| I saw this production of Oklahoma! last Saturday night. I’ve been sitting with it to make a response since then. I’ll begin by saying that I typically am comfortable seeing shows that I don’t particularly enjoy as I can find things to learn pretty often by seeing what doesn’t work well. Moreover, I was enthused by what I’d read of the premising that drives this production (e.g., concerns about frontier justice, the roles of women and men in that - and our own -societies). I’m glad to report that the orchestrations were insightful, terrific even and that I found Curly quite persuasive a both an actor and a singer. I also thought that Will and Ali Hakim were good, and Jud as well. After that, I can’t say … much other than no. Most of the acting was stiff and felt superficial; most of the singing was either out-of-range, out of tune, or/and over-hyped; the voices/accents the actors used ranged all over the maps (geographic and chronological) - I assume that was intentional in order to remind the audience they they and we have a great deal in common, but I found it disorienting and distancing. The black outs were empty; the ballet made nearly zero sense; and the ending felt just plain wrong. Not because it was “off-book” although the book has a rationale to it that gives sense to the ending. And let me be clear on this point: I’ve always thought the ending of Oklahoma! was not just odd, but disturbing (in particular how it shifts so quickly from a killing to a celebration). But if the director wants to play the frontier justice theme more strongly, this was not for me a sensible way to do it. Curly’s reasons, everyone else’s responses, the whole scene seemed like a cartoon to me. I didn’t find the video work interesting, if not compelling. But the homoerotic component of the Curly/Jud scene seemed to come from and go to no where … unless we’re supposed to understand that’s the reason for the killing? But nothing links them. I won’t go on as more than enough has been said elsewhere, and this is already probably too much here. I’ll end by simply affirming my disappointment in this production — not because of the concept that seemed to be its motivation, but because of how the concept was carried out. |
