This is my personal evaluation and interpretation, enjoy!!
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
OKLAHOMA!
Venue: Gala Theatre Durham
Company: Dulog
Date Reviewed: 18 January 2012
Rating: * * * *
The thing to remember about Oklahoma is that it is a long show, and that’s not going to change, the second thing to remember is that it is a masterpiece! Often credited as being the first musical of its kind possibly with the exception of Show Boat, to merge the play, the score and dance numbers to develop the plot.
The last time I saw a production of Oklahoma was the Chichester Festival’s 2009 rather dreary and downbeat version and that was three and a half hours of my life I will never get back. Never coming close to the National Theatre’s hugely successful 1998 revival, so it was with apprehension that I went to see Dulog’s production.
This is a joyous and fun production, Julia Loveless has created a warm and engaging homage to the ‘old west’ with most of the focus on the romantic aspect of the plot, perhaps at the expense of the darker grittier stuff but I don’t see this as a bad point in fact its refreshing. Seth Miall shows the score the respect and tenderness it deserves as musical director and the Choreography by Emma Cave is second to none, with a spectacular Dream ballet at the end of act 1 which was a high point of the show for many.
As for the cast, Guy Hughes is a handsome Curly with a clean well placed voice, after an apprehensive ‘Oh what a beautiful morning’ grew in confidence, as did David Stodel’s Judd, who demonstrated real sympathy for the character.
Nat Goodwin and Alex Wingfield have great chemistry as Ado Annie and Will Parker and Felix Stevenson brought the house down with his hilarious performance as Ali Hakim. Elissa Churchill was nothing less than a revelation and stole the show as stubborn Laurey Williams. Her voice was flawless her command of the stage brilliant and her execution of the dream ballet made her rare talent all the more obvious. An actress as good as any leading lady on the West End today.
The Ensemble worked hard through out but were perhaps lacking in energy towards the end, but then it is a very long show. As a company the pace of dialogue at times could have been snappier, and I couldn’t help feeling that by the final confrontation between Judd and Curly that the sense of danger was missing, how ever this could be a credit to the cast for creating such a warm atmosphere on stage.
To summarise, this is an excellent production of Oklahoma lovingly created and performed by a talented company. Highlights included Elissa Churchill’s emotional performance of ‘Out of my Dreams’ the charming reprise of ‘People will say we’re in love’ and the Dream Ballet. This was three hours of my life I was happy to spend.
- Errol J Clayton
