“Oklahoma”, one of the most influential and iconic musicals, is set to make its grand opening at the Artscape Theatre on Wednesday, June 7.
Written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, “Oklahoma” is the first musical to integrate the story, music, and dance, creating a magical theatrical experience.
“Oklahoma” is based on the Lynn Riggs play “Green Grow The Lilacs” and tells the story of farmer girl Laurey and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly and the seemingly sinister and frightening farmworker Jud Fry.
Set in Western Indian Territory just after the turn of the 20th century, the spirited rivalry between local farmers and cowboys provides the backdrop to this central love story.
The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943. Rouben Mamoulian directed the show and Agnes de Mille provided the choreography.
As part of the musical’s 80th anniversary celebrations, the Waterfront Theatre School in association with AM Productions brings the timeless charm and magic of this classic musical to a new generation of theatregoers.
Assistant director and designer Marcel Meyer told IOL Entertainment he’s honoured to be part of the production that redefined musical theatre.
“Oklahoma changed the American musical forever. It was the first time, every element of the musical, the songs, the sets, the costumes, the dancing, acting, everything worked towards detail, a serious dramatic story,” Meyer said.
“It’s because of Oklahoma that we have shows like ‘Hamilton’ and all the other plays that came afterwards … it completely changed what one could do in a musical.
“So we wanted to honour the 80th anniversary of the show.”
Meyer said, “Oklahoma” at its core is a show about the restitution of land, something that will resonate with many South Africans.
“It’s about a community trying to find where it stands and who the land belongs to and who has a right to be there and who doesn't have a right to be there.
“And I think that resonates very much in the South African context in terms of our history of people coming from elsewhere, settling here, and the dispute about who belongs, how we belong and how we become a responsible community.
“If one looks at Oklahoma, now, post George Floyd, post Black Lives Matter, it resonates in a very different matter. We see how the underbelly of America has sort of come for, some people are more equal than others in supposedly a country where everyone is equal.
“The play deals with that because it looks at who is the outsider, how the outsiders fit into a community and how communities can ostracise people if they don't belong to the bigger group.
“So it raises a lot of pertinent questions for contemporary America and for contemporary South Africa because we have excluded people from what was a community … in this country, the majority of the people were excluded whereas it was a minority in America but still this resonates across.”
“Oklahoma” is also a great love story.
“So it’s about people trying to find a life partner … the complications that come with that and how we go about finding the person we think we want to spend lives with. And the sense of continuity, of generations passing on.
“This production takes that a step further, and we start now, in contemporary times. We are looking at the ancestors of the characters in the play. And it’s almost as if they doing the play to trace back their steps.
“It’s how history feeds into the future. How history becomes the future. But everything is linked. It’s not just an isolation what our ancestors did affects how we exist today. And what we do today will then ultimately affect what our children’s children will have to experience in the future.”
“Oklahoma” the musical will be staged at the Artscape Theatre Centre, from June 7 – 17. Tickets are available at Computicket for R180.
ANOTHER SHOW NOT TO BE MISSED
“The Visigoths”
Where: Baxter Theatre.
When: Current to June 24.
Award-winning playwright and director Louis Viljoen’s new thrilling offering, “The Visigoths” is set to keep audiences on the edge of their seat as the show hits the Baxter’s Masambe Theatre this Youth Month.
Newly released from prison, Roth returns home to bury his mother. Upon returning from the funeral, Roth encounters Theo, a young man whose life he saved years earlier.
Theo makes an impossible request and Roth weighs up the consequences if he were to take Theo up on his appeal. What follows is a harrowing conversation about the lengths people will go to seek revenge, the unlikely moments of grace in a cruel world, and the decisions that put one’s soul at hazard.
Tickets are available at Webtickets from R120.