“The diverse cast of this Oklahoma! are a powerhouse of talents that make you rethink every line of Hammerstein’s lyrics”
Daniel Fish’s vividly reimagined Oklahoma!, now playing at Wyndham’s Theatre, is a many layered, complex, and somewhat melancholy take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s well loved classic. The musical has been recreated in ways that make this Oklahoma! both funny and touching. But it is a radical rethink of the sunny American optimism that we commonly associate with musicals like Oklahoma! Fish’s approach is refreshing. It’s also an authentic nod to the problematic heart that exists at the core of every Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
The plot of Oklahoma! is a conventional love story. The main characters, Laurey and Curly, are negotiating the details of their eventual partnership. It seems to revolve around whether Curly will ask Laurey to the box social and whether he can take her there in appropriate style. Since Curly is a cowhand with little to show except a cheerful disposition, Laurey doubts his ability to make good on his promises. His rival Jud sees an opportunity to win Laurey for himself, which throws Laurey into a spin of indecision. The main plot is echoed by a comic subplot concerning a girl named Ado Annie, who changes her mind about her suitors the moment one leaves the room, and another enters. What turns the story of Oklahoma! into a much loved classic is the genius of Richard Rodgers’ music, and Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics. Songs like Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’, I’m a Girl That Just Can’t Say No, and the title song Oklahoma! have a freshness and originality that turn this homespun tale into an anthem celebrating American inventiveness and a can-do attitude that carried the United States out of the Great Depression, and through the Second World War.
Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! is many miles from the home imagined by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the early 1940s. Their Oklahoma! was inspired by Lynn Riggs’ play Green Grow The Lilacs, which looked back to a more troubled era in American history, where western homesteads were being established, often at the point of a gun. Lael Jellinek and Grace Laubacher’s set is a bright sun drenched space that looks like the setting for a church social, complete with gun racks on the walls, and cheap and cheerful tinsel fringes hanging from above. This version of Oklahoma! is one of tense interiors. The outdoors exists in a space we cannot really appreciate, unless it is through Scott Zielinski’s lighting, which perfectly captures the unyielding brightness of the Oklahoma plains. With such a visual reminder of conflict established right at the beginning, we’re ready for the messier battles that erupt as Laurey has to choose between two very different suitors.
The genius of this production is that Fish is not afraid to ditch the sunny optimism for uncertain, conflicted characters. They know farming in this unforgiving landscape is going to be a struggle, full of compromises with people with unknown histories, and no guarantees of success. The diverse cast of this Oklahoma! are a powerhouse of talents that make you rethink every line of Hammerstein’s lyrics. Arthur Darvill’s Curly is the portrayal of a man with a complicated future, not a past. As we find out. Darvill’s musical talents are a revelation, and give us a reason to root for his Curly. Anoushka Lucas’ Laurey has a voice that transforms the part, as does Georgina Onuorah, playing Ado Annie. Musically, the cast doesn’t put a foot wrong. Stavros Demetraki as Ali Hakim and Liza Sadovy provide the perfect comic foils to all this conflict. And at the heart of the conflict is a truly memorable Jud, played by Patrick Vaill. Vaill radiates a brooding and tragic melancholy throughout, foreshadowing the messy outcome of Curly and Laurey’s wedding day.
Daniel Kluger’s musical rethink of Rodgers’ score is likewise a revelation. Instead of a big Broadway orchestra, we have a small group of musicians playing instruments that are appropri-ate for a “box social.” The interaction between singers and musicians bring everyone together in a lively exchange that makes the music sound modern and contemporary. If the intervention of electric guitars are key moments in the drama are harsh and uncompromising, it’s appropriate to Fish’s multifaceted reinterpretation of Oklahoma! The musicians manage their musical transitions with courage and commitment, even through the Dream Ballet, which again, is a radical rethink of Agnes de Mille’s choreography. John Heginbotham’s choreography sketches details, and sets a powerful mood, but it’s the music and singing that claims the attention.
There are some weak spots in this Oklahoma! The pace is very slow at times, and it can feel as though the audience is present at a drama, rather than a musical. There are scenes where the audience is plunged into darkness. It seems an unnecessary intensification of the tensions already present on stage. But when all is said and done, this production of Oklahoma! raises good questions about American history, and its tendency to mythologize a past that was violent and complicated. It’s all there in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s original production, and Daniel Fish knows how to draw our attention to these subtle clues. For that reason, and for the wonderful performances, do not miss this production of Oklahoma!
“This is theatre at its most hallucinatory and wonderful, yet fundamentally simplistic; created by a collective vision that you forget is there.”
“Which story do you prefer?” asks Piscine “Pi” Patel of the two Japanese officials investigating the shipwreck from which he is the only survivor. We are approaching the end of this fantastical tale and it is a beautifully pertinent and intentional moment. It is a much more satisfying question rather than “which story they think is the true one”. ‘Life is a story’ and ‘You can choose your story’ are just two of the themes that wash up from the cruel sea of allegories that “Life of Pi” presents. Choosing what you believe and, in turn, controlling those beliefs is as treacherous as taming a Bengal tiger.
Transferring from Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre (delayed by the pandemic), Max Webster’s production, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti from Yann Martel’s novel, has predictably been hailed the new “War Horse”. Yet it is a different beast entirely. As intricate and astonishing as the puppetry is, the magic is also created from the enthralling central performances and the jaw-dropping stage craft. Under Webster’s sabre-sharp direction, the entire team of designers and cast capture the imagination, not just of the author, but of the audience too. It melds them into one of the same, both feeding off each other. It is an almost miraculous feat that is achieved, not from high tech wizardry, but from sheer inventiveness and trust in the human mind.
While Finn Caldwell’s and Nick Barnes’ puppetry breathe life into the wild creatures that pace the stage, Hiran Abeysekera’s central performance as ‘Pi’ is the life-force that pulses through the piece. Abeysekera pulls us into his worlds; his childhood at his father’s zoo, the hospital recovery ward, and onto his lifeboat. We willingly share his perils as he survives over seven months adrift on the Pacific Ocean. Originally accompanied by a hyena, zebra, orangutan and Bengal tiger, he is eventually alone with just the tiger. ‘Pi’ survives in part by acting upon profound philosophical questions that come to him like ghosts; and by pulling shreds of advice from his memory. “Use everything you have and defy the odds”. This latter truism can definitely be applied to the design of the piece in which the minds of Tim Hatley (set), Tim Lutkin (lighting) and Andrzej Goulding (video) have merged to conjure a breath-taking backdrop to the tale. There is a spell-binding moment when ‘Pi’ leaps off his boat into the ocean, vanishing in front of our eyes only to reappear elsewhere from the waves. No high-tech wizardry. Just inventive trickery.
This is theatre at its most hallucinatory and wonderful, yet fundamentally simplistic; created by a collective vision that you forget is there. In the same way, we are aware that the puppets – most noticeably the tiger – are being controlled by four different puppeteers, yet we don’t see them in our minds. What we see is the personality of a sentient creature vividly conjured by the language of its movement. The beast becomes human.
‘Pi’ tells us more than one story. We have his story with animals – fantastical, spiritual and dreamlike. And we have the harsh, scientific realism. “Which story do you prefer?” Pi asks, while provoking our silent answer with “You want a story to confirm what you already know”. This production challenges what we might already know about theatre but also, without a shadow of a doubt, reinforces our belief in the power of theatre. Long after you leave the auditorium, you will be bound by its spell. Abeysekera’s witty, compelling, and poised performance depicts a solo voyage. Surrounded by an incredible, indispensable company of actors it manages to transcend a single life. This is life itself. A fantastic voyage. This is Theatre.
