Director: Trevor Nunn
Writer: Oscar Hammerstein II (Book) Lynn Riggs (Play)
Starring: Maureen Lipman, Hugh Jackman, Josefina Gabrielle, David Shelmerdine, Jimmy Johnston, Shuler Hensley
Plot: Cowboy Curly McClain tries to win the heart of a girl in a singing and dancing extravaganza.
Runtime: 3 Hours
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Theatre Experience
Story: Oklahoma! Starts as cowboy Curly (Jackman) is trying to get farm girl Laurey Williams (Gabrielle) to be his date for dance, her heart is torn between what she wants in him and what would be right, going with the farm hand Jud (Hensley). Playing matchmaker is Aunt Eller (Lipman) who wants best for her niece.
The battle between the men is on leaving Laurey to make the difficult decision herself, while on route to the party just where will everything go.
Thoughts on Oklahoma!
Characters – Aunt Eller is the lady pulling the strings between her niece and the other single women in the west, she can keep peace between the different backgrounds. Curly is a cowboy that is full of confidence that wants to be with Laurey, he is honourable and desirable for the women in the town and sets his sights on Laurey only. Laurey is the farm girl in search of a husband and is torn over two men, one she loves and one that has helped her family the most. Jud is the rival that wants Laurey’s hand in marriage, she is rougher around the edges making him feel like he would be a bad husband.
Performances – When going into the performance we must understand this is the stage recording of the story, the whole cast show their talents off here to make this feel truly believable like you are one of the audience, and Jackman doesn’t even stand out over the rest of the performers.
Story – The story here is a theater classic, it focuses mostly on a young farm woman that is searching for a husband and being torn between her feelings and marrying for supporting in the wild west era. This is a slow story and you can understand why it is a stage musical, making it 3 hours is strange because there isn’t too much going on for the most part though.
Musical/Romance/Western – The musical numbers are big and magical, easily the most important part of the film. the romance side of the film follows Laurey as she must make her choice about how to treat love. The western side of the film comes from the setting and time which shows us just where we are meant to be watching.
Settings – This is a recording of the theater production, we know the settings are only going to be the stage and what can be placed on it, this does work for this very well.
Scene of the Movie – Dream sequence.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is way too long.
Final Thoughts – This is a musical production that gets to highlight Hugh Jackman when he first broke into Hollywood, it is known as the classic show and has nothing wrong with the performance, but it is overly long.
Overall: Easy access to Musical world.
Rating
