Dylan F. Thomas and Jennifer Kersey (Photo courtesy of VOPA)
Reviewed by Steven Leigh Morris
VOPA at El Portal Theatre
Through Feb. 23.
RECOMMENDED
In 2022, Daniel Fish brought the touring production of his internationally heralded, redux version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! to the Ahmanson Theatre. It was a scaled back rendering with a small onstage band and a minimalist, 21st century sensibility, including a multi-racial cast with a conspicuously trans star, Sis, in the role of the libidinous Ado Annie (“I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No”). With no lack of joy, that production underscored the darker threads of American history that Rodgers and Hammerstein were somewhat discreetly pointing to.
A new incarnation, produced by the Valley Opera & Performing Arts (VOPA) at NoHo’s El Portal Theatre, couldn’t be more different. It’s traditional with a capital “T,” thrusting us back to 1943, when the musical premiered on Broadway (to become the longest-running Broadway musical of its time). It has a full orchestra in a pit and cast almost as white and expansive (22 actors, and two different casts) as a snowy Midwest plain. They’ve cut nothing from the libretto, resulting in a playing time of over three hours. Music director Noreen Green has crafted a pleasing balance between the orchestra and the miked actors who, collectively and individually, are in full command of the score.
Beside the joy of recognizing songs and lyrics that theater afficionados were weaned on (“All the sounds of the earth are like music, All the sounds of the earth are like music, The breeze is so busy it don’t miss a tree, And an old weepin’ willer is laughin’ at me.”), the production comes enveloped in a sadness borne of our age, a recognition of who we, as Americans, have become since 1943.
I don’t mean this to be postcard for nostalgia, since Rodgers and Hammerstein were pointing directly to transactional hyper-binary gender relations (the guy who has the deepest pockets gets the “girl” at the auction), sexual violence, and a porn-addicted, incel outcast — for example, Judd Fry (Joe Chiapa) who aims to romance his reluctant target, Laurey (Katie McTyre) via purchasing and then threatening her. Meanwhile the women who, when married, are owned, exert their pre-wed power through manipulations and deceit, such as playing hard-to-get during courtship and toying with the emotions of their arrogant and often dim-witted suitors, particularly in the case of Will Parker (Zach McDonald). Ado Annie (Amanda Benjamin) exerts her “independence” by sleeping around — a dubious means of accruing power, but she just can’t contain herself. All of this was one 20th century definition of romance. And the wash of music here is the personification of romanticism.
These domestic 20th century tyrannies aside, 1943 was a year we were at war with Nazis, rather than chiding Europeans for muzzling Nazi hate speech before hypocritically lecturing them on democracy. “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” is an anthem of optimism, and there’s the rub some 80 plus years later. The veins of vengeance, corruption and spite that run through American history were tempered then by a higher calling against international bullies. Our soldiers died for that cause. How, then, did we come to align ourselves with the bullies, leaving our friends in the dust?
Watching Dylan F. Thomas’s gorgeously directed show, with Gary Roberts pristinely executed, ever-so-show-biz choreography (including an extended ballet sequence near the end of Act 1), is like watching a museum exhibit, a carousel of snapshots from another era — those people, now dead, with all their contradictions, cruelties and aspirations. Behind all the murkiness is the prospect of a nation that can stand for something good, something noble. In that era, hope was Broadway’s most lucrative export, and the world loved us for it. That’s where the sadness of today comes from. It’s a completely different feeling from watching Daniel Fish’s very 21st century version, and no less valuable.
Valley Opera & Performing Arts (VOPA) at El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershin Blvd., N. Hollywood.; Sat., 1 & 6 pm; Sun., 1 pm; thru Feb. 23. Running time: three hours and 10 minutes, plus intermission. https://elportaltheatre.com/oklahoma.html
