By Tammy Ashworth (March 6, 2003)

After several weeks of being plagued by weather delays and cancellations, this year’s spring musical Oklahoma! opened Friday night in the Mason auditorium to a packed and appreciative audience.

Based on Lynn Riggs’s stage play "Green Grow the Lilacs," Oklahoma! depicts the lives and concerns of Southwestern American pioneers settling down and struggling to survive in the Indian territory at the turn of the century. Oklahoma! is also the first musical written by the ever-famous duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein, in 1943. The men went on to write eight more prolific Broadway musicals together, most notably including South Pacific, The Sound of Music, and The King and I. Yet none of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s other musicals would prove to have such an enduring effect as the box office record-breaking Oklahoma! did, with an adept and charged synthesis of music, dance, and storyline previously unseen in American musical theater.
 

The Mason cast’s recreation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic this past weekend proved no less powerful. From the first note of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin," to the singing of the title theme at the play’s end, Oklahoma! was a veritable musical treat, a fete in no small part due to the strong vocals and superior acting skill of the play’s lead characters and resistant lovebirds, Curly McLain and Laurey Williams, played by juniors Greg Corbino and Sara Snyder, respectively.

The “Oklahoma!” cast listens as senior Kate O'Hara gives  them all a little advice, 'The farmer and the cowman should  be friends!'

Oklahoma!’s plot is simple enough for any audience member to readily identify with. Angry at Curly, Laurey hastily accepts menacing hired hand Jud Fry’s (junior Todd Johnston) invitation to attend the box social. In return, Curly asks Laurey’s feisty Aunt Eller, played by senior Kate O’Hara, to be his date. As that "beautiful mornin’," progresses, however, we are shown just how dangerous Jud Fry is, and just how in love Laurey and Curly truly are, even in the face of rival Gertie Cummings’ (senior Stefanie Johnston) attempts to steal Curly away. This love ultimately culminates in conflict between Jud and Curly, as shown in a masterfully choreographed dream ballet sequence featuring senior Juan-Miguel Gonzalez as Curly and junior Ashley Pettit as Laurey, and later in the play’s denouement.

The secondary plot involves a love triangle between Laurey’s friend Ado Annie Carnes (junior Annie Wanlund), cowboy and Ado Annie’s fiancé Will Parker (sophomore Chad O’Hara), and the unwitting Persian peddler Ali Hakim (sophomore Sam Adylette). Senior Matt Eddleman played the taciturn Andrew Carnes, father of Ado Annie, who nearly forces Ali Hakim to the altar at gunpoint.

In addition to the main characters, several supporting characters stood out, giving the vivid and memorable performances that advanced the play both technically and thematically. In her last appearance on the Mason stage, senior and veteran player Kate O’Hara combined a Southwestern twang with her character’s lively sociability to shine as the irrepressibly comical Aunt Eller. Junior veterans Chad O’Hara and Sam Adylette also turned in impressive performances as Will Parker and Ali Hakim respectively, with their keen sense of comedic timing.

Yet none of this would have been possible without the contributions of the production staff, stage crew, and orchestra, as well as director Frank Marino’s expert choreography and costume design. The production staff not only oversaw the play’s direction, choreography, props, and wardrobe, but many parents also assisted in the making of costumes for ‘Oklahoma!,’ with each character having at least two costumes, and often times many more. Mr. John Ballou and the stage crew were responsible for the intricately detailed set of vast, fenced-in cornfields under blue skies, while conductor and band teacher Mary Jo Webster directed an amalgamation of students, faculty, and parents in the live pit orchestra for the show.

The cast of Oklahoma! numbered more than 25 high school performers, with the help of a few middle school students. Although Oklahoma! is the last show for senior veterans of the Mason stage, this year’s spring musical has left many looking to the future of what promises to be a healthy Mason theater department for years to come.