An 'Oklahoma!' for the 21st Century

By Dan Hagen

Ordinarily, I don’t give standing ovations. I think they should be reserved only for rarities, for extraordinary, dazzling performances. Yet last night, I rose to my feet, applauding.

I’ve seen several productions of the musical Oklahoma!, but the one now playing at the Little Theatre in Sullivan is the best of them.

Over seven decades, this show has become encrusted with so much cheese that it might as well be called Wisconsin! But this production is vibrant and vivacious, and finally gives me a hint of what all the fuss was about when this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical first wowed Broadway in 1943.

And the credit is due to two things, I think. One is the fact that director Peter Marinaro has managed to add a subtle and persistently dark chord to this sometimes saccharine musical.

In many productions, the American future that stretches ahead of these settlers comes off as confident and assured. But here, their All Er Nothin’ gamble on the barren prairie seems just as likely to leave them empty-handed. The marginality and sketchiness of these settlers’ lives is somehow suggested, along with the note of nervousness that underlies all their bravado.

Kincade and Cyphert as Aunt Eller and Will

As veteran actress Therese Kincade says in her best scene: “Oh, lots of things happen to folks. Sickness, er bein’ pore and hungry even — bein’ old and a-feared to die. That’s the way it is, cradle to grave. And you can stand it. They’s one way. You gotta be hearty, you got to be. You cain’t deserve the sweet and tender in life less’n you’re tough.”

Corny? Not when Kincade says the words. She gives the speech reality, making it both chilling and bracing. That IS the way things are, and the audience knows it — whether it’s 1906 or 1943 or 2019.

And that’s the other big advantage of this production — top talent in all the principal roles.

Kincade could play the irascible-but-wise-and-lovable Aunt Eller in her sleep, but keeps the audience awake with her verve, as when she fires off a gun to halt a brawl and booms, “They ain’t nobody goin’ to slug out any thin’! This here’s a PARTY!”

As the peddler Ali Hakim, the angular Tyler Pirrung is as sharp in his retorts as he is in his business practices.

Ambler and Cyphert as Ado Annie and Will

I’ve seen how easily Equity actor Jordan Cyphert can play smooth and debonair. But here, as cowboy Will Parker, he’s convincingly dim-witted, yet still as bright as them newfangled electric streetlights over to Kansas City.

Will Parker’s pert and promiscuous lady love, Ado Annie, is played with flawless comedic flourishes by Brittany Ambler, an actress who never wastes a gesture, never fails to reward the audience’s wandering eye.

The young cowboy hero Curly McLaine is required to sell you on his love of life in the first moments of the show, and this one, Trevor Vanderzee, does the trick. The handsome actor even seems to have the glint of that morning sun he’s singing about in his eye.

Turner and Vanderzee as Laurey and Curly

Vanderzee’s performance suggested something of what might have been missing in all those other Curlys I’ve seen. For example, when Curly is selling his “kinda nice horse, gentle and well broke” Dun to prove his love for Laurey, Vanderzee makes his sadness about that necessity quietly palpable.

But Kate Turner, as Laurey Williams, is worth it. What Turner brings to the proceedings is an Ellen Burstyn-like recognizable reality.

For most of this musical, Curly and Laurey act like the silly, self-defeating teenagers they are, full of pride and prejudice. But Turner makes her character so emotionally real in her hopes and hurts that you simply have to root for the young couple.

Over the decades, I have surprised myself by realizing that my favorite of the show’s several hit songs is now Many a New Day, Laurey’s breezy, fancy-free, proto-feminist anthem (check out Daryl Sherman’s jazzy version for a treat).

The heavy darkness of Jud Fry, the psychopathic farm hand who is obsessed with Laurey, is the anchor that stabilizes the show, giving it gravitas and freeing it from the silliness of some productions I’ve seen.

Alhough Jud’s loneliness and agony are sometimes poignant, actor Nicholas Carroll never lets us forget how rattlesnake-dangerous this insular, increasingly deranged predator is.

The funny business of Poor Jud Is Daid seems almost out of place with this Jud Fry. He’s just too menacing and too tortured a man to laugh at.

Glancing at the sweeping, impressionistic prairie landscape behind the actors, you’re impressed. And then you’re more impressed when you notice that the clouds are moving. Noel Rennerfeldt’s impressive set is frequently filled with the whirling exuberance of Kristen Brooks Sandler’s choreography, including the dream sequence with dancers all in white.

When this cast sings the familiar, rousing title tune, you believe they really do love the land in this, the most American of musicals.

Once, this show resonated with the economic optimism and conformity of postwar America. Now, in expert hands like these, it can be made to reflect the vast landscape of hard facts that is on the 21^st century American horizon.

I always knew Oklahoma! could entertain. But I never knew it could grow.

Incidental intelligence:  Oklahoma! runs through July 14. For tickets, call The Little Theatre On The Square Box Office at 217-728-7375.

Musical direction is by Kevin Long, with lighting design by Zach Pizza and costumes by Jana Henry Funderburk.

The talented cast includes Rich Beans, Emily Bacino Althaus, Mandy Modic, James Garrett Hill, Jaimar Brown, Corey John Hafner, Lars Kristian Hafell, Garrett Griffin, Mason Phipps, Heather J. Beck, Emily Long, Emily Miller-Amato and Madilyn Keller.