In This ‘Oklahoma!,’ She Loves Her and He Loves Him

Go ahead with these shows, at your peril. Homosexuals have, thankfully, always been a pillar of the theater community, but that was on the stage. The ticket buyers are overwhelmingly hetero and not as liberal as you in the theater industry wish. Broadway is becoming more and more isolated from the majority to please those in that industry by increasingly putting on shows with such in-your-face, gratuitous themes. I stopped any notion of seeing the latest revival of "My Fair Lady" when I read the gleeful Times review that the women in the pub in the "Get Me to the Church" scene were actually men in drag. Why did the director specify that casting? All the women, lesbian or not, who were available for the show --- the prestige of a Broadway show! --- had broken legs? No, it was to please a constituency. Sorry, female dancers and actresses hungering for a part, any part, you lost to ideology: Men can be women just as good as you. Broadway and the theater universe, you will see your world of overpriced tickets start to dwindle, and dwindle rapidly, as you try to be oh-so-politically-correct, as you twist plots and characters to fit your, not our mindset.

It's interesting to speculate if Lynn Riggs, who was the original author & was gay, would have incorporated gay themes if it had been permissible in the 1930's. And if Rodgers, who claimed to have been blind to Lorenz Hart's gayness, would have accepted it. These productions don't seem so far-fetched now.

Probably more historically accurate than many would like to acknowledge. There weren't many women out west for quite a spell and those cattle drives were mighty lonely no matter your persuasion.

Even to say that Gilbert & Sullivan are "dead" over 100 years after they presented their last creation is to suggest the very opposite: they they are very much alive and well. How many other 100+ year old musicals can he name I wonder.

But the million dollar question is-- Is Jud male or female?

Regarding the young man who left his seat to "throw up" because he was seeing two men kissing onstage: A mother and her daughter in my row got up and left, too. Maybe they were offended, maybe not. The theater program and the website discussing the plays makes it clear that this is a transgender show--if you know you're going to be offended, why go see it? Nothing that happened on that stage, nothing I saw, was a surprise, because the organization had told me what to expect beforehand. If I got it, everyone did.

How about "My Fair Laddie"?

I would venture to guess that the Commenters here who are dismissing the OSF "Oklahoma" as "gimmicky" or "politically correct" didn't see it. I did. And as a Theater Major (and we are almost as insufferable as an English Major) I was prepared to diss it with the same charges. I was wrong. It was an extraordinarily moving and delightful production. (That horrendous smokehouse scene between Judd and Curley was SO deftly acted and directed I was entranced.) Here's the thing - at any given moment on stage there were white people, black people, Asian people, Latino people, pregnant people, gay people, transgender people - it was a societal smorgasbord. As an audience member, once you got past the knee-jerk need to "identify" who you were seeing on stage, all you saw and heard was the love. If that isn't a testament to the legacy of R&H, whose body of work took on the issues of prejudice and hate again and again, I don't know what is.

"Oklahoma" is really about bullying, rejection and revenge, although the script doesn't acknowledge or address it. The popular crowd humiliates Judd Fry-- demonizes him, taunts him, rejects him--and he retaliates due to shame and rage. I'd like to see the musical address that issue, which is clearly right there in the original and makes it hard for me to watch it. I can't be the only one to see that.....

It is a sign of a true classic that a work can withstand all concepts layered on it and all lenses applied to it and come out only richer. Those dismissing casting and directorial choices such as those described here as superficial or politically correct expose themselves as narrow-minded, ossified, lacking in empathy and creative vision. Theatre is an inclusive art and for too many centuries, many were prevented from inclusion and still struggle. All the sneering postulation about a hypothetical production in which gay characters are rendered straight- as if the struggles of all groups has been equal and true equality has finally been attained!- should be called out for the hollow and thinly-veiled bigotry it is. Because at the end of the day, people who don’t get to see themselves onstage very much get to see themselves in these productions. And if you don’t like that, well, there are some very good traditional versions of Oklahoma on film. And they’re mostly white and as straight as the show gets, so you won’t even have to risk damaging your pearls from clutching them too hard.

You missed Ryan Landry's Brokelahomo, which is really good.

