1943 Production of OKLAHOMA! replicated at North Carolina School of the Arts

"Wouldn't it be fun if this production come do a limited run in NYC?"

I think that would be something wonderful.

Thanks for providing the link.

This is really great, and I agree, it would be wonderful for it to have a limited run in NY. I bet it would do good business if it were promoted well. It's like stepping back in a time machine. I love the period hairstyles, too! So very 1940s.

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Seems like they capture the spirit of the original--the exuberance and the youthful optimism. Bravo!

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I'm sure they will do some type of archival taping- and they indicate on the site that they are making a documentary on the recreation- but hopefully the production itself will inspire dome additional interest. Nothing against the production from Arena Stage that was talked about as coming to New York, this honestly is the revival I would be most curious to see

It looks beautiful! They've done an amazing job. It would be great to have this run on B'way if only as a limited engagement and I second they preserve this for posterity.

I read about this in the Fall but forgot it was opening so soon-so thank you for the link! As someone who's a little (maybe too) obsessed with the original productions of these great, important musicals, I'd kill to see this or even have it recorded--even with students, which as some mentioned looks like it actually might add to the exuberence of the production.

It's interesting what you say abotu how vibrant the colours are. I think we often forget just how colourful many of these old productions were (I'd love to see what the Ziegfeld Show Boat looked like in full colour). I think it's partly because often these older productions, due to fashion of the time were more colourful, but more so it's because all we see are black and white and faded colour photographs.

When the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg painstakingly did their recreation of the original 1890 production of Sleeping Beauty, the people in charge were shocked at how insanely colourful--perhaps even gaudy--it was when they actually found the correct fabircs. Nothing from the photographs and colour illustrations of the time prepared them for that, though reviews of the time did comment on it.

Watching these clips reminded me of the documentary and book on reconstructing that ballet--for these older productions it really is so much work, down to the fabrics used. Luckily with Oklahoma so much of the Agnes de Mille choreography (that no production has bettered) has been passed down through the ages, as often that's the first thing lost. (I admit that's why I wish I was a billionaire who could finance remountings of other famous original productions--like, of course, Follies--while people involved in the original production are still around...)

Of course one thing that is the hardest to recreate is that singing, acting and dancing styles change so quickly. With Sleeping Beauty they had to come to a compromise of using 1800s ballet technique with what people use now, as it was too hard to completely retrain a ballet dancer's mentality not to extend as far, etc. I wonder if similar things were done to try to get more of a 1940s acting and singing style here?

Updated On: 4/28/11 at 09:05 PM

The prices are steep I thought too, but I assume a lot of that has to do with how expensive it was for the school to do all the recreation (and I guess to hire someone to teach the dancers the choreography and DeMille vocabulary, etc etc). Didn't realize Terrence Mann was director.

Me too! That's pretty much my top dream--maybe even more than Follies...

The school's website has added a few more production shots of the final product and it really is a spectacular recreation. Hoping somebody who posts here sees it and reports back.

I was there and WOW! I have a friend who teaches at UNCSA and I went last night. It is an astounding production. I was told that Celeste Holm and Joan Roberts attended a gala performance last weekend--both in their 90s. Gemze De Lappe recreated the deMille choreography--she is 89. The sets built and painted, costumes, wigs, make-up, stage management all students and cast (except Aunt Eller) were students. Laurey is a college sophomore! The research was exhaustive and the rumor is that it is being taped for a NC TV station. The UNCSA.edu website seems to add photos daily. If you are within driving distance do try to snag a ticket. Closes on Sunday.
Rodgers and Hammerstein website

What a tribute this production is to the ongoing legacy of Gerald Freedman, both at NCSA and on Broadway. He is a wonderful man who has enriched the lives and careers of countless actors, writers, composers, designers, choreographers and students.

For those who do not know, Jerry Freedman was the Artistic Director of the New York Shakespeare Festival in the 1960s and directed the original off-Broadway production of Hair, before it went to Broadway with Tom O'Horgan as director.

He was the artistic director of the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut, the Great Lakes Shakespeare Company in Cleveland, Ohio, and John Houseman's The Acting Company.

On Broadway, he directed The Robber Bridegroom, The Grand Tour and The Gay Life, with Barbara Cook.

He began his career as Jerome Robbins's assistant on the original productions of Bells Are Ringing, Gypsy and West Side Story, and he was the co-director with Robbins of the 1980 West Side revival with Debbie Allen.

And for those who have read my numerous posts about West Side and its creators, it was for that production of West Side that Jerry Freedman hired me as his assistant, taking notes for him and Mr. Robbins (as we were all told to call him) on the book scenes...as Peter Gennaro and Lee Theodore and Tom Abbott worked with Robbins to re-stage the dances...while Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Laurents and Mr. Sondheim (as we were all told to call them too) watched and worried and kvetched and complained. And fought. And for which experience I have gratitude to Jerry so deep it forms much of my very being.

Jerry has always been a great teacher, and I think everyone who ever worked with him or studied with him felt better about their work (and sometimes their lives) for having worked with him.

He and Gemze De Lappe were close for many decades, and I can just picture the two of them coming up with the idea for this Oklahoma and figuring out how to re-create it and yet make it fresh. I'm so happy it seems to have worked out that way and that it's become such a success. How lovely that Terrance Mann stepped in and did the job so well.

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Updated On: 5/5/11 at 02:08 PM

Hey! Gemze is only 85, watch it...

this looks brilliant. stunning. Anyone heard anything about the cast? DO they have a good Curley and Laurey?