Heartfelt and Hopeful: OKC Theater Revives 'Oklahoma!'

A Nostalgic Return to "Oklahoma!"

For just a moment, and despite the direction to the contrary, Lyn Cramer couldn't help but put her hand on her heart, smile affectionately, and sigh deeply as Dallas Lish stepped into the rehearsal space and drawled out the opening refrain of “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.” Playing the good-humored yet no-nonsense Aunt Eller, the venerable Oklahoma performer quickly put on an indifferent air, steadily working at an old-fashioned butter churn as Lish's Curly—cowboy boots on his feet and gunbelt on his waist—strolled around her, belting the familiar first song from the musical “Oklahoma!”

“OK, hold. With 'All the cattle are standing like statues,' that's when you're gonna first go up to the porch, and you're gonna kind of play around with Aunt Eller, who's not going to acknowledge you. She's working; you will not be charmed by this man,” instructed Lyric Theatre Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron.

In a break during the first day of rehearsals, Cramer said she could manage to act nonchalant as Aunt Eller, but as a longtime lover of musical theater, she couldn't help but be charmed by “Oklahoma!”, especially with Lish singing the famed opening ballad.

“I love his voice — but he knows that — and when he started singing, I just thought, 'This is where it is.' What's great about it is I get teary every time I hear it, because Curly always starts offstage. That's what I wait for: You hear, 'tinkle, tinkle, tinkle' and the intro, and you're just waiting. And then it's lovely ... and it's joyful,” Cramer said.

“I'm really excited to work with these two human beings right here,” she added, indicating Lish and Anette Barrios-Torres, who is playing Laurey. “I'm really thrilled. It's already been fun, and all we did was 30 minutes.”

For the first time since 2015, Lyric Theatre is presenting the first show it ever performed during its inaugural season back in 1963: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s groundbreaking musical “Oklahoma!”

What Can Audiences Expect?

For the third and final show of its summer season at Civic Center Music Hall, the state's official theater is again staging the official state production of the down-home show that bowed on Broadway in 1943 and is still considered one of the most influential musicals ever produced.

“It was an exciting day and a long time coming. It's been about 10 years since Lyric has done it, and I think everyone at the theater has been waiting to work on it again. The town is waiting for it. The state, there's a whole group of people that have moved to Oklahoma that haven't seen the show, and it just has a special place in people's hearts,” Baron told The Oklahoman in a first-day interview behind the scenes at Lyric's Thelma Gaylord Academy in the Plaza District.

Directed by Baron and custom-created for Sooner State audiences, Lyric is performing its fresh, classic staging of “Oklahoma!” July 29–Aug. 3 at the Civic Center.

A Timeless Story with New Depth

For their first collaboration, the now-legendary creative duo Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) adapted Oklahoma Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs’ “Green Grow the Lilacs” into a spirited song-and-dance story set in Riggs’ hometown of Claremore before statehood. Along with “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” “Oklahoma!” features the beloved numbers “People Will Say We’re in Love,” “I Cain’t Say No!” and Oklahoma’s official state song.

The lively musical centers on Laurey (Barrios-Torres), a strong-willed farm girl, and Curly (Lish), a charming, headstrong cowboy. Their love story unfolds amid the comical adventures of their pals Ado Annie (Sierra Sikes) and Will Parker (Joel Stephens), as well as under the menacing shadow of Jud Fry (Jackson Barnes), the solitary hired hand who works on Laurey and Aunt Eller's (Cramer) farm.

A New Perspective on a Classic

Although Laurey is often presented as a simple young farm girl in a love triangle between Curly and Jud, Barrios-Torres said there's more to her story.

“There's been so much that's presented her as a little ingenue, and she's in this beautiful dress. And she has to kind of fight for her life — and she learns it from her aunt. ... The way that she is has been a matter of survival, and she's learned it from the strongest woman she knows, her Aunt Eller,” said the Oklahoma City University alumnus.

Her relationship with Curly is really fascinating, because they've grown up together and had this kind of push and pull their whole lives. But she's not so willing to give up what she does have for the sake of just having a guy, the way that a lot of other girls in the town would.

Why Is 'Oklahoma!' More Relevant Than Ever?

While Barrios-Torres is a newcomer to “Oklahoma!”, Lish is as comfortable in the more than 80-year-old show as Curly would be on horseback. His experience with the iconic musical dates back to 2010, when he performed it at the fabled Discoveryland amphitheater near Sand Springs.

From 1978 to 2011, the outdoor venue staged “Oklahoma!” on a near nightly basis every summer. In 1993, Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers, and William Hammerstein, the son of Oscar Hammerstein II, designated the amphitheater the “National Outdoor Home of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Oklahoma!'”

“It was a fantastic experience. It was very hot, because the show runs the middle of the summer. And we'd run into all sorts of things that, really, the audience doesn't know that we do, like skunks in the dressing room and snakes and all of that. But, I mean, hey, that is Oklahoma,” Lish said.

“So, to be part of a production on the landscape of Oklahoma, doing this show 'Oklahoma!,' it was an incredible experience, and one that I'll never forget. We rode real horses, and the horses knew the show better than we did.”

Although Lyric's production will take place in the contemporary, air-conditioned confines of an indoor theater, Lish said he thinks “Oklahoma!” can still capture audiences' imaginations.

“The magic starts with just the heart of the show: real people doing real things that are not necessarily easy, especially during that time period, and being able to come together,” he said. “I think the magic is still the same, and I certainly feel it with the cast already, just that warmth and the willingness to put in the work into this show. And I think it's gonna read to the audience that's able to enjoy it.”

For Baron, the themes of “Oklahoma!” are needed now more than ever.

“The idea of people coming together with 'Plen’y of heart and plen’y of hope' is a great message to hear. And Rodgers & Hammerstein's score with the full orchestra is amazing,” he said.

Final Details

“Oklahoma!”
When: July 29–Aug. 3.
Where: Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker.
Tickets: https://lyrictheatreokc.com/shows/oklahoma