Shuler Hensley

Like it looks.

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Yep!

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I thought he was alright. I truly believe that the reason most people thought he was "brilliant" is because the critics did. And the reason the critics did was that they had to LOVE something in it, because it was Oklahoma, and such a classic...

I really liked his performance, but then again, I loved the production. I had never been too into Oklahoma! before, but seeing the revival made me fall in love with the show. I don't think I'd go so far as "brilliant," but I thought he was very good.

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Shuler! That's my middler name!

And yes, it's like Shoe- lurr

my middle name is Shule (Shu-lee)
It's kind of the same!

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am i the only one who actually liked a good deal of the oklahoma revival? In addition to Shuler, i was rather fond of patrick wilson's performance, and the backdrop/ lighting.

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no jon, you're not. Scroll up, I posted that I loved the revival.

Loved Patrick in the show. It was my first exposure to him, and he was just dripping with charisma.

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I managed to get through the first act of the "Oklahoma" Hugh Jackman video (w/Shuler Hensley) before I couldn't take anymore. That show is SO annoying. Hensley was great, though.

I recall someone at musicals.net saying that he 'looked like a sausage and sounded like his batteries were dying' or something to that effect when I asked how he was in Les Mis.

Loved him in the Oklahoma DVD. His Lonely Room and his profession of love to Laurey make me cry. So good.

He must play Sweeney Todd. His voice and look are ideal for the part.

I LOVED the Oklahoma! revival. I thought it was spectacular - I was so angry when INTO THE WOODS won the tony over OKLAHOMA.

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i actually saw Hensley, when he was in undergrad and i was in grad, playing the Judge in SWEENEY. He was excellent, and sang it even then as well as i've ever heard it. He was probably at most 20 years old. He'd be a great Sweeney himself, i'm sure. Bob Cuccioli is the one i'd like to see in that title role soon.

i found Hensley's performance as Judd (live in NYC) a little overdone, pushed a bit far, particularly compared the more naturalistic style of the rest of the principals. It was most apparent in his "Lonely Room" blocking. The performance (which might have been calibrated because of the camera) on the National's videotaped version, however, was more lowkey and i thought more effective. The blocking for "Lonely Room" also had a bit less of that Greek Tragedy style feel, without the chest pounding, kneeling on the floor, and bending at the waist to lay his forehead on the stage as he pounded it with his fists (as best i recall).

As for the revival in general, there was quite a bit i liked. i did not care for Laurey either London nor NYC, and didn't particularly care for Ado Annie NYC. i did like how a bit more of GREEN GROW THE LILACS was incoroporated, to the betterment of the libretto IMHO, and how other sections were slightly rearranged. i loved how much more tied to the book scenes Stroman's ballet was (for instance, related Laurey's reply of her "wishes" to Ado and Hakim, about the "silver buckle for my shoe" and the "cut glass sugar bowl"). i also admired how Stroman's choreography was extremely naturalistic throughout much of Act One (with no obviously "developed' dance sequences, which usually are part of "Kansas City" and "Out of My Dreams"), because it made the Dream Ballet at the act's end truly stand out.

i also liked the scenery, but the costumes were pretty bland (though probably exactly in period---however, with the scenery taking liberties with naturalism and scale, the clothes might have as well).

Hensley sounds terrific on the demo for one of the many musicalized FRANKENSTEIN projects (though not, thank goodness, Wildhorn's). He was also extremely effective this season as the truckdriver father of a teenaged, HIV-positive, schoolgirl prostitute on LAW AND ORDER: SVU. My feeling is he has a long career in both singing and acting ahead of him.

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