Jere-Rigged

Definitely NOT Okay...

So I went with my parents to see a local production of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein warhorse Oklahoma! at the Lyric Theatre here in downtown Stuart, FL.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh no!

I was going to call this production "community theatre," but a quick glance at the program reveals that Starstuck, the production company, pays its actors and staff. So this actually qualifies as a professional non-Equity theatre.

Whoa! Did this production have problem?! Yikes!

Okay, first of all, I have to confess that Oklahoma! has never been one of my favorite shows. The score is lovely, but the book is clunky and awkward and definitely not up to Oscar Hammerstein II's work on the librettos of their later shows like South Pacific, Carousel, and The King and I.

The characters here are cardboard cut-outs with little or no motivation for anything they do. And this presents a challenge to any actors who might be approaching them, as well as any audience who might be asked to care about them.

I was going to start this paragraph with "The biggest problem with this production is...," but I'm sitting here trying to figure out which problem might be the biggest. Where would I start if I had to try to fix this? Aside from selecting another show, of course.

So I'm just going to dive in and see when or if I come up for air.

Can we talk about the ending of the show for a moment? This production ended the show after the triumphant "Oklahoma!" number at Curly and Laurey's wedding, thereby lopping off the last 20 or so minutes of the show. Wha...?! I was speechless. Do they have permission from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization to do this? In my experience, R&H are VERY protective of their shows and would NEVER allow such a thing. So no return of Jud, no climatic fight, no accidental death, and no court hearing on the lawn. I was appalled. How the fuck do they get off doing this? I mean, if you're going to be doing the clunky old warhorse musical, you can't then decide you don't like how it ends. Fuck Fuck Fuck!

Okay, next...

The program and posters for this production featured the logo and art from the recent Broadway revival, a production that transferred from the Royal National Theatre in London. Again, I wonder if they paid for this? If so, fine. If not, rot in Hell again. The problem? They included as a part of their program covers and posters a picture of actor Patrick Wilson, who played Curly in the Broadway production and whom you may know from the current film version of The Phantom of the Opera in which he plays Raoul. Now, rest assured, that Patrick Wilson is not appearing in this production. What the hell? Do you think he's being compensated for the use of his image here? Somehow I doubt it.

Next...One thing I noticed. The producer/musical director, the director (a local husband and wife team...shades of Waiting for Guffman?), and the choreographer all appeared in the show, the first two as Will and Ado Annie and the third in the ensemble. So you might ask, as I did, who was watching the show once they started doing run throughs and got into tech in the theatre? The answer? Probably no one...and it showed.

The direction was lackluster at best and nearly every number had the singer standing in a particular spot right down center, practically at the lip of the stage, singing right to the audience. Imagine Oklahoma!: The Opera. I kept willing actors to look at whomever they were supposed to be singing to with the power of my mind. Surprisingly, sometimes it worked.

The actors knew their lines and lyrics (mostly), but I have no idea whom to blame for some of the bad acting choices on display. Perhaps the director was too busy playing her role to direct.

Here goes...The Aunt Eller was playing the role as Carol Burnett with all the attendent schtick. Horrendous mistake. The Laurey played almost every scene with this annoying giggle that would have been more appropriate for the character of Gertie. The Will and Ado Annie (the producer and director) were too old for their roles.

Both Will and Curly were given BLACK cowboy hats to wear, which was bizarre considering that the villianous Jud wore a white hat. That was just odd, but perhaps meant to be a statement of some sort. The worse problem was that no one told the leading men that cowboy hats cast huge shadows over the whole face. You've got to picture this...an entire production where the leading men could not be seen from the nose up. The simple solution, of course, is to either push the hats back on the head to free up the face, or, alternately, ditch the hats at some point during the scene. But there was no one out front to notice this detail since the entire artistic staff was in the show.

Remember the famous box social? The raison d'etre of the thin plot? Well, this production had that event take place at Aunt Eller and Laurey's farm, thereby negating all the scenes in the first act, basically the ENTIRE first act, where Laurey must decide who is driving her to the dance. No need for ANYONE to drive Laurey to a dance that's happening right outside her front door. I guess someone on the artistic staff forgot to actually read the script.
Geez, they all cast themselves in the damn thing, you'd think they'd find a half hour to sit down and read it. This wasn't the only example of the production working against or flat out ignoring the text, but it was the nuttiest.

The famous ballet "Laurey Makes Up Her Mind" that closes the first act? Yep, they did it, but with a weird lack of...what's the word?...oh, yes...BALLET. There was no Dream Laurey or Curly here, in the style of the recent revival, but the lack of real dance just sort of made the whole sequence lie there like a dead dog. It was as if we'd suddenly shifted from watching a musical to watching a silent movie. Even my mother commented on this one.

And it was as if the choreographer had no idea what the dance is supposed to represent. This is the darkest reaches of Laurey's imagination and her worst nightmare. There's nothing fun or pretty about it. It was all wrong.

Ugh...was there anything good here? Yes...the guy playing Ali Hakim, the peddler, was terrific and really made the most of a cliche-ridden part. The actor was playing it real, again in the style of the recent revival, rather than borscht belt comic as has been done traditionally. The Curly was mostly fine, although he didn't quite do Rodgers' soaring melodies justice.

And that's all I'm going to say about that. Could I have fixed this production? Some of it, but...mostly probably not.

So...what else?

Went on a bike ride with my Dad and then did some time at the pool. I'm going to miss this place. Home tomorrow night. Sigh.

Posted by Jere at February 12, 2005 01:03 AM | TrackBack