Go west!

Theatre-By-the-Sea's Oklahoma!
earns its exclamation point

by Bill Rodriguez

Music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Directed and choreographed by John Dietrich. At Theatre-by-the-Sea through July 6.

Oklahoma! certainly earned its exclamation point back in 1943 when it hit Broadway. Because of several daring innovations, musicals were never the same again. Theater-by-the-Sea is finally performing it and showing how timeless brilliant musical theater can be.

You'd think that the current region's preeminent summer theater would have staged the classic at some time, but doing Oklahoma! well calls for the kind of high-caliber dancers that are usually too expensive for non-touring shows. But Matunuck can do it, and in style.

It's a sweet tale, but with enough of an edge to make the sugar feel nutritious. Curly (Thomas Ladd) is an amiable cowpoke in the Oklahoma territory and Laurey (Heather Spore) is the spunky young gal he hankers for. Now, the Code of the West won't allow him to wear his heart on his sleeve anymore than her pride will allow her to be less than fist-on-hips coy. This mating ritual is looked on with bemusement by her Aunt Eller (Catherine Ann Newman) and with dark foreboding by Jud (Brent Black). Jud is the brooding hired hand on the farm, who lusts after Laurey as intensely as he meditates over the postcards of nekked women that adorn his smokehouse quarters. (A song left out of the brighter movie adaptation is "Lonely Room," which Black delivers with a soul-deep presence that informs his every subsequent scene.)

That dramatically convincing touch of darkness wasn't the only novel approach of Oklahoma! that transformed musical theater. Its creators also came up with the first full integration of song and storyline, accomplished by using songs to advance the story and by repeating refrains to remind us of themes. This gave the pop form some of the dramatic momentum of opera. Agnes De Mille's choreography did much the same visually, especially the lengthy dream ballet scene (in which Curly and Laurey are danced skillfully by Dante Sciarra and Jasmine Kirby). The Theater-by-the-Sea company as a whole performs well in the dance numbers, especially the "Kansas City" ensemble piece. Director and choreographer John Dietrich does well in getting the troupe to blend song and dance, with plenty of yee-haw!, thumbs-in-belt kicks and thigh-slapping hoe-down stomps. The giddyup pace of the performance I saw had some lagging moments, but most of the easing off seemed intentional.

As Laurey, Spore brings an attentive presence to that role -- we always know what Laurey is thinking when others are cavorting -- as well as a beautiful singing voice. Ladd provides a good balance of aw-shucks and mischief for Curly. A crowd-pleasing character is bound to be Ado Annie, of "I Cain't Say No" fame (as in "I'm just a gal who"). Alyssa Kay certainly makes her fun. Annie's beau, Will, is given an extra burst of energy and charisma by Noah Racey, who has been so impressive in Theater-by-the-Sea leads. On the other hand, on the opening weekend Matunuck veteran Lennie Watts hadn't yet found a convincing level of nervous concern in playing Ali Hakim, the Persian peddler, who is trying to avoid a shotgun marriage with Ado Annie.

No musical contains more familiar songs than this charming folk operetta. This was Rodgers and Hammerstein's first collaboration, and they found that each brought out the best in the other. The results were lyrical ("Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," "People Will Say We're in Love"), endearing ("The Surrey with the Fringe On Top"), rousing ("Oklahoma!") and certainly funny ("Pore Jud Is Daid"). We even get a bit of historical sociology with "The Farmer and the Cowboy (Should Be Friends)."

Anyone who has ever rented the video of Oklahoma! for a fix of wholesome entertainment would do well to see this stage version. You'll find out for yourself what that bragging punctuation mark was all about.