1943 Production of OKLAHOMA! replicated at North Carolina School of the Arts

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 4:21pm

There has been a lot of buzz about the North Carolina School of the Arts's production of OKLAHOMA! opening this weekend - its believed to be the first production in over 50 years to faithfully recapture the original designs and staging of the show as it first appeared in 1943.

Link below to the school's website which has photos and video clips. Its pretty astonishing seeing the vibrant colors of the original costume and scenic design.

Wouldn't it be fun if this production come do a limited run in NYC?
OKLAHOMA as it was

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 4:53pm

"Wouldn't it be fun if this production come do a limited run in NYC?"

I think that would be something wonderful.

Thanks for providing the link.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:04pm

Be sure to watch some of the making of video clips -- the research and detail in some of the recreation is just amazing. Putting together the puzzle pieces of the creative choices made by the original design team I think is going to offer some surprising insights into why the original production really trailblazed the American musical.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:15pm

This is really great, and I agree, it would be wonderful for it to have a limited run in NY. I bet it would do good business if it were promoted well. It's like stepping back in a time machine. I love the period hairstyles, too! So very 1940s.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:22pm

I'd LOVE to go see this!!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:34pm

Seems like they capture the spirit of the original--the exuberance and the youthful optimism. Bravo!

[Almira]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:38pm

Thank you, Michael Bennett, for sharing this!

I hope this is preserved somehow. It is too important an educational tool to be lost on closing night.

Updated On: 4/28/11 at 05:38 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:50pm

I'm sure they will do some type of archival taping- and they indicate on the site that they are making a documentary on the recreation- but hopefully the production itself will inspire dome additional interest. Nothing against the production from Arena Stage that was talked about as coming to New York, this honestly is the revival I would be most curious to see

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 5:57pm

The clips (aka "webisodes") on their page seem to be part of this documentary. They look like they are professionally done (probably part of their film program at the school). They're using a pro HD camera, and they're well-lit, edited, etc. They have full credits at the end of each one.

They really involved every department, as they said, in this production. Music, dance, theatre, film, design.

http://www.uncsa.edu/performances/OKwebisodes.htm

Updated On: 4/28/11 at 05:57 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 7:37pm

It looks beautiful! They've done an amazing job. It would be great to have this run on B'way if only as a limited engagement and I second they preserve this for posterity.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 7:59pm

Even if a public release is not in the cards, I'm sure the R&H Foundation will help to preserve this production. So much work (and love and care) have gone into it. It's as close as they will ever come to preserving the original 1943 show.

... and I kinda love that the cast is made up of young, fresh-faced, talented, "nobodies."

Just like the OBC, pretty much!

Posted: 4/28/11 at 9:05pm

I read about this in the Fall but forgot it was opening so soon-so thank you for the link! As someone who's a little (maybe too) obsessed with the original productions of these great, important musicals, I'd kill to see this or even have it recorded--even with students, which as some mentioned looks like it actually might add to the exuberence of the production.

It's interesting what you say abotu how vibrant the colours are. I think we often forget just how colourful many of these old productions were (I'd love to see what the Ziegfeld Show Boat looked like in full colour). I think it's partly because often these older productions, due to fashion of the time were more colourful, but more so it's because all we see are black and white and faded colour photographs.

When the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg painstakingly did their recreation of the original 1890 production of Sleeping Beauty, the people in charge were shocked at how insanely colourful--perhaps even gaudy--it was when they actually found the correct fabircs. Nothing from the photographs and colour illustrations of the time prepared them for that, though reviews of the time did comment on it.

Watching these clips reminded me of the documentary and book on reconstructing that ballet--for these older productions it really is so much work, down to the fabrics used. Luckily with Oklahoma so much of the Agnes de Mille choreography (that no production has bettered) has been passed down through the ages, as often that's the first thing lost. (I admit that's why I wish I was a billionaire who could finance remountings of other famous original productions--like, of course, Follies--while people involved in the original production are still around...)

Of course one thing that is the hardest to recreate is that singing, acting and dancing styles change so quickly. With Sleeping Beauty they had to come to a compromise of using 1800s ballet technique with what people use now, as it was too hard to completely retrain a ballet dancer's mentality not to extend as far, etc. I wonder if similar things were done to try to get more of a 1940s acting and singing style here? Updated On: 4/28/11 at 09:05 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 9:31pm

Wow, $100 for a college production. If I had the cash, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Posted: 4/28/11 at 10:00pm

The prices are steep I thought too, but I assume a lot of that has to do with how expensive it was for the school to do all the recreation (and I guess to hire someone to teach the dancers the choreography and DeMille vocabulary, etc etc). Didn't realize Terrence Mann was director.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 4/28/11 at 10:21pm

Very cool. I'd love to see a production of Company done like this!

Posted: 4/28/11 at 10:34pm

Me too! That's pretty much my top dream--maybe even more than Follies...

[elmore3003]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 12:25pm

Since North Carolina School of the Arts is a professional training program, I don't look on this as a typical "student" production. I expect the quality of acting, singing, and dancing to be much higher than most schools, beyond those with excellent musical theatre programs. can provide.

