I grew up watching old movie musicals, my Peter Pan is Mary Martin’s and not Disney’s, I love Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rodgers. When I was little, my little sister was obsessed with the musical Oklahoma! We watched it daily, singing along and memorizing all the lines. On our seven-hour car trips to visit family, my sister and I would “entertain” our parents with a dramatic vocal production of the entire musical, fighting over who got to play Curly.
Growing up I was able to perform and create other Rodger and Hammerstein musicals, but I had to bide my time to perform Oklahoma! First, because all my co-collaborators had done the musical many times and asked for me to wait until they retired, and next because a revival came back to Broadway. June 2023 came around and Oklahoma! turned 80 years old. Our Choir teacher and I sat down to choose the musical and we decided Oklahoma! was the best fit for the students we had for our 2024 Winter Musical, and we were correct. It has been a joy to work with the students creating a fairytale world of the Western Frontier. If you have ever seen Oklahoma! you know it is an idealist response to WWII to raise the hopes of the American public, but in that, it washes over the struggle and eradication of the Native Americans in Oklahoma territory. This is why I call it a fairytale.
Our Oklahoma! is no different. We paint a picture of an idyllic farm, pastel skirts, and warm tones of cowboy boots and chaps. The dance sequences are full of grand lifts and turns, ragtime, and the two-step. The long ballet where Laurey has to decide between Curly and Jud is dreamy and lush with grand waltzes and sultry with dance hall girls taunting her.
I hope you enjoy the work these 90-some students have worked on. Stage Crew created an amazing setting with their carpentry skills, lighting, and sound design, our costumer helped create the fashion for the show, the Pit Orchestra paints with their instruments the sounds of the story, and the actors act their butts off to learn the songs and epic dances for the musical.
Come see Oklahoma! at Homestead High School
Feb 1-3 at 7pm and Feb 4th at 1pm
Act Out 