Oklahoma!

Lots of heels are being kicked up amid much whoopin' and hollerin' at the Wells Fargo Pavilion this week, as the Music Circus celebrates the American pioneering spirit with a production of 'Oklahoma!'

Based on Lynn Rigg's 1931 play, 'Green Grow the Lilacs,' 'Oklahoma!' was the first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and its 1943 debut changed the course of American musical theater.

Evoking genuine emotion by integrating song and dance into a story hadn't been done before.

Thousands flocked to the theater, trying to get in, and the show ran for a then-unprecedented five years on Broadway (2,212 performances). It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944. 'Oklahoma!' also was the first musical to have its score recorded (a common practice today).

The story is set in 1907 in the Oklahoma territory, during the days just before statehood, and tells the story of Curly, a cattleman, who's in love with Laurey, who lives on a farm with her Aunt Eller and the hired man, Jud Fry. The latter is the dark character who has his eye on Laurey, while she has her eye on Curly.

I must confess that I couldn't watch this production without thinking about hair. Both lead male actors - Jeremiah James (Curly) and Kevin Earley (Jud) - are outstanding, yet James has straight hair that looks like Prince Valiant, and a dark brooding face, while Earley seems young and earnest, and has a mop of curly hair.

The two could have switched roles, and it would have been much more believable.

Even during the ballet sequence toward the end of Act 1, dancer 'Curly' has short, straight hair while dancer 'Jud' has curls. (And dancer Jud also is much more believable as a surly, scary farmhand than Earley.)

Nit-picking? Maybe, but it was significant enough to bother me throughout the evening.

Hair aside, James gives a powerful performance as Curly. He has a strong, clear voice and an easy charm and bravado, all of which make it obvious why Laurey is so taken with him.

Laurey is played by Brandi Burkhardt; she's beautiful, feminine, coy and flirty with Curly, yet conflicted about her feelings. She also has a lovely soprano. We don't want to think about Laurey's character too deeply, since she rejects all of Curly's advances and then has her heart broken when he turns to another girl.

Call it one of this show's several 'does not compute' plot elements.

Burkhardt's dialogue was difficult to understand sometimes on opening night, perhaps because of the Music Circus sound system.

Kay Walbye's Aunt Eller is a tough old broad who has weathered the hard life of turn-of-the-20th-century Oklahoma. She deals with everyone in a sardonic if soft-hearted manner, though she's not above shooting a gun to get people's attention.

Heather Jane Rolff is a firecracker who explodes onto the stage as the zaftig, hormone-charged Ado Annie, who has 'known right from wrong since she was 10,' but still finds that she 'cain't say no' to any guy who sweet-talks her. Rolff is a delight, and she frequently steals the show.

Michael D. Jablonski plays Will Parker, hopelessly in love with Ado Annie but not overly bright: a man who rides bucking broncos in order to win $50 so he can marry the girl of his dreams, and then spends the money on gifts for her instead of bringing home the cash. Jablonski does an exuberant dance number in 'Kansas City,' describing all the wonderful new things he's seen on his trip there.

Amir Talai sets the perfect tone as Ali Hakim, the peddler who charms Annie until she decides to marry him and then, realizing that she's serious about this marriage business, must find a way to extricate himself.

Kevin Earley grows into the role of Jud Fry. Laurey fears him, but it's difficult to see why in Act 1; it becomes apparent only later, when he gives in to his rage.

Vanessa Sonon is annoyingly giddy in the brief role of Gertie Cummings, who also has her cap set for Curly. Ron Wisniski gives a solid performance as Pop Carnes, Annie's father.

If you've never seen 'Oklahoma!' - or even if you have - this Music Circus production is certain to please. Just don't look for a lot of logic in the plot ... or in the casting!

Oklahoma!

Saturday evening's Mondavi Center audience had the opportunity to witness a bit of Broadway.

No, it wasn't an actual traveling Broadway show, but a UC Davis production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Oklahoma!' that easily would have been at home on a New York stage.

The production's professional quality is due not only to a talented cast, but also to a host of behind-the-scenes contributors, starting with director/choreographer Mindy Cooper, a former Broadway dancer, choreographer and director. Cooper keeps the direction lively, entertaining and spirited, with nary a dead or a slow spot from start to finish.

The story is set in the Oklahoma territory - in 1906, the days just before statehood - and touches ever so lightly on the ongoing feud between farmers and cattlemen. This quarrel definitely takes a back seat to the story of cattleman Curly McLain, who is in love with Laurey Williams, who lives on a farm with her Aunt Eller and the hired man, Jud Fry. Jud has his eye on Laurey; she, in turn, is sweet on Curly.

