OKLAHOMA! {ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE} (TV)
Summary
This special, a British Television taping of the Royal National Theatre's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's groundbreaking 1943 musical, chronicles the trials of love on the Oklahoma frontier. Act One opens with local cowhand Curly praising the great outdoors and his joy in life in "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin.'" He has come by Aunt Eller's farm to ask her niece Laurie to the evening's box social, but Laurie pretends she's not interested until he sings about the rig he's got for the event in "The Surrey with the Fringe on the Top." When she learns that he has no such vehicle, however, Laurie decides to make Curly jealous and accepts an invitation to the social with dangerous farmhand Jud. Aunt Eller runs into town on an errand and comes across Will Parker, who has just returned triumphant from a steer-roping competition and hopes that his prize money will enable him to get permission from Andrew Carnes to marry Carnes' daughter Ado Annie. Will is joined by the menfolk of the town in "Kansas City," a song and dance tribute to the modern wonders of the metropolis from which he has just returned. Laurie tells Annie that Will Parker plans to propose, but Annie is uncertain whether she will accept as she has recently begun dating the peddler Ali Hakim and thinks he may want to marry her as well. Annie's beauty has lately blossomed, and in "I Cain't Say No" she tells Laurie that she has learned to enjoy the attentions and admiration of a number of men. Laurie talks about her dreams but is unable to make up her mind which one to follow; she buys a bottle of Elixir of Egypt from Ali to help her decide. Curly returns to the farm saying that he has in fact hired a smart surrey for the evening, but when he learns that Laurie plans to attend the event with Jud he asks Gertie Cummings to accompany him instead. Upset by this turn of events, Laurie sings "Many a New Day" to her girlfriends to show that she will not become upset over the actions of any one man. Meanwhile, Mr. Carnes will not allow Annie to wed Will when he discovers that this suitor has spent his earnings on presents, and Annie's father forces Ali to follow up his courting by marrying her. Before he flees, Ali is joined by the farmhands in lamenting the way in which men are railroaded into getting hitched in "It's a Scandal! It's an Outrage!" Curly tells Laurie that the town expects them to keep company together, so they come up with a list of things not to do in order to dispel this notion in "People Will Say We're in Love." In an effort to get Jud out of the picture, Curly tries to con him in "Pore Jud is Daid," intimating that if Jud hangs himself all the girls who have had secret crushes on him will be miserable. The trick doesn't work when Jud realizes that his adversary just wants to steal Laurie back, and the farmhand threatens to get even with anyone who crosses him. After Curly leaves, Jud laments his unhappy existence in "Lonely Room," and he vows to get himself a bride. Laurie tries to make up her mind about whom to spend the evening with in "Out of My Dreams," and falls asleep afterward. She dreams about life with both Curly and Jud in a ballet sequence, but the reverie becomes a nightmare. When she awakens Jud picks her up for the party, leaving Curly to sulk and plot in jealousy.
Act Two sees the locals preparing for the school fund-raiser, and as tensions rise between rival factions Aunt Eller patches things up with "The Farmer and the Cowman," a big song and dance number in which the townsfolk participate. Meanwhile, Ali wants to extract himself from his engagement so he buys Will's presents for Annie, thereby giving Will the money he needs to get Mr. Carnes' permission to marry her. The box social begins, and the men bid on the picnic hampers put together by the ladies. When Laurie's hamper is auctioned, Curly is forced to sell all of his belongings in order to keep Jud from buying it and spending the evening with her. Now that Will and Annie are betrothed, he tells her that she must avoid her newfound attraction to other men in "All Er Nothin.'" Later that evening, Jud tries to force his attentions on Laurie, and although she discharges him from his position on her aunt's farm she fears what he will do in revenge. Curly arrives just in time, and before long he proposes, vowing to protect her. She accepts, and the neighbors rejoice to their reprise of "People Will Say We're in Love." A few weeks later, with Jud out of town, the happy couple weds, and everyone sings the title song "Oklahoma" in praise of life on the frontier. Ali returns to town with Gertie, his new bride, and announces that Jud also has come home. During the wedding night's chivaree festivities, Jud and Curly get into a fight. Jud pulls a knife, accidentally stabs himself, and dies during the night. A sympathetic jury acquits Curly on a plea of self-defense, and the newleyweds leave for their wedding trip in the surrey of Curley's dream.
Details
- NETWORK: Sky Premiere (United Kingdom)
- DATE: September 24, 1999
- RUNNING TIME: 1:41:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:58805
- GENRE: Musical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Musical; Theatre; International Collection - United Kingdom
- SERIES RUN: Sky Premiere (United Kingdom) - TV, 1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Richard Price … Producer
- Chris Hunt … Producer, Director
- Andy Picheta … Line Producer
- Trevor Nunn … Director
- Lynn Riggs … Writer, Based upon the play "Green Grow the Lilacs"
- Richard Rodgers … Composer
- Hammerstein, Oscar, II … Lyricist, Librettist
- Susan Stroman … Choreographer
- Agnes De Mille … Choreographer
- Robert Russell Bennett … Music by
- William David Brohn … Music by
- Hugh Jackman … Cast, Curly
- Josefina Gabrielle … Cast, Laurie
- Shuler Hensley … Cast, Jud
- Peter Polycarpou … Cast, Ali Hakim
- Jimmy Johnston … Cast, Will Parker
- Vicki Simon … Cast, Ado Annie Carnes
- Maureen Lipman … Cast, Aunt Eller
- David Shelmerdine … Cast, Ike Skidmore
- Roberta Thornhill … Cast, Gertie Cummings
- Sidney Livingstone … Cast, Andrew Carnes
- Stuart Milligan … Cast, Cord Elam
- Helen Anker … Cast, Aggie
- Julie Barnes … Cast, Kate
- Luke Baxter … Cast, Slim
- Warren Carlyle … Cast, Jake
- Leigh Constantine … Cast, Lucy
- Amanda Courtney-Davies … Cast, Rosie
- Philip Cox … Cast, Mike
- Marilyn Cutts … Cast, Armina
- Zoe Dawson … Cast, Susie
- Susie Dumbreck … Cast, Ellen
- Tom Dwyer … Cast, Jess
- Howard Ellis … Cast, