Based on a folk-play, "Green Grow the Lilacs," this musical was created during the darkest days of World War II and was meant to bring some light-weight joy into the lives of American soldiers overseas and to their families, particularly their mothers, who dreaded their untimely deaths to do battle. The authors set out to write a forthright show with romance at the helm and no unfortunate death threats or major upsets. Therefor Ado Annie was to be a flirt who baked great pies and who kissed everyone around that made a movement in the direction of a bed or a hayloft. "The Farmers and the Cowmen" should be friends. Home-churned butter was to be anticipated and shared. The cornstalks - "high as a elephant's eye" were to be enjoyed as much as the corn that populates the lyrics to the songs. Maybe it was in the writing; perhaps it was in the producing, but the final result was a harbinger of the darkness in men's souls that produce big wars and small personal battles that, speaking of both aspects, cannot be won. It was wartime and we were now in it. The show's final moments left audiences high enough to sing the songs and forget the plot in the light of the darker international events taking place every day. That optimistic view of the show has persisted to this day, but the production, concluding the Mac-Haydn Theatre's current season has brought back the darkness that makes the show so distinctive. 

"Oklahoma" will leave you singing, but even its brightest tunes may take on some of their original sense of intimidation as you sing them in the car going home. "People Will Say We're In Love" is a pessimistic view of a relationship that skids along in interpersonal spurts. "I Cain't Say No" becomes a song about compulsive behavior that would keep a psychiatrist busy for years. "The Surrey With the Fringe on The Top" grabs its hearer by the psychological throat and inflicts damage demanding a choice that the girl in the picture cannot make due to an earlier promise. Without the context they are all lovely songs, but the play, happily on stage in Chatham, NY, provides real reasons to wonder about their popularity. This is the best edition I've seen of the this early example of musical realism and its style and delivery is a wonder after all this time. Why haven't more companies given us the model of the modern musical? They haven't had John Saunders at the helm.

Meredith Lustig as Laurey; Photo: Ann Kielbasa

The heroine, Laurey, is an innocent who has taken charge of the family farm with the gentle overview of her Aunt Ella. Aunt "Eller" is played in this production by Cathy Lee-Visscher. It is, probably, the finest performance I have ever seen from this actress. She is strong, specific, musical and dramatic, sweetly comic when necessary and direct with her advice or admonition  when needed. When she disapproves of something her niece does or says, you know it, but family is family and that tie is indisputable so when Laurey needs her "Eller" is on her side, at her side, instantly.

Laurey is the sensible girl she believes herself to be, but she still has heart and she can be swayed and dismayed and even obeyed when she makes the right call or decision. Meredith Lustig gets into those mood changes perfectly and her performance is as dramatically correct as the notes she sings in her songs. She is lovely to look at, delicious to hear and when she starts to resolve her own issues about love, Lustig's Laurey is divine, her teasing is sensible and her fears are palpable. She is the best Laurey I've seen since Barbara Cook, years ago at the City Center revival in New York.

Her light comedy counterpart, Ado Annie, is played by Rachel Pantazis who kicks up a sandstorm of love on condition. She is humorous and odd at the same time. Her affair with the peddler Ali Hakim (an all-too-young William Taitel) is a mutual tease and when he winds up with Gertie (Jesse Lynn Harte), a very wrong woman, in his bed  Pantazis' reactions are as funny as her spoken lines.

As Annie's real boyfriend the up-and-coming young star at the Mac-Haydn, Andrew Burton Kelley, proves himself again to be a fine dancer and acrobat, a convincing actor and singer and a charmer to boot. This combination of players is a truly excellent pairing. 

The villain of the play is Jud Fry, played by Rob Brinkmann, who is almost as attractive as James Benjamin Roders, making him the most desirable Jud I have ever seen. I like it when actors can do the confusing thing. We can hear and see in Brinkmann's performance the disagreeable character of Jud, but when that is contrasted with his outight sexiness and his attractive, if shabby, appearance it is clear the Laurey is not just using him to make Curly jealous; there is a genuine threat to the man she taunts with her charms. Ultimately these techniques of hers have a worse effect on Jud. Brinkmann plays to that objective admirably and though we cannot like Jud, this actor shows us his possibilities while showing us his impossibilities. When he is taunted into considering a suicide to gain respect it is an emotional turning point in the show. His solo, "Lonely Room," was beautifully performed by Brinkmann making it possible to almost admire Jud. That's an achievement.

John Saunders has done wonders with this near-chestnut of a show. He has restored the drama and killed the imposed lightness. He has taken a fresh look at a revered classic and given it back the class that made it the biggest hit of the 1940s (it's not just the solo off-stage opening number as is often stated). His design team has done some stunning work: fine costumes by Bethany Marx, a complex set design by Kevin Gleason, superb lighting by Andrew Gmoser and the best sound design of the year by Nathan Schitz. 

If you love "Oklahoma!" go warned. If, like me, you've had enough of this show, go prepared to be stunned into applause by this stellar production. There is true genius, outside of and beyond the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, on the theater-in-the round stage in Chatham, NY.

+  08/23/19  +