Tristan Rumery is a perfect Curly. He's tall and lanky, and has the look of a young cowman. He's ill at ease around Laurey (Emma Goldin), but their camaraderie is easy and teasing, and their unspoken love is obvious. Rumery, one of the production's few nonstudents, has a beautiful voice; he sets the tone for the entire show with his opening number, 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.'

Goldin has a strong, melodic soprano, and she fills Laurey with the glow of an adolescent in the flush of her first love. She is flirtatious but vulnerable, and a little afraid of all these new sensations.

Allison Minick isn't afraid at all as the hormone-charged Ado Annie, who falls for anybody who will 'talk pretty' to her ('I Can't Say No!'). Minick is delightful.

Annie sets her sights on a traveling peddler, Ali Hakim (Timothy Orr), who makes the mistake of flirting with her and now is stuck with a girl who mistakes his sweet talk for a desire to marry. Orr is wonderful in this role, and he shines in one of the show's lesser-known songs ('It's a Scandal! It's an Outrage!').

The heart of 'Oklahoma!' is Laurey's Aunt Eller (Hope Mirlis), around whom most of the farm activity centers. Mirlis is a feisty Eller, dancin' up a storm with the farmhands, but also present to deliver wise advice when anybody needs it.

The story's dark side comes from the farmhand Jud (Brett Duggan), a loner who lives in a shack down by the smokehouse, where his unrequited love for Laurey can fester. Duggan, a professional comedian in real life, becomes larger than life here: grim and menacing. In his 'Lonely Room,' we glimpse the depths of his anger at those who have kept him on the outside all his life.

Jon Shaffer is adorable as Will Parker, a wide-eyed kid just returned from Kansas City, where he has seen marvelous things that he's eager to share ('Kansas City'). He's not too bright: a man who rides bucking broncos in order to win $50 so he can marry the girl of his dreams ... and then spends all the money on gifts for her, instead of bringing home the cash.

The dance numbers, choreographed by Cooper and Joe Bowerman, are genuine high points. There's nothing quite like seeing an ensemble of cowboys dancing up a storm, or twirling a pretty gal around the big hole in the stage where the orchestra sits.

It's worth noting that traditional productions of 'Oklahoma!' employ substitute dancers for Laurey and Curley during a dream ballet sequence, but here Goldin and Rumery do their own dancing. This adds a special element to the show.

Special mention must be made of lighting designer Tony Shayne, whose Oklahoma skies are breathtaking in spots, and scenic designer Josh Steadman, who creates a perfect farmhouse, and whose seamless set changes are of professional quality.

Costume designer Nancy Pipkin gives a good sense of the era, and the shocking pink on Ado Annie enhances her character nicely.

This 'Oklahoma!' is an outstanding production, and seeing the year's 'big show' on the Mondavi stage is a particular treat.

O What a Beautiful Morning

Lots of whooping and hollering and energy bounced off the walls of the rehearsal space in UC Davis' Hickey Gym Tuesday evening.

The source was a music/dance rehearsal for the upcoming production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Oklahoma!,' which opens Saturday at the Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall. Boots stomped, cowboy hats flew, petticoats swirled and cowboys performed backflips in the air.

'I'm actually a gymnast, so that's why I'm doing the backflips,' explained Mark Curtis Ferrando, one of the two airborne dancers.

While the men danced, the women, in a sea of white petticoats, sat on the floor with books or laptops, waiting for their turn. Emma Goldin - playing Laurie in this production - limbered up on the practice barre; Brett Duggan, a dark and brooding Jud Fry, sat in a corner and looked dark and brooding.

Earlier in the evening, I had met with director Mindy Cooper. Lots of whooping, hollering and energy bounced off the walls there, as well, as her 5-year-old twins chased each other around the interview room.

'They've grown up backstage,' Cooper explained, saying that their first experience with theater was at 6 months of age, when she choreographed the Broadway production of 'Dracula,' and the babies came to all the rehearsals.

'It's divine to introduce kids to theater.'

In a way, she's following in the footsteps of her own mother, who directed a high school musical while Cooper played in the prop box.

Cooper, the UCD theater and dance department's current Granada artist-in-residence, got involved with musical theater through the back door.

'I came up as a performer through the ballet world, and not through summer stock. I really came up as a dancer, and I got my Equity card to join a Broadway show, which isn't how you usually do things.'

The Baltimore-born Cooper attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, quitting at 18 to join a dance company.

'I joined the Kansas City Ballet and then decided I didn't want to be a big fish in a little pond, and so I moved to New York.'

She danced for some well-known dance companies in the Big Apple, and was dancing with Twyla Tharp when that legend disabled her company.

'I thought, what do I want to do now?' Cooper recalled.

'What bubbled up, from that time in my life, was I remembered that when I was 16, I couldn't wait to get my driver's license. I wanted to get into the car, roll up the windows and sing every show tune that I knew.

