Oklahoma! returns to Broadway! Stripped down to reveal the darker psychological truths at its core, Daniel Fish's production tells a story of a community circling its wagons against an outsider, and the violence of the frontier that shaped America.
Over 75 years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this is Oklahoma! as you've never seen or heard it before - reimagined for the 21st century.
The production has gotten fuller, freer, and funnier in its Broadway transfer. Its remarkable actors - especially Damon Daunno's cocky, come-hither Curly McClain and James Davis's ebullient, a-couple-knots-short-of-a-lasso Will Parker - feel loose, confidant, and playful, as if they're all taking deeper breaths and, consequently, greater risks. At St. Ann's Warehouse, the performances had a veneer of experimental coolness, a dry, distanced note in the delivery, as if the actors were standing a little apart from their characters and, along with the audience, observing these familiar figures they'd been given to play. Though that sense of comment remains - and Mary Testa and Rebecca Naomi Jones continue to make the most of it as a wry, ruthless Aunt Eller and a Laurey flush with intense, reserved desire - the characters' humanity now feels as present and comprehensive as the director's style.
But in striving for realness, Fish can actually reduce the level of their appeal, or the degree to which they earn our empathy. The latter is especially true for the show's darkest figure, the farmhand Jud, a troubled loner obsessed with Curly's love interest, Laurey. Though Jud is sometimes played merely as a heavy, better productions have conveyed his own psychological suffering; here, in Patrick Vaill's sulking, seething portrayal, he's a walking mug shot, lifted straight from a news report of the latest shooting spree. (In one scene, projection designer Joshua Thorson casts Vaill's twitching face larger than life on a screen looming at the back of the set.)
1943 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
1943 | US Tour |
1st National Tour US Tour |
1947 | West End |
London Production West End |
1951 | Broadway |
Return Engagement [Broadway] Broadway |
1951 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
1952 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
1953 | Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Broadway |
1958 | Off-Broadway |
City Center Revival Off-Broadway |
1963 | Off-Broadway |
City Center Revival Off-Broadway |
1965 | Off-Broadway |
City Center Revival Off-Broadway |
1969 | Broadway |
Lincoln Center Revival Broadway |
1979 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1980 | West End |
London Revival West End |
1992 | Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
Paper Mill Production Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
1998 | West End |
Royal National Theatre Production West End |
2002 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2015 | St. Louis, MO (Regional) |
The Muny 2015 Production St. Louis, MO (Regional) |
2018 | Off-Broadway |
St. Ann's Warehouse Production Off-Broadway |
2019 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2020 | US Tour |
Broadway Revival tour US Tour |
2023 | West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Damon Daunno |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Rebecca Naomi Jones |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Daniel Fish |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Patrick Vaill |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Ali Stroker |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Mary Testa |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical | Scott Zielinski |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Daniel Kluger |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Daniel Kluger |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Joshua Thorson |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Oklahoma! |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Set Design for a Musical | Laura Jellinek |
2019 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Drew Levy |
2019 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Ali Stroker |
2019 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | Oklahoma! |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Damon Daunno |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Daniel Fish |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Ali Stroker |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Daniel Kluger |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Oklahoma! |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design | Drew Levy |
2019 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | James Davis |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Daniel Fish |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | Daniel Kluger |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical | Damon Daunno |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Ali Stroker |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Mary Testa |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Oklahoma! |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Laura Jellinek |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Musical | Drew Levy |
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