Some of the productions I've seen at the Ohio Light Opera, which considers itself a professional program, are worse than some "student" productions I've seen.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 10:10am

The school's website has added a few more production shots of the final product and it really is a spectacular recreation. Hoping somebody who posts here sees it and reports back.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 10:56am

NCSA Alum Terrence Mann stepped in as director when original director and NCSA Theater Dept Dean Gerald Freedman was sidelined with a couple of strokes.

The good news is that Jerry is very well on the mend!

[LizzW]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 1:33pm

I was there and WOW! I have a friend who teaches at UNCSA and I went last night. It is an astounding production. I was told that Celeste Holm and Joan Roberts attended a gala performance last weekend--both in their 90s. Gemze De Lappe recreated the deMille choreography--she is 89. The sets built and painted, costumes, wigs, make-up, stage management all students and cast (except Aunt Eller) were students. Laurey is a college sophomore! The research was exhaustive and the rumor is that it is being taped for a NC TV station. The UNCSA.edu website seems to add photos daily. If you are within driving distance do try to snag a ticket. Closes on Sunday.
Rodgers and Hammerstein website

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 2:07pm

Thanks for posting comments on the production, Lizz - I have a friend who also saw the show last weekend and said it was 'shocking' and he meant that in the best possible way. He said, as we all kind of expected, seeing the original designs and staging was an incredible and delightfully surprising insight into the roots of what was really the pioneering production of the modern musical theatre.

Glad to hear its potentially getting a major taping.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 2:08pm

What a tribute this production is to the ongoing legacy of Gerald Freedman, both at NCSA and on Broadway. He is a wonderful man who has enriched the lives and careers of countless actors, writers, composers, designers, choreographers and students.

For those who do not know, Jerry Freedman was the Artistic Director of the New York Shakespeare Festival in the 1960s and directed the original off-Broadway production of Hair, before it went to Broadway with Tom O'Horgan as director.

He was the artistic director of the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut, the Great Lakes Shakespeare Company in Cleveland, Ohio, and John Houseman's The Acting Company.

On Broadway, he directed The Robber Bridegroom, The Grand Tour and The Gay Life, with Barbara Cook.

He began his career as Jerome Robbins's assistant on the original productions of Bells Are Ringing, Gypsy and West Side Story, and he was the co-director with Robbins of the 1980 West Side revival with Debbie Allen.

And for those who have read my numerous posts about West Side and its creators, it was for that production of West Side that Jerry Freedman hired me as his assistant, taking notes for him and Mr. Robbins (as we were all told to call him) on the book scenes...as Peter Gennaro and Lee Theodore and Tom Abbott worked with Robbins to re-stage the dances...while Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Laurents and Mr. Sondheim (as we were all told to call them too) watched and worried and kvetched and complained. And fought. And for which experience I have gratitude to Jerry so deep it forms much of my very being.

Jerry has always been a great teacher, and I think everyone who ever worked with him or studied with him felt better about their work (and sometimes their lives) for having worked with him.

He and Gemze De Lappe were close for many decades, and I can just picture the two of them coming up with the idea for this Oklahoma and figuring out how to re-create it and yet make it fresh. I'm so happy it seems to have worked out that way and that it's become such a success. How lovely that Terrance Mann stepped in and did the job so well.

Updated On: 5/5/11 at 02:08 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 3:01pm

I completely agree with you, PalJoey, on your assessment and praise of Mr. Freedman. I have worked with him very briefly twice in my early career. The first time was when I was stage managing West Side Story in undergrad. Our director, and head of our musical theatre program, was a former protegee of his and he came in for a few rehearsals to offer some insight and some history on the piece. The other time was when I was working on the production of A Christmas Carol that he adapted and originally staged for Great Lakes Theater Festival. It was the 15th (I think) anniversary production for the staging and he again came in for a few days to observe some run throughs and give notes and really clarify and clean some of the details that had become muddied over the years of being remounted by various directors.

Just a great man who really seems to be happy and proud to nurture young students beginning their theatrical career. I'm glad to hear that he is on the mend and that this production was still able to happen even with him being sidelined. I'm sure knowing that all was still going on as planned has helped him with his own recuperation.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 10:20pm

Hey! Gemze is only 85, watch it...

this looks brilliant. stunning. Anyone heard anything about the cast? DO they have a good Curley and Laurey?

[LizzW]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 3:14pm

Not unless Gemze deLappe was fibbing at her birthday party that I attended--she says she is 89! The Curley is a UNCSA music student who graduated last year. He is gorgeous and sounded like he will have a bway career ahead. Laurey is a college sophomore in drama who is a stunner with a voice to match. UNCSA is lucky to have her for two more years, and Gerald Freedman and colleagues have a beautiful talent to train. Take a look at the photos on Playbill.com. John Mauceri, (ON YOUR TOES, SONG AND DANCE, CANDIDE, etc. etc. ) is Chancellor at UNCSA and conducted. He conceived this project with Gerald Freedman. They also did a production of West Side Story together 4 years ago. Wes Taylor and Dane deHaan were in that as college seniors. Wonder what UNCSA will be up to next?