Thursday 14 May 2015

Oklahoma!

OK!


So I was going to try to stay away from this musical because it's very obvious the geography of it and I know all my friends would laugh at me for choosing this but I just love this musical. I was lucky enough to be a part of my school's production of Oklahoma!  and I played the female lead Laurey Williams, it's been the highlight of my year so far. 

Oklahoma! is a story about cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farmgirl Laurey Williams. It has your typical love triangle between Laurey, Curly and Jud, the farm hand with a dark streak. There is another love story between Ado Annie, Will Parker and Ali Hakim. It is set at the turn of the century in (you guessed it) Oklahoma in the United States of America. It is a southwestern state which at the time was a farm county with cowboys and the farmers having a rivalry as featured in "Farmer and the Cowman." It's also set around the time they were making Oklahoma an official state in the US. All the characters have strong accents which also alludes to the setting if the title was not enough.

The set features a windmill, hay, cornfields, a milk churner and a barn which all add to the country feel of the stage. The actors wear cowboy hats, dungarees and chaps. Colloquial Oklahoma language is also used and the script is written in some parts in phonetics as to how certain words should be said. The songs all reflect the place and time the musical is set for example in the title song Oklahoma!, "Oklahoma, where the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet and the wind comes right behind the rain." 



It is one of my favourites and I think Rodgers and Hammerstein did a fabulous job of writing a feel-good musical, fun for all. 


 
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