Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

The Department of Theatre and Dance recently produced Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!.  Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, setting the standards and rules of modern musical theater. In a Western territory just after the turn of the 20th century, a high-spirited rivalry between local farmers and cowboys provides a colorful background for Curly, a charming cowboy, and Laurey, a feisty farm girl, to play out their love story. Their romantic journey, as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road, contrasts with the comic exploits of brazen Ado Annie and hapless Will Parker in a musical adventure embracing hope, determination, and the promise of a new land.

Director’s Note:

It’s 2025 and let’s face it, this show did not age well. So, how do we make it work for our audiences today? What do you do? You change the point of view of the story told. I wanted to challenge the original and see what would happen when you explored the story from Laurey’s point of view. I was curious to see what would happen when you explore the idea of having a choice to control your narrative vs. doing what would be expected of you. I was curious about what it meant to be a woman at this time and the complications that brought. I’m eager to highlight the text of this piece instead of getting caught up in the romanticized feel of it. The themes of choice/no choice, isolation/community, and animosity between two parties at the turn of the century are still things that society is dealing with at present. This show will never go away, so we might as well figure out a way to make it work for us.

-Francine Espiritu

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