OKLAHOMA: YOUR OPINIONS- Page 2

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 10:20pm

When I was eight years old and my mother would play the cast album on the Hi-Fi, during the closing rendition of the title song I would beat away like a nut on the bottom of a brass watering can. In retrospect this might have been a sign that I should have become a percussionist since I never showed any other musical talent.

My main problem with the show was my empathy for pore Jud. This sad guy was never even given a chance to redeem himself. I'm surprised that Oscar wouldn't give him a break.

I respect the right of anyone to dislike a show no matter how popular it is with everyone else. This person may be correct in challenging a herd mentality existing amoung the show's boosters.

But Oklahoma was a huge hit when it opened. It created a new paradigm for Broadway musicals. (Maybe Show Boat should have had that honor, but the musical theater wasn't ready for it yet.)

And over 65 years later Oklahoma still has very long legs.

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 10:41pm

The 1979 revival with Mary Wickes, Christine Andreas and Laurence Guittard was my FIRST Broadway show! It hooked me.

Read more: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1034538&dt=26&boardid=1#ixzz1S8bZwhP0

Posted: 7/14/11 at 11:44pm

As a kid especially, I felt bad for Judd (the movie makes him a bit less complex by removing Lonely Room). I need to track down Green Grow the Lilacs, as I really don't know the source material--and am still scratching my head about Sondheim's comments that it was a gay cowboy play or something.

Dented, my Grandma was in the Canadian air force (in administration but still) and they all got a trip to New York where they saw Oklahoma and On the Town--it started her massive love with Broadway,

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 11:58pm

FRC or someone else--maybe you know, with the bonus songs recorded for Vol 2 of the cast album (Lonely Room, which I believe Drake actually sings for whatever reason, Farmer and Outrage), the sound quality on the remastered CDs is always noticeably much more poor. Is it just because they weren't as well preserved--never being on the LP editions

The first CD edition had to use disc copies. That CD used the LP master tape from the 1955 Lp reissue (which was probably a copy of the 1949 LP master tape..Decca kept re-releasing the same handful of titles over and over.) I haven't played the later Decca Broadway CD in a while but I understand thet they used the original glass-based 16" trasncription records of the recording session to generate that master. If my memory is correct, the sound of all the tracks -including the Volume Two selections - was noticably better than the previous release.

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:45am

Shows that I really need to upgrade my CD (actually for all those early R&H recordings I never upgraded from the old early 90s releases--always plan to but then I see something I don't own I wanna buy...)

[Sean2]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 3:09am

I've seen 'Oklahoma!' four times on stage. I found it quite schmaltzy and unsatisfying, albeit charming.

I saw the National's production with Hugh Jackman in London, and I thought Susan Stroman's choreography and the new orchestrations were terrific. Most of all though was Shuler Hensley's performance as Jud. It transformed the piece entirely. Brilliant.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 6:02am

I wish I lived near Boston so I could see the limited run of OKLAHOMA with the Agnes DeMille dances intact.

Off topic: I happen to love the 1945 film STATE FAIR. The music is catchy and the performances are very good IMO. I especially enjoy the scene where the jars of pickles are in competition. I really like the score.

I still want to know when the most recent Broadway production of OKLAHOMA took place and who was in it. There must have been one since 1979.

Updated On: 7/15/11 at 06:02 AM

Posted: 7/15/11 at 6:40am

It was a transfer of the late 90s Trevor Nunn/RNT London production-- Ran for about a year from Spring 2002 to Spring 2003. Patrick Wilson had the role Hugh Jackman played in London (Curly) and Laurie was Josefina Gabrielle. For some reason many people thought it didn't work as well as the London staging--but you'll have to ask someone else about that, as I never saw it.

[exedore]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 7:35am

OKLAHOMA is indeed worthy of its legendary status, but is often undermined by directors who play up the sentimentality and nostalgia and gosh-darn-isn't-this-american-frontier-spirit-great aspects and ignore the player's darker aspects, such as Judd's humanity and the fact that Curly is something of an insuffrable braggart with an entitlement complex. The Nunn production absolutely nailed the balance, but your average high school director (and OKLAHOMA is, I believe, the most done musical in schools) often looks to the sappier film for inspiration.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 10:44am

Shows that I really need to upgrade my CD (actually for all those early R&H recordings I never upgraded from the old early 90s releases--

Yes, those first MCA CD releases of OKLAHOMA!, CAROUSEL, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, THE KING AND I and WONDERFUL TOWN were essentailly straight transfers of the LP master tapes with all of their inherent flaws. The 1993 (50th anniversry) re-release of the R&H shows was mastered from the original master discs, and offered a high fidelity sound comparable to a 1950's high-fi mono Lp. (THE KING AND I showed the least improvement because it was originally done on tape and there was only so much that could be done to improve it.)

The current (Decca Broadway) editions are (I believe) essentially the same (1993) remasterings but Decca Braodway has also put out much improved sounding discs of the 1946 ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and the 1953 WONDERFUL TOWN. All are well worth picking up! I suspect many collectors have becase the old MCA editions seem to show up a lot in used CD stores.

Updated On: 7/15/11 at 10:44 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:56pm

I LOVE Oklahoma! Sometimes I feel like one of the only people in the world who actually likes this show, so it's nice to see that other people are fond of it, too. It was one of the first shows I ever really fell in love with. I had seen the movie when I was a kid but didn't really appreciate it (I was more for The Sound of Music and The King and I, for whatever reason), but my mom took me to see the 2001 (I think?) revival and I thought it was just magic. I was crazy about that production, and have been in love with the show ever since. It isn't perfect, especially by our now hindsightful standards, but seeing things with such legendary historical status always moves me. I really wish I could see this production that's up at Arena now.