Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Oh, what an entertaining evening
Oklahoma! Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury Lusty, funny, timeless. Oklahoma! delivers oodles of feel-good factor with fantastic panache.
What joy to be reacquainted with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical great.
This production is both sexy and innocent. We have romance, some amusing mis-matching, a streak of dark menace and a memorable set of characters.
Songs like Oh, What A Beautiful Morning, Surrey With The Fringe On Top, Kansas City and People Will Say We’re In Love easily stand the test of more than 70 years since the show first opened.
They are complemented by the witty, lively script and lyrics, influenced by pioneer life some 100 years ago in the great American west. The spot-on casting adds clout to this touring revival of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s musical classic.
Not-quite-lovestruck at the outset are our young couple. Ashley Day is gorgeous and self-assured as cowboy Curly, with a voice deep, rich and silken like fine dark chocolate. Charlotte Wakefield, every bit his match, is a ‘purty’ and feisty Laurey and the chemistry of the young leads’ sets a sparky pace throughout.
Belinda Lang commands, not least when she is waving a shotgun about, as wise old bird Aunt Eller while the towering (6ft 6in) Nic Greenshields repels, sinister, imposing with a touch of pathos as obsessive Jud Fry, stalking our Laurey.
Much amusement comes from coquettish minx Ado Annie (Lucy May Barker), the gal who ‘caint say no’ and shamelessly plays off her suitors against each other.
On the one hand there is Persian pedlar Ali, looking for a quick fix of brief and unseemly paradise with Ado Annie and amusingly played by Gary Wilmot. The opposition is the earnest and non-nonsense Will (James O’Connor), for him Ado Annie is his true love.
With an expert investment of fresh energy and charm in the hands of director Rachel Kavanagh and niftilypaced choreography by Drew McOnie, Oklahoma! is a real treat.
The show inspired resounding applause and a universal buzz of happy satisfaction from the audience.
“Really good” and “that was great” were random comments from a 13-year-old and 20-something respectively, thus endorsing the show’s evergreen appeal and enduring success.
Meanwhile up in the balcony, a couple some 50 years older, arms entwined, smiles beaming, rocked with pleasure to the music throughout the whole show.
The beguiling, catchy melodies and endorphine-boost will linger for all of us long beyond the final curtain.
Mary Louis