Oklahoma!

I originally tuned into PBS' broadcast because I was curious about Hugh Jackman's singing. - He was absolutely charismatic. It was too bad that Curly didn't have more stage time! I hope I can see him live in a musical or in a play sometime soon. Film work just does not do justice to his talents.

While I tuned in out of curiosity, the updated production, exuberant musical numbers, staging, and dancing kept my attention. This production of "Oklahoma!" re-affirms my love of live theatre.

In 1943, "Oklahoma!" debuted on Broadway, and in doing so reinvented music theater. Roughly fifty-five years later, Trevor Nunn reinvented "Oklahoma!". The result is something very rare indeed: a production that not only captures the original appeal of its source, but also brings new facets and dimentions to a familiar work.

The story itself remains simple, almost quaint: young pioneers Laurie (Josefina Gabrielle) and Curly (Hugh Jackman), like a prairie-school Beatrice and Benedick, tease, flirt, goad each other, and otherwise go out of their way to avoid admitting their obvious mutual attraction. But hired hand Jud Fry (Shuler Hensley) nurses a much less wholesome desire for Laurie, and his obsession starts to boil over into a serious threat. Meanwhile in the comic subplot, cowboy Will Parker (Jimmy Johnston) tries to prove himself worthy of his sweetheart Ado Annie (Vikki Simon) before her father can marry her off via shotgun to an unwilling Persian peddler.

But presentation is everything, and it is here that Nunn's genius shines through. Gone are the clean gingham gowns and pristine landscapes of so many productions past. The sets have a weathered, hard-used look to them, with a cast to match. One can almost feel the sweat and dust clinging to them. This is a harsh frontier we're entering, where there is certainly joy and laughter but also lots of hardship, poverty, and desperation. It's no wonder so many characters cling to their pride, risking everything on a single grand gesture--their pride is one of the few things they can truly call their own.

The three lead actors are excellent, easily some of the best I've seen in the material. From the moment he strides onstage singing "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'," Jackman is a captivating and fully-developed hero. He brings much of the same cocky bravado that has defined Curly over the years, but balances it with healthy doses of anxiety, bitterness, and sensitivity. Not to be outdone, Hensley's Jud (a creation which quite justly earned him a Tony Award) starts out as a somewhat sad and pitiful creature, but gradually reveals the explosive rage buried inside him. As the woman who comes between them, Gabrielle balances nicely between naivitee and cleverness, and sings in a clear, beautiful soprano.

Of the supporting cast, Maureen Lipman is the standout as that quintessential pioneer matriarch, Aunt Eller. Wise as her years, hard as her life and tender as a sunset, she is the story's moral compass. Simon and Johnston are good, albiet rather conventional in their interpretations. As the peddler Ali Hakim, Peter Pollycarpou is the one false note in the cast, with a huckster attitude and an accent that sounds nearer to Manhattan than the Middle East.

Is this "Oklahoma!" better than the 1955 film with Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones? Arguments will abound for both sides, but at some point the comparison becomes superfluous. The two were created several decades apart, with different approaches and ideas about the story. Suffice it to say, this is and excellent performance, with solid direction, good choreography, and a strong cast. That is recommendation enough.

Oklahoma was never my favorite musical. By the time I was aware of it, Oklahoma & all of the Rodgers & Hammerstein canon seemed dated, superseded by the darker, more modern Sondheim musicals.

But Trevor Nunn's re-imagining of this American classic makes it so fresh & vibrant, it could've opened yesterday. What seemed sappy in the 50s film version now seems innocent, charming, believable-thanks to Nunn's keener dramatic vision & an exceptional cast.

Hugh Jackman reinvents the swaggering male musical lead with an irresistible magnetism and ability to infuse a song with emotional realness. When he sings O What a Beautiful Morning, it seems totally spontaneous-a young man singing from the depth of his soul his love of life & everything in it-and we feel this song we've heard for decades is being sung for the first time.

The decision to play Laurey (Josefina Gabrielle) as a shy tomboy in overalls, in contrast to the assertive, gingham-clad lasses we've seen in the past, is a wonderfully right one. The attraction between the lovely, thoughtful young girl and the radiantly confident Curly is palpable, and their different temperaments make the parries & shifts of their courtship utterly believable.

Gabrielle is an impressive triple threat-a trained ballerina who is also a good actress and a fine singer. Nunn no doubt wanted an accomplished all-round performer to play Laurey so that the Act I ballet could be danced by the same performers who act and sing the parts-not, as is usually done, by dancing alter egos. That alone makes this famously integrated show that much more integrated, and dramatically satisfying.

As Aunt Eller, Maureen Lipman is tough, wry, funny, touching, wise -hers is the most captivating performance of Eller one can imagine. She is perfect.

Like Laurey, the portrayal of Jud has been rethought. He is still brutal, but you feel the wretchedness, the yearning for acceptance, behind the brutality. Shuler Hensley realizes this brilliantly.

He is one of only 2 Americans contributing to this quintessentially American musical (though all American accents are impeccable, and it's refreshing that the script's phony country pronunciations have been pared down to an unnoticeable level). The other is the choreographer Susan Strohman, whose work here is joyous, spectacularly inventive, and (as in the case of the Act II opener The Farmer & The Cowman) electrifying. The dancing, & there's lots of it, conveys the galvanic energy of these very physical frontier folk. It's thrilling to watch the cast's highly skilled dancers doing numbers that build and build to an explosive rapture that makes you wish you could only be up there with them.

Strohman, with Nunn and their talented, almost exclusively English team, offer us what must be the finest production of Oklahoma ever staged. How fortunate our cousins across the Atlantic have cast a different light on this national treasure, and revealed new splendors it contains!

As exuberant and wonderful as Kenneth Branagh's 1993 "Much Ado About Nothing", this amazing production deserves a "15"; alas, I can only give it a "10". Hugh Jackman is a revelation, leaping into the film with cheerful high energy from his first appearance on the set. A must-see for lovers of musicals and for all others too. A sure cure for depression!

Re: my one line summary - I was wrong, so very wrong! Minor warning: it still hasn't lost the feel of a filmed stage musical, but the good news is that this fact won't probably impair your enjoyment of this wonderful revival of 'Oklahoma!' I find the cast much to blame. Maureen Lipman is sublime, the best Aunt Eller ever! Hugh Jackman is cheeky enough and masculine enough as Curly, and in astounding revelation to my humble self proves he can sing, truly and powerfully sing. Josefina Gabrielle is a sweet yet wilful Laurey and I just love what Shuler Hensley does with Jud and Peter Polycarpou as Ali Hakim is simply wonderful. Considering that this belongs to the stage and all I still think it deserves a 10 out of 10. Certainly much better than the so-called classic film adaptation. Those films put me off Rodgers & Hammerstein with all their big budget distractions and sometimes poor acting(with singers dubbing the actors or not)to tarnish the beauty of much of their work. This? This is beautiful and does the words&lyrics justice.