This rendition of Oklahoma! does a valiant job in trying to put on the old musical. In that it succeeds in doing the best it could have possibly done with the source material. Sadly the source material itself may be the problem. While the production is self aware of the problems, the source material still drags on. While they tried to energise and make fun of the dream ballet, it was as ever, somewhat of a bore.
The source material has clearly not aged well. The female characters are bland and somewhat unbelievable. The production aptly admits it through the dry and blank delivery of the lines. They do away with the baskets in the basket auction to bid on the women who are actually bid on, who are voiceless and motionless like the baskets they are being sold as. The social commentary on self defence at the end in itself becomes more of a discussion on inequality than the hero succeeding. Ultimately the biggest change they should be lauded about is not making Jed into a villain. While still an unpleasant character, his immaturity is recognised and he becomes more of a symbol for social and developmental inequality.
This is definitely a five star performance which drew the short straw when it came to what they were actually dealt the text. The comedic timing and delivery of Ali, the sweet sweet voice of Curly, the powerful voice of Annie, and the sheer power of expressivity of Jed were beyond good, they were perfect. They brought life into the musical in a way I did not expect.
When it comes to direction they really pulled all the stops. On stage camera, check. Fully dark (not even emergency lights) room with amplified voiced, check. Audience interaction, check. (Word of warning: if you are not expecting audience interaction it can be quite jarring, but it only affects the middle front row) Fully lit house, check. Shadow play, check. And many many more. If I didn't know better I would say the director was showing off. And in all fairness to them, they took all these methods and put them together seamlessly.
With all of this, I cannot bring myself to go for a full 5 star review. The story and format of the musical has certainly not aged well, and despite the valiant effort to revive it, for me it is not enough to salvage it.