Who are you? What year are you? What are your interests?
Hi my name is Brandon Day, I’m a junior and I play football, sing and act. I enjoy playing music at home and in class. I am interested in psychology and forensics.
What exactly do you do for Oklahoma!?
I play the villain in Oklahoma! who is named Jud Fry. Jud is the hired hand for Aunt Eller who has his eyes set on Laurey. Jud has a shady past and most people are afraid of him and tend to avoid him if possible. He will do whatever it takes to get Laurey to marry him even if it crosses a line.
Why did you join Oklahoma!?
I joined Oklahoma! because I love music and it’s not often that a lead role is described as big and muscular so as a football player I thought, this is my role I need this. I have also been in the school’s musicals since my freshman year and have had tons of fun singing and dancing in them.
Tell us a story from rehearsal, pit practice, or crew session.
Ryan Kramer (Curly) and I were blocking the smokehouse scene with our fight director Chris and we were working with weapons. Ryan is supposed to shoot his gun at a knothole on the wall but he could not figure out how to pull his gun out in a “cool” way. We spent a solid 15 minutes trying to have him pull a gun out of his pocket and shoot it. I don’t think we eventually figured out how to do it but watching all the failed attempts where the gun would get caught in his pocket or just dropped onto the floor made me break character and start laughing hysterically
What is Oklahoma! about? Why should people come to see it?
Oklahoma! is about two people Curly and Laurey who are deeply in love with each other but refuse to acknowledge it which leads to conflict. The hired hand (Jud) asks Laurey to go with him to the box social and she agrees to spite Curly. The events that lead up to the box social force Curly to acknowledge his feelings for Laurey and fight Jud for her.
What do you hope the audience will think about in the car as they drive home after this show?
I hope the audience will think about all the large dance scenes like Kansas City and the Ballet. Lots of time went into those two dances and I think they turned out really well. There are a lot of steps and dance moves that I think the audience will enjoy and think about on the way home.
Anything else you want to talk about?
There were a lot of questions regarding how we would go about blocking certain scenes such as ‘Pore Jud is Daid’ and the dance hall given the heavy implications of their content. I think that the blocking turned out in a way that perfectly fits the show and still gets across the implications of the scene without overdoing it.
Act Out 