“Oklahoma!” was last performed at the Roxy Theater more than 20 years ago as the first summer musical theater offering between the Fire Mountain Arts Council and Centralia College East.
When the two entities were trying to decide on an offering for this summer, FMAC member Louise Fisher said she thought the Rodgers and Hammerstein original would be a great show to revisit.
“A lot of people in this area love Western music and I've always believed we should repeat some of our most successful performances,” said Fisher.
“Oklahoma!”, a joint venture between Morton's Roxy Theater and Centralia College East, opens Aug. 1 at the Roxy. It is the story of settlers in the Oklahoma Territory just before it reached statehood. But while it is a glimpse inside pioneer life, it is also a love story. Though romantically attracted to one another, Curly (played by Braeden Garrett) and Laurey (played by Fiona Thornton) and Ado Annie (played by Sarah Simek) and Will Parker (played by Zach O'Neill) play cat and mouse with one another. To complicate things, Laurey's affections are sought after by the volatile Jud Fry (played by Aaron Hergert), and Ado Annie begins to have eyes for Ali Hakem (played by Zach Poplawski).
“I think it's really about young love, the thrill of your first true love and how confusing it can be but when it works out in the end it can be a really grand thing,” Thornton said. “I think that's why the story is tied to the Oklahoma statehood. It's a brand new thing and they may have to muddle through a bit but in the end it's a grand thing.”
Artistic Director Stacy Ridgley said the Roxy and Centralia College East performance of “Oklahoma!” has been a great project to work on both in terms of material but also in the amount of talent the show drew to the small community theater. She said it has truly been an all-hands on deck cast with many playing roles in the production as well as helping out behind the scenes or with choreography, set and prop design and costuming.
“This cast is a very talented cast and it has been such a joy and a pleasure to work with them,” Ridgley said.
Garrett, who is attending musical theater studies in South Dakota and whose family lives in Centralia, is one of those cast members lending more than just their acting and singing skills to the production. He has led the cast in stage fighting safety as well as choreographed the fight scenes in the musical. Garrett said he was interesting in auditioning for the show because “Oklahoma!” is considered one of the most pivotal moments in musical theater history and he wanted the chance to be part of a production of it. He said he hopes through his work there will be some very realistic combat in the production.
“It's a lot like telling a story you have a to have beginning, a climax in the middle and an ending,” Garrett explained of stage fighting.