It just goes to show, you can take a quality piece of theatre like this, turn it upside down, and the work will still stand on it’s own. Thank god the R&H organization has a smart open minded person at its helm in Ted Chapin. You can’t destroy quality, and thankfully a new generation of theatre goers will be turned on to this wonderful classic musical play. How can anyone resist these delicious multiple rhymes: “I’m just a fool when Iights are low, I cain’t be prissy an’ quaint, I ain’t the type that can faint, how can I be what I ain’t, I cain’t say no.” Now sung by Ado ‘Andy’ to Will Parker? Heaven.

I always wondered why Laurey and Curly were so worried that "people will say we're in love." But as a same-sex couple, it actually makes sense. Their declaration at the end of the song, "let people say we're in love," takes on new meaning with this reimagining.

I wonder if a gay love themed musical theatre production redone as heterosexually oriented would be greeted with the same ardent anticipation? Or would such an innovation not engender much interest. John Poole

Political correctness run amok. America is in worse trouble than any of us thought if a great musical like Oklahoma can be perverted by changing the genders of its characters. If you absolutely need to see gay acting, just rent Brokeback Mountain. Leave the classic musicals and movies alone as they are.

The real question is: how many seats will they fill? Carousel is near death by now, due to the changed script, changed music, 'update' from a master piece to a liberal values commercial. And people are staying away.

The design team under the authority of the director made the look of the production appear "theatrical" as opposed to strictly naturalistic. The effect of such a choice makes the whole idea feel dramatic and theatrical and not naturalistic. It's way too clean. When this show goes to Broadway, please redesign the show so that the production envelopes the entire space, including the audience, and makes everyone feel (actors and audience) that they are in a naturally occurring world that feels natural. The straw bales should shed straw, the world of Oklahoma is beautifully dirty and dusty, it's not metrosexual-clean, and so there should be a warmth of filth. The show needs to have "Dirt Pride." We need to know that the lives of the people onstage is natural as the natural world, we need to feel it, see it, smell it and hear it. Please, pretty please, design this show so that it is photorealistic naturalism with extreme attention to detail. No crisp and clean cycloramas with fake moons!

Sorry, but, the director's denial notwithstanding, this is a gimmick, displaying how au courant the production is. "See the men kissing! See the women kissing! Aren't we "woke"! I'm fine with an all-black "Oklahoma", as well as a black king in "Lear" or a white lead in "Othello". People are people, after all, and acting is acting. However, if there is universality in musicals, or Shakespeare, it's because of the words and ideas behind them, not casting gimmicks.

All I can say is that Teddy Chapin will do anything to make a buck for the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. Ado Andy? Even worse than Peter Gelb's follies at the Met.

As long as we're rewriting classic musicals about heterosexual couples to update them to 21st century sensibilities, why not update gay-themed musicals like "La Cage Aux Folles" as heterosexual romances? I can see it now: a young man announces his engagement to his boyfriend, but he doesn't tell his fiancé's mothers that his parents are a man and a woman. Hilarity ensues as the lesbian couple come to dinner at the heterosexual couple's house, and the wife disguises herself as a man so she and her husband can pass as a nice gay couple. There are many others: "Rent," "The Rocky Horror Show," "Cabaret." The possibilities are endless.

Some of the storylines and songs actually make more sense if the characters are same-sex. It's cute that Laurey and Curly are worried that people will say they're in love, but really, why are they worried? But if they are both women, the song suddenly takes on deeper meaning — when they sing "let people say we're in love," it would be a courageous declaration.

Pretty lazy, I'd say, switching genders/roles/etc. in classic plays and calling that creativity and innovation. Bah humbug! Where are the creative and original playwrights these days, or have they gone the way of the dodos?

The first time I saw, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", I reimagined it as great material for 4 men. Sometimes great theater can be elastic and by tweaking it a bit, it becomes even more profound when seen in the present.

