Last night I watched Oklahoma! the St. Ann's Warehouse transplant to Circle in the Square Theatre. This is the type of the theatre I love: where someone takes the concept of a show and asks "What if?" Actors do this in their process but in the actual creation of a show, committing to going as far as you can in a direction is riveting to watch. Like the quick but dense song "This is America" this production uses it's theatrical prowess to shed light on important issues facing America today.
Stripped down from the original full orchestra production, at points the audience would literally be in the dark listening to people practically whispering over microphones. With a 5 person band, what would normally be large orchestral numbers were often sung by one person a cappella. A few intimate moments were shown as on camera close ups. The orchestra was onstage and they were very much a part of the story.
For an extremely high price you could sit on the stage with the performers. As inspecting these audience members I saw what one would normally see: older white people and young celebrities who hid their countenance from the world with sunglasses. I did see two Asian men, which isn't really strange though they were the only non-white people there. It made me start to imagine that they were very rich businessmen from Tokyo or something (which could be totally untrue!). Then I started to wonder if that's who they were, what did they think of the show?
That's when I started to really think about the entire concept of the show and why we are reviving it here and now. To me, the creators are reflecting our roots to us and showing both the light, celebratory side and the darker side of our country. The immersive aspect of the show invites the audience members to sit and eat at the same table. We are suddenly a community. We are all a part of and responsible for this shared space.
It's clear as soon as you walk into the theatre. Plywood walls line the perimeter and hanging on the walls are rifles. We are suddenly transported into the wild west, a place that still perfectly reflects our southern neighbors. One of the musicians had a slide guitar. It reminded me of when I was kid I used to do country line dancing. Suddenly I was a part of this production too.
Curly's entrance has become so familiar to us all, it was refreshing to see how clearly the director comments on his character. It was immediately clear to me that Curly was a very sensitive young man and that his gun slinging, machismo was very much put on, even more so as he desperately attempts to woo Laurie. Her reaction though is the opposite. She doesn't respond well at all to this kind of behavior. We are all aware how ridiculous men can be when they are trying to woo a woman but lying about your suped up ride or "surrey with the fringe on top" doesn't fly.
The song "Oh the farmer and the cowmen should be friends" is probably the easiest thing to relate to in our American culture of polarization. The song is brilliant in that it's a catchy chorus but in the verses the two rival groups take jabs at each other. In the middle of the song it boils over and they almost start a fight. It calms down enough for them to finish. As a hopeful cowman continues to sing "Territory folks should stick together." It reminded me of how group prejudice is everywhere and the rise of racism and neo-natzi's is proving that the division that our country began with is alive and well today. Our human tendency to side with the familiar and demonize the other was all too real as I watched this story unfold.
In this show the modern exploration of the theme of sex, specifically in how men and women relate to each other when they want it, took the heat from medium low and turned it to high. I think the way I had seen this show before, it took the point of view of being playful with the idea of sex but also there was a purity about it. In other words, religious overtones screamed easy does it. In this production however, the only person hiding their desire was Laurie, at first, and her motives did not seem puritanical. Like our modern culture that celebrates sex, each character was unapologetic in their desire.
As soon as Ado Annie hit the stage she was the strongest female sex goddess I have ever seen. She was primal in her power and it was revetting to watch. Her take on Annie as innocent was that she was discovering and exploring sex and it was fun and she just was the way she was and she wasn't going to change at all.
There was a song, I think it was "People will say we're in love," where Curly and Laurie are hardcore flirting with each other. I love how over the top it was where normally this number is coy and veiled like Laurie is at the top of the show. But isn't that how we are in real life when we just start dating and are trying to impress someone? At one point Curly grabs a guitar and she goes "Not the guitar." By the end of the number he is singing on a microphone and playing the guitar and she is full out dancing to his song. It switches to their fantasy and in it he's singing softly to her and she is close to him. Her movements aren't even overtly sexual, she's just unusually close to him. It's enough that she's near to him for us to feel the desire that he feels pulling at every part of his being.
As we are still reeling from the #Metoo movement and everyone is talking about consent, I was very intrigued to see how it was handled. From the moment we are introduced to Judd he is a character to be feared. Laurie admits that she goes to the dance with him because she's afraid of him. And therein lies the beginning of a conversation on consent. She doesn't want to be near him. She does what he wants out of fear. But this finally reaches a point where even she says no and the director chooses to take it there. The lights of the theatre are off and we hear him unbuckle his pants. Suddenly Laurie rises up in defiance and fires him. Everyone is proud of her but we feel the pain and the fear because of how she has been treated.
I was immediately struck by how character of Judd was played. He could easily pass as any one of the mentally unstable mass shooters we have read about over the years. He had a creepy obsession and possessiveness over Laurie. It was clear though from his conversation with Curly that he was struggling with deep pain and desired approval so desperately.
From the beginning, the use of guns to protect foreshadows their violent use later on. The very real age-old father protecting his daughter by threatening a man with less than perfect intentions was there from the get-go. We do tend to laugh at this but it's also primal, and scary and a force to be reckoned with. Next, Curly and Judd use guns to compete and intimidate each other as they dual for the heart of Laurie. Curly creepily woos Judd into believing he'd be better off dead, making the ending where someone is shot and killed even more poignant.
Oklahoma! tells a story elevating hot button issues that are on the American conscience today: toxic masculinity, group prejudice, the roles of men and women, consent, and gun violence. My prayer is that America would not react the way they do in the musical to the words "for we know we belong to the land and the land we belong to is grand." But would instead take it to heart and begin to respect the land and each other with a stronger, fiercer love and courage.
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