Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as accusatory. I thought you might be making some sort of pro-revisionist statement, like another poster is doing (scroll up a bit).
Laurey bears some (perhaps a lot of) responsibility for Jud's death, since she behaves like a tease. Curly, of course, loves Laurey and, therefore, regards Jud as a rival whom he must defeat for her affection. Both Laurey and Curly are naïve about Jud's possible reaction, which may well be a danger to both of them. Both are pretty callous in their attitudes toward Jud. If Oklahoma! were more like Green Grow the Lilacs (in which Fry is mixed race), their attitudes would most likely be racist, which (I think) was the point of the Fish interpretation.
I strongly suspect Fish was influenced a lot by John Huston's The Unforgiven in which the performance of June Walker (the original Laurey Williams) seemed to be the inspiration for Rebecca Naomi Jones' strangely dark portrayal in last year's revival. Just my (somewhat haphazard) musings. |
