Oklahoma! Goes Dark
“He’s all laid out to rest with his hands across his chest…” sang Jud Fry, a character in Oklahoma! played by Arrowhead senior Sam Philips. Arrowhead’s Broadway Company put on Oklahoma! from October 18th until October 26th. This love story took a turn towards darkness as Philips’s character became more present throughout the musical.
Love triangles emerged between Laurey Williams (Ciera Schmidt), Curly McClain (Joey Ferrito), and Jud Fry (Sam Philips). Another triangle formed between Ado Annie (Elisabeth Yehle), Will Parker (Noah Nethery), and Ali Hakim (Nolan Jensen).
“I love them both…” said Ado Annie.
Each character was phenomenally played by the cast of Broadway Company. Though they had wonderful acting skills, they lacked pronunciation. By focusing on southern accents, it was sometimes difficult to understand their speech. I went to every showing and it took me a couple times of watching to fully understand what each character was saying.
By far, my favorite character was Ali Hakim. This peddler was a comic genius.
Jud Fry was particularly dark in this musical. “Sam played the darkest Jud Fry I’ve ever seen. And trust me, I’ve seen plenty of Jud Fry’s,” said Matt Carr.
The smoke house scene was one of the more dramatic scenes. Shots were fired and ropes were hung. People cried and funerals were discussed.
Curly said, “You could hang yourself on that Jud… Tie that good up there first, of course. Then all you’d have to do would be fall off the log… In five minutes, or less, with good luck, you’d dead as a doornail.”
Although Oklahoma! was too dark for my liking, Oklahoma! was a great production. The cast and crew did a stupendous job. Vocals were spectacular, dance numbers were on point, and lighting and sound were perfect. It was a spectacle everyone should have seen. It was well worth the $16 admission.
