Oklahoma! (The One With Hugh Jackman and Trevor Nunn)…
Hugh Jackman truly is the greatest showman here. He should sing and dance more is my conclusion... Having seen the ‘sexy’ version in London with Arthur Darvill, I was intrigued to see what Trevor Nunn, Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman would do…
For the most part, restore much of the story and the sequences of the songs and storylines. This version made a lot more sense as the narrative followed a more traditional line and had a much deeper sense of community and how these newly established communities related to one another. And yet it was not a trad version, with Susan Stroman’s terrific choreography and energy throughout, working women were celebrated, the hardness of life in the American West revealed and dance sequences turned into fights as everyone struggled to get what they wanted. Destiny’s literally manifested and sexual politics highlighted as men sought to impress and control women, and sexualise them (or not).
As literally curly-haired, bandy legged, singing cowboy Curly, Jackman beams with star quality, although he was unknown. Josefina Gabrielle is charming as Laurey who has some serious adulting to do, choosing between greasy farm hand Jud Fry (Shuler Hensley) and Curly; her dream sequence is disturbing as it turns into assault. On the other hand, when not lying around thinking about adulting, she gets a feisty number dispatching clod-hopping suitors played by the giggling girls in ‘Many A New Day’.
At the same time, this is really Maureen Lipman’s movie as Aunt Eller — her warm rapport with Hugh Jackman was delightful; her menacing cowboys and farmers to be friends at the picnic party of the year less so (but necessary!) This is a society which teeters on lawlessness (in Jud’s pornography; in the giving away of Ado Annie by her father to the highest bidder constantly and other women by their fathers (at gunpoint); the lassoing of women; in Laurey’s deep murderous fears about Jud and his dodgy photos; and in Curly’s and Will Parker’s almost coercions of their girlfriends into marriage; the community interruption of honeymoons). Western meets Freud…
It was intriguing to consider and compare this version with the current London production, where the characters were taken and the staging used. This National Theatre production from the late 1990s plays with Western stereotypes and tropes and yet emphasises the hardness of life. Aunt Eller is making butter in the first scene as Curly wanders around singing about beautiful mornings against a beaming blue sky — Laurey seems to achieve a lot less in her working day. No wonder they need Jud Fry to get anything done!
Jud here is shown as an outsider who teeters on trying to join the respectable — and yet is never quite accepted — partly because of his own choices and behaviour and partly because he can’t buy his way in. Nor can he buy Laurey’s love or body. The fight between Jud and Curly at the end is less predictable — Curly owns up to his culpability, and yet Jud is the aggressor, the attacker. For much of the fight it looks like Jud will win and destroy Curly. Intriguingly Laurey is less innocent, seeming quite keen on seeing Jud destroyed — or shot. Because the fight is premeditated by Jud and an accident as he seeks to kill his rival, the community’s rallying around Curly to proclaim justice and allow him to toot-toot off on honeymoon in an automated surrey with a fringe on top is less odd and less kangaroo court or knowing than the ‘sexy’ current version.
Altogether it’s Jackman’s performance for me and the brightness with which he and Maureen Lipman relate together on stage which makes it; a proto-type frisky Aunt Eller, (although still very proper here too when she needs to be). Aunt Eller is almost ready to run off with Curly here; their buggy ride in the imagined surrey with a fringe on top is wonderful. Plus the dynamism of the dancing — especially in the railway station scene (including fancy rope work from Will Parker) and nifty ragtime footwork; the sweet fancy of Ado Annie who can pack a punch when she needs to as well as scrumming like a rugby pro to claim the bride’s bouquet; the tender romance between shocked Curly and fairly shattered Laurey; indeed the fragility of the settler community in what will soon be a new state, shown in the buildings themselves on stage and the somewhat rusty looking machinery…The community itself, the personalities and struggles and longings — all accompanied by a gaggle of giggling girls and Gertie’s appalling haw haw laugh! Mentioned too must be Jud’s photographs come to life in the dream sequence as they quite literally strike a pose or two…
Kudos goes to the staging and lighting too — the brilliant BIG blue sky; the sunset; the dark, airlessness of the smoke house where Jud festers; the grubbiness and still under construction nature of the wooden barn and homesteads; the corn field calling Laurey in…
If you can’t see this glorious recording on the big screen, listen here — Oklahoma — 1998 West End Revival — Rodgers & Hammerstein (rodgersandhammerstein.com)
Enjoyed reading this article?! Support my writing at: https://ko-fi.com/susanadventuresinculture
