Review: ROGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S OKLAHOMA! at Golden Gate Theatre, San Francisco

It's hard to overstate the importance of Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! in the history of musical theatre. It came onto the stage for the first time in 1943, reconstituting the American myth of manifest destiny and our place in the world. With WWII underway overseas, Oklahoma! it sparked a renewed appreciation here at home for the founding of the nation out of Indian Territory. (Even in this revival, Oklahoma! it is still a product of its time).

Director Daniel Fish's vision for Oklahoma! could hardly be more novel, brilliant or disturbing. From beginning to end, through and through, the darker elements of the show actually shine the brightest, highlighting the edgy and the scary, compelling the audience/nation to confront the fact that, unlike the beloved opening number, everything is not going our way. It's all the more striking that with all of its novel qualities, Fish, almost as if on a dare, doesn't change a word of the original script, succeeding in making the contrast between his revival and the original even more jarring.

Scott Zielinski takes up the theme of extremes with his Tony-nominated lighting-design. As the audience walks in, not only is the picnic-tabled stage brilliantly lit with the halogen-style starkness of operating room lights, a row of strip lights faces outward, illuminating the first half of the orchestra seating. There is no hiding in this show, either for audience or cast.

And the cast! All of a sudden, as if from nowhere, they make their way stridently onto the stage, almost scowling as they do, some seething with anger. Their visages grim, they stare right out into the audience. It's not quite a breaking of the fourth wall - they never talk to us - but it is immediately unnerving. It's a diverse cast, which, now that a certain Lin Manuel Miranda broke that barrier down, is a refreshing change.

Aunt Eller (played wonderfully by Barbara Walsh) is clearly the no-nonsense matriarch of the community, yet even here, her wild and wiry hair, belies a stereo-typed midwestern sternness. It's her niece, Laurey (the brilliant Sasha Hutchings) that a cowboy named Curly (Sean Grandillo's mild-mannered, guitar-playing Curly is gentle...until he isn't) wants to take to the box social dance that evening, but she turns him down.

It will be Jud Fry (Christopher Bannow gives a stellar performance), the lonely and disturbed farmhand who Laurey says yes to. Then there's Will Parker (the hilarious and slightly math-challenged Hennessy Winkler) who wants to marry Ado Annie (a randy and uninhibited Sis) and the equally funny Benj Mirman as Ali Hakim, the peddler turned husband to the can't-stop-laughing Gertie Cummings (Hannah Solow).

If you haven't seen this revival, then you're in for a complex, disturbing Oklahoma! -- one whose realism, you may discover, was always there -- hidden in plain sight.

Rogers & Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA!
AUG. 16 - SEP. 11, 2022
Golden Gate Theatre, San Francisco
Running Time: 2 Hour 45 Minutes
including one intermission.
AGES Recommended for ages 12+.
No children under 5 allowed.