'I thought, 'I've done a lot of comedic and dramatic roles in the ballet world, and maybe I need to sort of take it to the next step and use words.' I was really lucky and had a lot of good breaks, and learned a lot in a very short time, about doing more than dancing on stage.'

Her first Broadway show, 'Song and Dance,' was the perfect segue. In the first act, Bernadette Peters sang; in the second act, the dancers danced, and sang one song at the finale.

Cooper discovered that she loved working in musical theater, but she wanted more than the hurried Broadway rehearsal schedule. She began assisting other choreographers, in order to be more involved with the creative process.

'Then, one day, I realized I no longer was a very good assistant, because I was having my own ideas. So I started choreographing, and I still was performing, and then choreographing led to directing.'

Cooper came to Davis to direct 'Urinetown' in 2007, and enjoyed the experience.

'I had an incredible time working a situation that isn't 'time is money.' In New York, everything is 'chop chop,' and there isn't a lot of play time.'

She also enjoyed the collaborative process of the university setting.

'To me, theater is the most wonderful, ultimate collaboration, and I had a really good time here. For 'Urinetown,' a lot of my collaborators were professors, but I also worked with student designers.'

Because the experience was such a success, she was invited back to direct 'Oklahoma!' ... but was it the right show for her?

Thanks to Cooper's unusual background, she never had done a Rodgers & Hammerstein play, but - coincidentally - she had just directed a Bay Area show called 'Musical of Musicals, the Musical,' for which she won several awards.

'I did a lot of research on a lot of Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, and I fell madly in love with them in the process. I sat and read 'Oklahoma!'

'I know that we need more hope in the world, and it really spoke to me on that level.'

*******

The admiration between Cooper and her cast is mutual.

'I love my cast,' she said. 'We decided to open auditions to the community, knowing a lot is asked for this show; the talent pool needed to be wide. I did not want to have singers sing and then dancers dance, which was what you did when the show was created in the 1940s: The singing chorus sang, then they brought in the dancers.

'I also wanted to have our leads do their own dancing in the dream ballet. I knew that I wanted a lot of great performers: triple threats. We shook the trees: I think it's very well cast.

'My husband makes fun of me, saying 'You fell in love with your cast,' but you have to. You fall in love with every cast.'

Goldin, a UCD senior in religious studies, minoring in music, admitted that 'Oklahoma!' has been her favorite since she was a little girl. She was part of the cast of 'Urinetown' and is happy to work with Cooper again.

'The best thing about working with Mindy is that she doesn't treat us like students; she treats us like adults, like any other production, because she wants it to be good.'

The cast all liked their assignment to create back-stories for their characters.

'We sat down early in the process,' Cooper said, 'and I gave them all names. Knowing that there is some shyness at the beginning of a rehearsal, I set up duets and trios, and then they wrote their back-stories. It gives me a grid to build on: There are a lot of incredible, beautiful, intricate stories.

'These are brainy kids, and they did their homework.'

David Green decided that his character is Benjamin Franklin Bartlett Jr.

'I took the name because I had a great, great grandfather who was named Benjamin Franklin Moore, and so I figured it would be a fun way to use his name.'

Green explained his character's back-story: After the man's first wife died, he moved out west and remarried in Oklahoma Territory.

'My name was mentioned in the script: that's how famous I was. Apparently, there was a Bartlett farm that burned down somewhere, and that actually was my uncle. His barn burned down after they discovered oil on the land, suspiciously enough. So I just take care of the farm.

'My parents are both dead, so I take care of the farm, and I'm madly in love with Miss Helen. She doesn't return my affections, but I'm confident that I can win her over with persistence.'

Mark Ferrando's wide-eyed enthusiasm is ideal for his own character's back-story.

'My character's name is Fred Kelly; he's a cowboy from Kansas. He's the youngest cowboy. He's about 17, and so he's exploring Oklahoma because he thinks he can stake land there ... but he didn't pay attention in school, so he didn't know that the land stake happened long before he arrived.

'He's ignorant, but he's young and all ready to go.'

*******

'This play is all about hope,' Cooper said, 'and I'm delighted to have a lot of hope in my life.'

Hope has been very important to her, particularly this year. She was diagnosed with cancer while directing a show at the Lesher Center, in Walnut Creek. She went through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy here in California, while her husband and friends commuted from New York to support her.

Her last radiation treatment took place two weeks before rehearsals for 'Oklahoma!' began. Knowing that the show was coming up helped her get through the difficult parts of her treatment.

'It was great for me to do pre-production when I didn't feel good, to give myself something to focus on,' she said. 'I love my work. I've always been very blessed to do what I love for a living. It was really great to know I had something to get out of bed for. By nature, I'm a hopeful optimist, and I don't necessarily look with rose-colored glasses, but it has been incredibly uplifting to work on this piece in my life.

'And isn't that great how art and nature collide?

