OKLAHOMA! Directed by Teddy Davies, with Werner Viln, Kristine Berg, Victoria Harris, Neil Leachman, Lindsay Wills, Robert Coutts and David Bolton. At the Artscape Opera House, Tuesdays to Fridays at 7.30pm, Sundays at 2.30pm and 7.30pm and Sundays at 2.30pm until August 3. STEYN DU TOIT reviews.
It’s all wagons, check shirts and wide-brimmed hats at Artscape this month as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! yee-haas its way into town. Directed by Teddy Davies for the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society and featuring the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, this iconic creative duo’s 71-year-old musical remains as joyful and persuasive as ever.
Set in the US’s Indian Territories after the turn of the last century, this fun, harmonious romp tells of the love triangle between cowgirl Laurey Williams (Victoria Harris), studly broncobuster Curly McLain (Werner Viln) and brooding farmhand Jud Fry (Neil Leachman).
At the play’s start Laurey, who lives with aunt Eller Murphy (Kristine Berg) on their farm outside the town of Claremore, has to decide which of her two suitors she’ll accompany to a box social later that evening.
A solid production boasting two casts (opening night featured the Claremore cast, which will alternate with the Kansas cast), it is clear from the get-go that Davies and his creative team mean business.
From the way Curly struts on to stage singing Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’ to the space suddenly filling with dozens of cowboys and cowgirls, it’s a delightful musical that grabs you by the hand and line dances with you right until the end.
All three leads deliver strong renditions and make the viewer buy into their emotions and motivations. Berg as the no-nonsense Aunt Eller Murphy also gives a memorable performance, as does Lindsay Williams as the flirtatious yet good-hearted Ado Annie Carnes and Robert Coutts as the carefree Will Parker, who has lost his heart to Ado Annie but has to scrape a financial tribute to her father together first.
Under Alastair Cockburn’s musical direction, several of the piece’s timeless musical numbers are authoritatively pulled off, including Kansas City, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, People Will Say We’re in Love and All or Nuthin’. The duet Pore Jud, performed in a smokehouse and serving as a grim foretelling of Jud’s fate later on in the play, was also movingly pulled off by Viln and Leachman.
Another scene that deserves a special mention is the dream ballet (towards the end of the first act), involving Laurey having a lucid daydream in which she wrestles with her feelings for Curly and Jud. Choreographed by Roxanne Levy, this surreal, dreamlike sequence felt perfect and played itself out with a perfectly timed, hypnotic pace.
All elements came together in this scene, and with the cast’s rendition of the show’s title track, Oklahoma!, during the second act (resulting in several audience members spontaneously rising in ovation), was my favourite part of the production.
True to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s original intentions, Davies’s staging is also one where everyone – whether a kid running around Aunt Eller’s house or an old lady standing on the porch – has fun and gets involved wholeheartedly. Sweep your eyes over the large cast (at times there are more than 60 people on stage) and settle on any of the performers. I guarantee you’ll see a dedicated individual completely committed to his or her character.
Among those in the ensemble who’ll make their way into your heart are David Bolton as Persian pedlar Ali Hakim, balancing his character’s quirks with just enough discipline to steer clear of slapstick; Allana Aldridge as vacuous flirt Gertie Cummings, whose penetrating, high-pitched laugh had the opening night audience in stitches every time she let out a cackle; as well as Simon Speck as Andrew Carnes, Ado Annie’s gun-ready father who doubles up as judge in the area.
Davies has made sure that the quality and consistency of the rest of the production upholds the same values and quality as the main storylines and musical numbers. A seasoned local director with more than 50 past stagings and revues under his belt, his influence can be seen all over the rest of the show.
Whether it’s Faheem Bardien’s evocative lighting design, evoking beautiful dusks and dawns, or Johan Badenhorst’s lifelike set, consisting of several completely realised set pieces, Davies’s unmistakable and seasoned directorial hand is felt through it all.
This box social is only on until next weekend. Polish your cowboy boots, iron your check shirt and slip on your leather chaps before then, because this Midwestern gathering is well worth attending. Oh, what a beautiful production.
l Tickets are R100 to R235. To book, see www.computicket.com or call Computicket at 0861 915 8000.