Popular ‘Oklahoma!’ always OK
Collierville show will include event for kids
West Tennessee becomes the land “where the wind comes sweeping down the plain” when the Collierville Arts Council’s new production of “Oklahoma!” bows Friday at the Harrell Performing Arts Theatre.
“It’s just a wonderful show,” says Ostrander Award-nominated actress Melanie Duncan, a member of the ensemble for this year’s production. She was also in the cast the last time the theater hosted the musical in 2006. “The music is just so familiar to people. They’re going to come and feel pretty much at home. It’s so familiar and easy and sing-able. They’ll probably leave singing ‘Oklahoma.’”
The musical, which runs this weekend and next, features several songs that have become standards, including “OhWhat a Beautiful Mornin’,” “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” and the title number with its image of windswept plains.
“Oklahoma!” is based on Lynn Riggs’ 1931 play “Green Grow the Lilacs” (itself named for a popular song of the period), about romantic entanglements in the wild Oklahoma territory around the turn of the 20th century. First staged in 1943, the show represents the first collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, who would become one of the most celebrated songwriting pairs in American musical theater history through shows such as “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music.”
“Oklahoma!” is also viewed as one of the most important developments in the evolution of the American musical as one of the first examples of the “book musical,” where songs are integrated into the action of the play and help drive the plot. Rodgers and Hammerstein won a special Pulitzer Prize for “Oklahoma!” in 1944. In 1955 it was turned into a film starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, and Rod Steiger. The film won Academy Awards for best music and best sound.
The plot of “Oklahoma!” primarily involves the courtship of independent pioneer woman Laurey Williams, played in the Collierville production by Chandler Booth, by the equally independent cowboy Curly McLain, played by Taylor Burnside. The taming of these two spirits, as well as the changes in a number of other characters, reflect the settlement of Oklahoma, which would become a state in 1907.
“It’s based just before statehood in the territory and it depicts the farmers and the cowhands and the differences between the two of them and how they came together to make Oklahoma a state,” says Duncan.
In conjunction with the show, on Saturday the Collierville Arts Council is holding a children’s theater workshop from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Participating children will learn a song from the show and then be invited to dress up in their favorite cowboy clothes and perform the song with the cast that night on stage.
“This is the first time we’ve really ever done anything like this,” says Duncan. “It should be kind of fun for the kids.”
Tickets for the workshop are $20, not including a ticket to that night show, which is required to participate in the performance. A registration form for the workshop is available online at harrelltheatre.org and can be emailed to harrelltheatre@yahoo.com. Walk-up registrations are also welcomed.
Also on Saturday, the council is holding auditions for its holiday show, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Auditions are at 1 p.m. at the Harrell. Callbacks are Sunday at 6 p.m. For information, click on the auditions tab on the website.