'The life lessons in this piece are so beautiful. Aunt Eller has two moments that will knock your socks off. The message of the piece speaks very loudly to me. There are no accidents: Things come into our lives at the right time, and I believe this show came into my life now for this reason.

'And to just work with these incredibly wonderful students ... it's fresh and honest; there's not a lot of game playing. It's been incredibly refreshing, in a lot of ways.

'I'm a lucky girl.'

*******

I left Hickey Gym and stopped for dinner at a nearby restaurant. When I emerged, the sun had turned the sky pink. While walking up A Street to my car, from somewhere in the background I heard a male voice singing, 'Oklahoma ... where wind comes sweeping down the plain...'

Seconds later, I was passed by two guys on bikes - wearing cowboy boots and cowboy hats - singing the song at top volume, as they pedaled up the street.

This, I thought at that moment, will be a great show.

Oklahoma!

The Davis Musical Theater Company has closed out its first full season at the new Hoblit Performing Arts Center with a sparkling, energetic production of the classic “Oklahoma!” produced by Jan and Steve Isaacson, Directed and staged by Michael Manley, with musical direction by Steve Isaacson and Choreography by Dian Hoel.

“Oklahoma!,” the first musical collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein, who later brought the world the likes of “Carousel,” “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and “Sound of Music,” changed the face of musical theater history when it debuted in 1943, for telling an emotional story through music, lyrics and dance as had never been before. Based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs, “Oklahoma!” brought something akin to folk art to professional theater and won the Pulitzer prize for drama in 1944.

One dare not look too closely at the “plot” of this musical, for there is little there. At a time where we have come to follow heavy themes like “Les Miserables” or “Evita” or “Titanic,”, the story of a boy and a girl, their friends and a lunch box social is not exactly likely to provoke much psychological introspection.

The story is set in the Oklahoma territory, in 1907, the days just before statehood, and touches ever so lightly on the ongoing feud between farmers and cattlemen, though that definitely takes a back seat to the story of Curly, a cattleman, in love with Laurey, who lives on a farm with her Aunt Eller and the hired man, Jud Fry, the dark character who has his eye on Laurey, while Laurey has her eye on Curly.

Brennen Cull heads a strong cast in the role of Curly while Claire Lawrence is Laurey. Cull and Lawrence are just wonderful together. Both are blessed with strong, clear voices. The sparks fly when they argue, making the chemistry when they are emotionally together believable.

Mary Young is the perfect Aunt Eller, and you just haven’t lived until you’ve seen Young as a gun-totin’ senior citizen.

Jaime Tvrdik gives Jud Fry a sympathetic persona that we don’t often see (Steve Isaacson, doing the role decades ago, had that same touch). Fry is desperately in love with Laurey, but doesn’t know how to treat a woman and frightens her more than anything else.

Lauren Miller is an adorable hormone-charged Ado Annie, who falls in love with any guy who sweet talks her. Miller’s Annie is at the same time coy, flirtatious, and sometimes the stereotypical blonde airhead and she carries it off beautifully.

Hoping to save $50 so he can marry Annie is Will Parker (Brad Bong). Will and Annie are intellectually matched, and Bong gives a strong performance, imbued with a simple innocence, which works because he is as cute as he is talented.

Robert Bugg is Ali Hakim, the peddler whose eye is also set for Annie, though not in quite the same way as the lovestruck Will. Eddie Albert played this role in the 1955 movie and Bugg’s performance is every bit as good.

Dian Hoel and Ryan Adame are “Dream Laurey” and “Dream Curly” in the Act 2 ballet.

The DMTC Orchestra is under the direction of Kate Jansen and is one of the better orchestras I’ve heard since DMTC moved into its new theater.

Costumes are by Jeanne Henderson, who has created a beautiful rainbow of colors for both the women and for the men. Henderson works so hard at making her costumes authentic, that it is a bit of a puzzlement to know why she puts Laurey in bib overalls in the opening scene. Though Claire Lawrence is cute as a button in them, the effect is jarring, seems contrary to the period, and contrasts negatively with all the frills and lace of her friends, or the utilitarian work skirt of Aunt Eller.

Jennifer Bonomo did the scenic design, including a beautiful rolling hill scene at the back. It is unfortunate that more care was not taken to make sure that the pieces of the wood lined up, as the gaps where the pieces did not meet properly were distracting.

Dannette Vasser, however, has done a beautiful job of lighting, especially the lovely sunrise which opens the show.

The Davis Musical Theater Company has settled into its new home and things are all coming together. This is the first show that didn’t feel “almost, but not quite ready” on opening night. There wasn’t even a crowd in the lobby waiting for the doors to open, 5 minutes before the publicized start of the performance.

With things finally coming together so nicely, it bodes well for an exciting 2006-2007 season.