I definitely can see this working! I'm quite surprised that this production is seeing the light of day considering the strict protocols placed on R&G productions of the past to basically follow tradition over innovation, obviously done in service of preserving 'sacred text'. But great stage works can survive fresh interpretations, as another commenter notes referring to Shakespeare's lasting oeuvre. I think it needs mentioning that R&G had a mixed legacy when it came to their film adaptations of their stage productions. Three films survived the transition intact : first and foremost, Robert Wise's masterful re-imagining of 'The Sound of Music', turning a traditional, stodgy stage show into one of the all time great screen musicals ; 'The King and I' managed to retain the magic of the Broadway production and preserve the iconic performance of Yul Bryner's indelible portrayal; "Oklahoma', the spectacular TODD-AO wide screen extravaganza nearly equals Sound of Music with its adventurous sense of filmmaking and scenic beauty, plus brilliant orchestrations under the baton of conductor Alfred Newman. Add to that the handsome Gordon MacRae's Curly and then new screen presence of a vibrantly beautiful Shirley Jones as Laurie, two stars who could really sing. The movie is included now in the National Film Registry and deservedly so.

This article illustrates what I have long thought, said, and written: Rodgers and Hammerstein are the American Shakespeare. Their work will endure as long a the human race does.

As a local in the area I loved this production of Oklahoma! I can't wait to see it again very soon. And I have to say they don't make a big deal about the changes to the story it's very subtle and therefore effective.

As a regular attendee at OSF, I applaud their continual efforts at diversity and at putting a new spin on classics. Mr. Rausch will surely be missed, and I hope his successor continues his efforts in supporting diverse artists from actors to playwrights to wardrobe and stagehands. OSF knows that works are never static — they’re always interpreted through the lens of the viewers, and those viewers change with the times. The continually relevant works are those that are both universal and adaptable — not those that are frozen in amber. For these reasons and more OSF is a state treasure.

I would like to suggest that if "classics are classics" and therefore sacrosanct, then significant numbers of people will never get to see themselves in anything "classic". They will have to wait until something created now will be deemed a classic. Oh wait, they'll be dead by then.

I would love to see this production! The best thing about theatre (and about classic shows like these) is that they are reimagined with every new production. Casting Curly as a woman now seems so obvious to me, even though I never thought of it before! This version of "People Will Say We're in Love" has to be fantastic.

I'm sure this is a fun production, although, anyone who went to summer camp, saw same-sex musicals all the time. Yay theater. Yay summer camp

It's just a sign of our times that superficial change is considered profound.

I suppose we can now expect to see "updated" stage productions of "Romeo and Julio," or "Renata and Juliet," or "My Fair Lord," or "Mister Julie" or "Nurse Faustus" or "Oedipus Regina" or "Anna and the Queen of Siam"---no end of possibilities here. I know nostalgia isn't what it used to be, but the reason classics are called classics is that they are, well, classic. Why tamper with proven success? I suspect "adaptations" like these will not see the same box-office success as the originals, especially in flyover country.

What makes great art in any form great is its universality; its ability to transcend the time of its creation to speak to and inspire generations of admirers. With all the rewriting; restructuring; renewing; revising etc. the original still stands as a work of art unto itself. All the revising or appropriating is like tinsel on a beautiful fir tree. Mr. Chapin, the director of the new same sex "Oklahoma" states: “For anybody to think they have to be done in exactly the way they were originally done — I mean, that’s sort of Gilbert and Sullivan thinking, and Gilbert and Sullivan is kind of dead.” "Kind of Dead"?? Generations have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy Gilbert and Sullivan operas. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Chapin's version will stand the test of generations. A better test would be if Mr. Chapin created his own original musicals as G and S did theirs instead of piggy backing on a classic.

I just saw this production last week (and my husband and I brought our 6 year old daughter). It was thrilling and beautifully performed and directed. The audience whistles and claps for same sexy kisses. My daughter got very excited when she realized the women liked each other. “They’re going to kiss, Mommy!” It ended with a rainbow colored moon. Aunt Eller is also wonderfully played by a trans woman.

It's wonderful that we have non-profits in the regions that are able and willing to bring old material to a fresh conversation.

Finally! A fresh new innovative take on a beloved old chestnut. Bravo to Mr Chapin for liberating the ways one can do this show. Why not a same-sex couple version? An Asian version? An all African-American version? Love is blind and this is as it should be. It also sounds like it is in very responsible hands. Bravo to Mr Rauch for having the vision and the passion. I would LOVE to see this.

Bravo!!! this is an old favorite and I wish I could see this production.

These are marvelous shows in no need of repair. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."