"Oklahoma!" — the muchheralded British revival import of the groundbreaking American musical — corralled the most nominations for Outer Critics Circle Awards yesterday.
There's a dull, rusty haze on the meadow, and the drabness of the resulting picture, which will probably leave a lot of people unhappy, has only one virtue: It marks the end of a decades-long misunderstanding. Thanks to Chandler on All That Chat for the link.
It appears that in this topsy-turvy Broadway season -- surprisingly high in quantity and depressingly low in quality -- even the sure things aren't so sure anymore. Witness the strange fate of Trevor Nunn's acclaimed revival of Oklahoma!, first produced in 1998 in London at the National Theater and long awaited on Broadway. Some of the magic seems to have evaporated from the production as it sat on the shelf. It remains a stylish and thoughtful staging that throws into relief some of the deeper currents in the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic; it dares to search for the richer beauty to be found in cloudy skies than sunny ones. But the odd irony is that it feels less authentic, less naturally jubilant and less moving on Yankee turf than it did on the London stage.
THEATER REVIEW | 'OKLAHOMA'
This Time, a Beautiful Mornin' With a Dark Side
By BEN BRANTLEY
In their freshly reconceived version of "Oklahoma!" the director Trevor Nunn and the choreographer Susan Stroman find rushing erotic currents in the frontier spirit.
THEATER REVIEW | 'OKLAHOMA'