Rogers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!"

Historians of American musical theater will tell you that one of the transformative plays in the history of that particular art form was "Oklahoma!".    It was the first collaboration of Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It opened on Broadway in 1943, ran for over 2,200 performances, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944, has had numerous award winning revivals on Broadway, the most recent in 2019, was a hit movie in 1955, and to this day remains a staple for amateur theatrical productions and high school musicals.  It is credited as being the first musical that used the songs and the dancing as an integral part of the story being told.

Like I said, it is significant and historic in about a dozen and one ways, and - confession time - until this past Saturday night, I had never seen a production of "Oklahoma!".  While I knew many of the songs, I wasn't really even sure as to what this play was even about.  It arrived this year as part of the Broadway in Pittsburgh 2021-22 season, and is based upon the 2019 revival production which, we are told, is a re-imagining and "different" look at this old war horse of a show.

What can you say about the music?  Many, many classics:  Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Surrey With the Fringe on Top, I Can't Say No, People Will Say We're In Love, and, of course, the title tune, which isn't sung until the end of the show.  All great.  I really enjoyed the first act of the play, but was surprised by the rather dark turn that the show took in Act II. Was this the "reimagining" of the story that everyone was talking about?

To find out, I sought out the 1955 movie adaptation and watched it this week.  

That production starred Gordon MacRea, featured Rod Steiger, Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, and several other older Hollywood stars with whom I was not familiar, and "introduced" Shirley Jones to the silver screen.  It was her first movie role.  Jones, by the way, will turn 88 this coming March 31.

The movie did tell the same story as the play I saw on Saturday....a romantic rivalry for the fair Laurey Williams between well scrubbed hero Curly McLain and the brooding not-quite-all-there hired hand Jud Fry....comic relief provided by cowhand Will Parker and his fiancee Ado Annie, the girl who can't say no, and itinerant peddler Ali Hakim...all presided over by fiesty Aunt Eller (who was played much younger on the stage than in the 1955 movie)....and a tragic turn of events before the requisite happy ending.

I was surprised to see that the movie was directed by Fred Zinneman.  A highly regarded director, Zinneman was known for dramas such as High Noon, A Man for All Seasons, A Hatfull of Rain, and Day of the Jackel.  Oklahoma! was the only musical that he ever directed.

So what did I think?  I thought that the movie sort of brushed off the "tragic turn" to which I referred earlier and swept it under the rug so they could quickly get to the happy ending.  The stage production made it more of the focal point for Act II, so in that regard, perhaps it was more realistic and made for the dark tone of the current touring production.

The Grandstander will give Two and One-half stars to the show he saw on stage last Saturday, and Two Stars to the 1955 movie, which comes across as dated and somewhat cornball here in 2022.

Three shows into the current Broadway in Pittsburgh season, and here is how I would rank the shows that we have seen thus far:

1. Summer, The Donna Summer Musical
2. Oklahoma!
3. The Band's Visit

Coming up in February: "Pretty Woman" and "Hamilton".