Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical Oklahoma! which is currently showing at the Wyndham Theatre in the West End in London, is given a 21st century sexier and darker twist in Daniel Fish’s bold production with all the actors in modern dress.
The staging is minimalistic with a community centre like feel with the bright lighting. The backdrop is drawn in an impressionistic-like perspective of the countryside. All around the walls are wall mounted rifles on ply wood. There is a massive table and chairs where the action in the musical takes place. I feel It would have been better staged in a more immersive Theatre layout like it was at the Young Vic.
There is no changing of text in this reinvention of OKLAHOMA! which tells a story of a community banding together against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. In this production, the characters are edgier and more relatable to a contemporary audience. In particular, when “I Cain’t Say No” is sung by Rebekah Hicks’ Gertie, she is not the pitiful woman that is portrayed in the original version or the film, but more a sexually confident woman.
The first act is performed beautifully by the actors singing all the well known songs. However it is a little too long for my liking. Towards the end of the first act, the entire theatre goes entirely dark which some audience members might find is anxiety inducing. Then we have this “Blair witch” like scene that projects a close up of one of the actors in the backdrop.
Undoubtedly this version is funnier, sexier, provocative and more probing than previous versions, so for people looking for the original, this version of the musical is not for you.
