Oklahoma!: Chichester Festival
IF PROOF were ever needed Oklahoma! reminds us of what great musicals used to sound like.
There are show-stopping songs that linger in your mind, lively story lines and singers with real voices.
It was the first time those giants of the American musical, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, collaborated and the result was theatrical gold.
It would run for 2,212 performances on Broadway. The show, set in the early 1900s when Oklahoma was emerging into statehood, demands space to convey the sunshine and breadth of its setting.
And here is the problem with this production: the stage is not really big enough to sustain all the bursting energy the show requires. The swirling dancers just about manage Agnes de Mille’s original dance routines without toppling from the stage.
It is a tribute to their skills that they perform often intricate movements smoothly. Nor is there any onstage sense of atmosphere – a deficiency largely due to the lack of scenery.
Designer David Farley seems content with a pair of draped curtains at the back. The only other set decorations are a few dozen apples and some rose petals .
This is supposed to be farming country and even bales of hay would have been welcome.
What emerges is an energetic performance relying on audience imagination (which may be no bad thing).
That all said, the love triangle story of cute farm girl Laurey, forced to choose between Curley, the easy-going cowboy she loves, and Jud the sinister loner, is well told.
Laura Benn Harris is a sweet-voiced Laurey and her duets with Curley (a smooth performance by Michael Xavier) are charming, particularly People Will Say We’re In Love.
Natalie Casey as the quirky Ado Annie has considerable comic flair and her version of I’m Just A Girl Who Can’t Say No is a high point of the show.
Craige Els is a dark, menacing Jud with almost visible murder in his heart. His fight scenes were also very well choreographed.
Director John Doyle keeps everything moving along at quick-paced speed .
But at the end the real stars of Oklahoma! are the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein. I for one spent much of the next day humming Oh, What A Beautiful Morning.
VERDICT 3/5
Oklahoma! Chichester Festival, Sussex, 01243 781312, until August 29
