Oklahoma!; A Revolutionary Reimagining by Ella Mevissen

 Turned inside-out and upside-down, Oklahoma! becomes not just the light show of the

past, but a commentary on the complexity of love and mental health. Through the

double love triangles of beloved characters reimagined, the musical led the November

9th audience on a whirling, dramatic descent into barely-concealed insanity!

Oklahoma! follows local cowboy Curly McLain (Sean Grandillo) as he vies for the

attentions of Laurey Williams (Sasha Hutchings), despite her chilly response to his

advances. However, Jud Fry (Christopher Bannow), the mysterious hired hand, sets his

sights on Laurey and vows that Curly won’t get in his way. Though it is surrounded by a

myriad of colorful, oddball characters such as Ado Annie (Sis), Ali Hakim (Benj Mirman)

and Will Parker (Hennessy Winkler), at the center of the show lurks a dark love triangle.

When Jud confesses his feelings to Laurey, she sees the depth of his unhealthy mental

state and runs to Curly. The curtain closes on a murder as the cast dissolves into

traumatized insanity. Without changing a word of the dialogue from the original musical,

this new adaptation turns the tale on its head to highlight the dark themes present, but

skated over, in the original.

The most insightful aspect of the show was the use of lighting to explore contrasting

themes. Throughout the first quarter of the musical, the stage was brightly, almost

uncomfortably, lit. However, during moments of tension between Laurey, Curly, and Jud,

the stage was flooded in deep red or green lighting, returning after a brief moment to the

previous brightness. As the show progressed, the theater was plunged into complete

darkness for scenes at a time, only enabling the dialogue to pierce the veil of shadow.

This allowed for a heightened focus on the scene, as the audience had to truly listen to

the dialogue. In addition, it created an overwhelming tension between the unseen

characters. Notably, in the song “Pore Jud is Daid,” Curly and Jud were projected onto a

screen through a night-vision video as they sang, an element used again in the “Dream

Ballet.” This exploration of the relationship between light and dark emphasized the

musical’s themes of complex personalities and mental health.

Even through the darkness, Christopher Bannow’s Jud Fry was chillingly uncomfortable

to watch, straddling the line between evoking sympathy and outright dislike. Contrasted

by Sean Grandillo as Curly McLain, the competitors explored the relationship between

each other and Laurey. In the few scenes in which they interacted, the audience was

shown how nothing is quite as black-and-white as it seems; Curly prompting Jud

towards suicide is completely out of the gallant-lover trope of his character, and Jud’s

loyalty to Laurey is the product of sympathy-inducing loneliness and his struggles with

mental health. Each actor hinted at the darkness lurking in the characters, masterfully

capturing a realistic portrayal of human interactions.

There were, however, some elements to the show that caused confusion and frustration

for me. During the first act of the show, the actors were completely stationary, leaving

the audience to pick through the dialogue unsupported. The show was originally

directed for Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre, performed in the round. Knowing

this, I believe the show would have been more dynamic to watch in its original venue; it

didn’t transfer well onto the Orpheum’s stage. In addition, the “Dream Ballet” that

opened Act II was disorienting and uncomfortable, although I was astonished to see

members of the audience leaving because of the experience.

Overall, the experience of watching Oklahoma! was incredibly thought-provoking, and

led to post-show conversations which I truly appreciated. On its own, I was left reeling

from the madness; it isn’t meant to be a light, enjoyable show. It is meant to prompt a

new way of thinking and seeing — and it accomplished this spectacularly.