Oklahoma!

David James Whelan and Molly Lynch in Oklahoma! Image, Marcin Lewandowski

***

I have to confess to an abiding love for Oklahoma. I'm also very fond of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s 1943 musical of the same name. A slice of Americana that serves as a proud, if imperfect celebration of a people, a place and a time. A work whose classic songs have endured, immortalised onscreen in 1955, and have been revived onstage to international acclaim in recent decades. A musical that, when you do it right, there’s nothing quite like it. In Bord Gáis Energy Theatre’s production, director Claire Tighe gets some things right. But if everything is up-to-date in Kansas City, everything is out of date in Oklahoma!

David James Whelan and Molly Lynch in Oklahoma! Image, Marcin Lewandowski

Or it's the wrong date. Ciarán Bagnall's low budget set more The Grapes of Wrath, 1930s, Mid-western dustbowl than pre 1907 (when Oklahoma was officially recognised as a state) corn stalks Oklahoma. Set near the much referenced Claremore, a pair of three way couples play out a will they, won’t they live happily ever after? Both trios (Curly, Laurey and Jud, and Ali, Ado Annie, and Will) involving two men in a Taming of the Shrew pursuit of the girl of their dreams. One a girl who can’t say yes, the other a girl who can’t say no. Complications arising as cowboys and farmers try to be friends, shotgun grooms walk reluctantly down the aisle, auctions see you sell everything for the one you love and showdowns only ever end one way. All adorable, good fun, featuring timeless songs, even if much of Oklahoma!’s moral colour has become complicated over time. Unveiling internal tensions Tighe never adequately addresses.

Oliver Flitcroft in Oklahoma! Image, Marcin Lewandowski

If Tighe’s pantomime staging suited man eating plants in Little Shop of Horrors, it flounders in Oklahoma!’s deeper waters. Beginning with singing out its rousing show tunes like a karaoke session before flipping into concert performance. Only gradually, and inconsistently, does staging evolve as musical theatre, never solidly finding its feet till near the end. Tighe’s compositionally weak direction flattered by David Bolger's energised choreography which whisks up swirling movement sequences. Bolger concealing a multitude of sins, despite certain dancers being far less light footed than they should have been. Kevin Smith's mesmeric lights illuminating Bagnall’s parched planked carpentry under a wide, abstract circle. Lights also enriching key moments, including a superb dance/dream sequence (Bolger again) with moon glow and everything in between.

Enda Oates and Julian Capolei in Oklahoma! Image, Marcin Lewandowski

If David James Whelan as pretty boy Curly channels his inner Yellowstone with bushels of charm, he's not got very much else going on. Molly Lynch as the wilful Laurey Williams far more robust. Yet if the couple exude oodles of charm, chemistry is not quite there. Also, while there's no resisting Whelan's warm velvet tones, or Lynch's soaring power in the higher register, their vocal incompatibility weakens signature moments. Curly’s problems compounded by Oliver Flitcroft as Jud Fry. Flitcroft’s Jud, a tortured soul rather than perverted demon, being profoundly nuanced and affecting, with Flitcroft’s baritone gorgeously seductive, speaking to a pained vulnerability informing Jud's sinister side. Flitcroft’s Jud, always a problematic character, leaving Curly looking about as substantial as a cartoon, loud mouth, frat boy. Similarly with the excellent Rachel Gaughan, simply sensational as Ado Annie Carnes, elevating every scene she enters. Where Whelan’s Curly is overshadowed by Gordon MacRae or Hugh Jackman, Gaughan’s laugh out loud Ado Annie honours those who went before whilst being Gaughan’s unique creation. Against which Sacha Koplewsky's Will Parker struggles for substance beyond modest comic distraction. A camp Okie from Muskogee, Parker not only gives Ado Annie plenty of reasons to say no, you’re left scratching your head as to why she’d ever say yes. Gaughan’s vivacious Ado Annie looking like she’d eat Parker alive as a starter. More suited to the sensational Julian Capolei as the marriage averse, travelling peddler Ali Hakim. Flitcroft, Gaughan and Capolei evidencing the musical experience that should’ve been, along with Molly Logan as no nonsense Aunt Eller Murphy.

Molly Lynch and Rachel Gaughan in Oklahoma! Image, Marcin Lewandowski

If Oklahoma! devotees will enjoy its big musical numbers, for everyone else Oklahoma! offers serviceable entertainment. Their second in-house musical (excluding a concert performance of West Side Story) Oklahoma! suggests BGET appear to have plateaued. What worked for Little Shop of Horrors not reaching the level Oklahoma! demands, or of BGET’s stated ambitions. Some soul searching might need to be done for to break through to the next level. Flitcroft, Gaughan and Bolger showing the way forward and holding others to account. Suggesting it might be time for some to step up, or else step down. BGET capable of delivering, and deserving of something better than serviceable. Showing, in key moments, just how exciting the future might be.

Oklahoma! by Rodger’s and Hammerstein, presented by Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, runs at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre until July 5.

For more information visit Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.