Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 05/27/2008 Run time: 180 minutes Rating: NrWhen Mary Rodgers, daughter of the composer Richard Rodgers, was reported as saying she never wanted to see another Oklahoma!, it was her way of paying the highest tribute to Trevor Nunn’s production at the Royal National Theatre which was subsequently taken into the studio and filmed. The camera follows the playgoers into the auditorium of the Olivier where in their company we watch the show and applaud the numbers as the real thing. Nunn treats Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration with the utmost seriousness, restoring the full text so that it comes across as a drama indebted to Eugene O’Neill. Although Oklahoma! unfolds at a leisurely pace, it is extraordinary how one is drawn into the drama under Nunn’s direction.
There’s seldom a wish for true locations as the pace picks up and we move into the claustrophobic company of Judd Fry in his riveting encounter with the cowboy Curly. The close-up camera work affords an experience the theatre can’t bring and also pays handsome dividends in appreciating Susan Stroman’s intricate and lively choreography. Her dancers are a fine team, notably Jimmy Johnston who is outstanding as Will Parker leading the Kansas City ensemble. Hugh Jackman (X-Men) as Curly matches him in vocal prowess and looks, and Shuler Hensley sings the tricky role of Judd Fry very well. It’s harder to place Peter Polycarpou’s Pedlar, a considerably larger role than in the film version, whose accent strays from London’s East End to the plains of Europe. Maureen Lipman, rightly deemed the lynchpin of the musical by Nunn, is a joy to watch as Aunt Eller. Laurey (Josefina Gabrielle) and Ado Annie (Vicki Simon) are good but not special. Aside from an abrupt start to Act Two and the occasional voice off microphone, the production sounds good with a larger orchestra present than in the theatre. An Oklahoma! on an epic scale. –Adrian Edwards
Buy “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! “ For Only $15.15
March 5, 2010
#1
Oklahoma has never been one of my favs on the Broadway hit parade. But the prospects of the formitable Hugh Jackman at the Helm as Curly in a newly staged show, caused a light stir in my home when we learned of the new, much hyped production. But Seldon have I witnessed the dulling down of a such a cherished piece of american musical theatre. Truthfully, if it not for Jackman and the man cast as Judd Fry this re-staging wouldnt have been worth the space on a DVD. Calling this show drab and unexciting would be overstating it. Visually, it is a vapid, drab, muted, empty space cosisting of sickly looking corn fields and grayish skies, filled with off-off-Broadway actors/singers going through their roles that I have seen better performed in high school and college productions-For real! I mean who would get the warmies for Ado Annie? She’ll never see 38 again! But it was hard to tell who was pretty and who wasn’t, because it didnt appear that anyone wore a stitch of makeup. When they do drab, they go all the way! But perhaps most annoying of all, was the wide shots of the audience’s response after every single musical interlude. Normally, when I have viewed DVDs of Broadways shows, we hear the audience but dont have to look at the ugly bloats clapping and stomping as if they were watching the Second Coming. There surely must have been a well-stocked bar at the theatre on this night. RATING:For Hugh Jackman fans only.
March 5, 2010
#2
“Oklahoma!” is as close to a perfect American Musical as you’re ever going to find; and all this production did was make me appreciate the 1955 film version all the more. Trevor Nunn’s pacing is slow to the point of boredom and the sporadic use of a “live” audience intercut with dead-air studio footage is distracting to say the least. All this makes it very hard to listen to the participants in the “Making Of” documentary on Disc 2 wax eloquently about how this 1999 production is better than the original Broadway version! I love “Oklahoma” and was genuinely excited about buying this DVD. I really was looking forward to a fresh new version of this Great American Romp. What I got was a museum piece pressed under glass like rose petals.
March 5, 2010
#3
The disc was bad. We ran it through three different machines and it performed badly each time. The sound was scratchy and inaudible and the picture was digitally disruptive.
March 5, 2010
#4
ick.
– i was impressed that hugh jackman had it all – good looks, acting and singing, but i was not impressed.
March 5, 2010
#5
Oklahoma has proved to be an all round excellent buy, from it’s cover presentation to the end of the show. It is filmed from the London stage revival production complete with the audience present, which gives an added sense of enthusiasm and empathy for the stars of this love story. The stage production itself is fantastic, with fairly simple props used to greatest effect – right down to the electric train set. Oklahoma is a musical, a story mainly told in song. The actors taking part, not only acted their parts splendidly, they also were excellent singers and dancers, which made watching this DVD a delight for all the family.