Review: Oklahoma! at Yeadon Town Hall, March 10 - 14

NOT so much Oh, What a beautiful mornin’ as Oh, What a beautiful evening as that is what I experienced seeing Yeadon Theatre Company’s current production of this classic musical.

Oklahoma was the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II and first produced in 1943. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs’ 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie.

The musical contains some classic and extremely well known songs from the Rogers and Hammerstein collection - Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Many a New Day, People Will Say We’re in Love, Out of My Dreams and the title song Oklahoma to name just half a dozen.

The stage area at Yeadon Town Hall has been drastically altered for this production. Gone is the orchestra pit from the front of the stage which has been replaced with an extended stage out into the audience giving extra exits for the cast at the front whilst the 14 piece orchestra has been moved to an elevated position above the back of the stage. This works very well and gives the cast much more room for both the action and the large number of dance sequences in the show. Considering the fact that there are over 40 cast members in the show, this has been an essential move.

With this number of performers one would expect the chorus numbers to excel and this is certainly the case. The opening number, Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’ sets the scene for this with Curly played by Chris Moody starting off this number but then the whole chorus joining in after the first verse of the song. Likewise, Kansas City, The Farmer and the Cowman and Oklahoma itself are all powerfully performed by this fine group of singers.

Everyone in the show plays their part but I must highlight a number of individual performances. Chris Moody excels in his role of Curly giving lots of expression to his songs. I particularly liked his renditions of The Surry with the Fringe on Top, where he was ably accompanied by Lizzie Wlodarczyk as Laurey and Jane Collins as Aunt Ella. Both of these also deserve a plaudit for both their singing and acting performances and the audience will be enchanted with Lizzie’s rendition of Many a New Day with the female members of the chorus. Humour is to the fore with the performances of Lucy Evans as Ado Annie, Alex Schroder as Will Parker and Dave Collins as Ali Hakim the peddler man. I was also highly impressed by Henry Etherington in the role of Jud Fry. For a young man still in his teens he has a superb voice brought to the fore in both his duet with Curly of Poor Jud is Dead and also the solo number of Lonely Room. This song is one that appears in the stage play but was never included in the film version. Likewise many people will not have heard the number it’s a Scandal! It’s an Outrage which was very well sung by Dave Collins and the male chorus.

The band under the direction of Adam Boniface supported both the principals and the chorus extremely well and I was also highly impressed by the dance routines which had been directed by Gary Wilson-Mort, the Dance Captain, and Anita Adams, the Director and Choreographer of the show. It is a fairly long show running at 2½ hours but Anita kept it flowing extremely well with very slick scene changes throughout.

There are still some tickets available for Thursday, March 12, and the Saturday matinee plus a limited number for Saturday night. These fabulous performers need supporting – get to Yeadon Town Hall if you can for one of these performances. Tickets available by ringing 03336664466 or on line at www.yeadontheatrecompany.co.uk

by John Burland