart. He ends up discussing how easy it would be for Jud to hang himself and end his misery, and the emotional intensity displayed as Jud sang “Pore Jud is Daid” was mesmerizing.
Through it all, Laurey’s Aunt Eller (Olivia Hutt) offers her advice and tries to mediate the various conflicts that arise. Her southern drawl was one of the strongest of the cast, and she served as the voice of reason holding everyone together.
This production made the best of their relatively small space, particularly during their creative staging of Laurey’s nightmare dream sequence about Jud. Also notable was the use of a clothesline covered in white sheets to show shadows mirroring Laurey as she dances in the grove.
I attended on sing-along night, and we in the audience had a blast shouting out songs like the ever-uplifting “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” along with the live band.
There’s something about the innocent, youthful joy that emanates from the characters in this musical that leaves you uplifted and hopeful, and that’s what has made it such a popular, enduring production. As the cast belts out “Yeeow! Aye-yip-aye-yo-ee-ay!…O – K – L – A – H – O – M – A, OKLAHOMA!” you get the feeling that, no matter what, everything is going to be “OK.”
Oklahoma is presented by Studio 58 February 5 to March 1. For more information, visit studio58.ca.
