Oklahoma!

I have never seen the old version of "Oklahoma" but I know a pretty good bit about it. I saw "Oklahoma" put on by a church in my town when I was about six, but I don't remember much about it.

I really enjoyed this version, the British know how to do musicals! I loved how they made Laurey a tomboy in the beginning to show us how strong and willful she is. Josefina Gabrielle is like a younger, brunette Shirley Jones. She has a beautiful singing voice, she is a beautiful dancer, and a great actress. Did I mention that she's beautiful? I really liked how the actors did their own dancing in the Dream sequence.

I thought Hugh Jackman was amazing. To think that this is the guy who plays Wolverine!!!! This man is is an amazing actor. He's good-looking (very), he can sing, he can dance, and he can really act. He does a very good southern accent. He's also a very believable romantic hero.

Jud was great. That voice...oh my gosh! Such a rich voice, it's like "Lonely Room" was written for him. And Aunt Eller....oh I looove Aunt Eller. She steals the show. She's perfect.

I have nothing bad to say about this show. It's well-done. I just wish Hollywood and Broadway could do more things like this. I got the DVD for Christmas, by the way.

Re: my one line summary - I was wrong, so very wrong! Minor warning: it still hasn't lost the feel of a filmed stage musical, but the good news is that this fact won't probably impair your enjoyment of this wonderful revival of 'Oklahoma!' I find the cast much to blame. Maureen Lipman is sublime, the best Aunt Eller ever! Hugh Jackman is cheeky enough and masculine enough as Curly, and in astounding revelation to my humble self proves he can sing, truly and powerfully sing. Josefina Gabrielle is a sweet yet wilful Laurey and I just love what Shuler Hensley does with Jud and Peter Polycarpou as Ali Hakim is simply wonderful. Considering that this belongs to the stage and all I still think it deserves a 10 out of 10. Certainly much better than the so-called classic film adaptation. Those films put me off Rodgers & Hammerstein with all their big budget distractions and sometimes poor acting(with singers dubbing the actors or not)to tarnish the beauty of much of their work. This? This is beautiful and does the words&lyrics justice.

As exuberant and wonderful as Kenneth Branagh's 1993 "Much Ado About Nothing", this amazing production deserves a "15"; alas, I can only give it a "10". Hugh Jackman is a revelation, leaping into the film with cheerful high energy from his first appearance on the set. A must-see for lovers of musicals and for all others too. A sure cure for depression!

This is a wonderful stage production of Oklahoma! As a teaching guide for my drama students, Oklahoma! has everything that I need in it to teach about a musical. Vocally, the actors are wonderful. Josefina Gabrielle has a beautiful voice and range and is lovely as Laurey. Hugh Jackman, from the first note of 'Oh What A Beautiful Morning' grabs your attention and keeps it. Wow… what a voice, what a stage presence enough said. Shuler Hensley plays Jud Fry with a passion that allows the audience to embrace Jud and yet despise him – tough job to do, but Hensley does it well. Visually, this play uses simple designs and staging, which allows the actors to carry the story and they do an excellent job of carrying the story. Perhaps the lack 'Hollywood' style sets or backdrops may take some aback, but it's the music and the actors that you should notice in a musical. For any one who loves a good musical, it is a wonderful presentation.

Oklahoma was never my favorite musical. By the time I was aware of it, Oklahoma & all of the Rodgers & Hammerstein canon seemed dated, superseded by the darker, more modern Sondheim musicals.

But Trevor Nunn's re-imagining of this American classic makes it so fresh & vibrant, it could've opened yesterday. What seemed sappy in the 50s film version now seems innocent, charming, believable-thanks to Nunn's keener dramatic vision & an exceptional cast.

Hugh Jackman reinvents the swaggering male musical lead with an irresistible magnetism and ability to infuse a song with emotional realness. When he sings O What a Beautiful Morning, it seems totally spontaneous-a young man singing from the depth of his soul his love of life & everything in it-and we feel this song we've heard for decades is being sung for the first time.

The decision to play Laurey (Josefina Gabrielle) as a shy tomboy in overalls, in contrast to the assertive, gingham-clad lasses we've seen in the past, is a wonderfully right one. The attraction between the lovely, thoughtful young girl and the radiantly confident Curly is palpable, and their different temperaments make the parries & shifts of their courtship utterly believable.

Gabrielle is an impressive triple threat-a trained ballerina who is also a good actress and a fine singer. Nunn no doubt wanted an accomplished all-round performer to play Laurey so that the Act I ballet could be danced by the same performers who act and sing the parts-not, as is usually done, by dancing alter egos. That alone makes this famously integrated show that much more integrated, and dramatically satisfying.

As Aunt Eller, Maureen Lipman is tough, wry, funny, touching, wise -hers is the most captivating performance of Eller one can imagine. She is perfect.

Like Laurey, the portrayal of Jud has been rethought. He is still brutal, but you feel the wretchedness, the yearning for acceptance, behind the brutality. Shuler Hensley realizes this brilliantly.

He is one of only 2 Americans contributing to this quintessentially American musical (though all American accents are impeccable, and it's refreshing that the script's phony country pronunciations have been pared down to an unnoticeable level). The other is the choreographer Susan Strohman, whose work here is joyous, spectacularly inventive, and (as in the case of the Act II opener The Farmer & The Cowman) electrifying. The dancing, & there's lots of it, conveys the galvanic energy of these very physical frontier folk. It's thrilling to watch the cast's highly skilled dancers doing numbers that build and build to an explosive rapture that makes you wish you could only be up there with them.

Strohman, with Nunn and their talented, almost exclusively English team, offer us what must be the finest production of Oklahoma ever staged. How fortunate our cousins across the Atlantic have cast a different light on this national treasure, and revealed new splendors it contains!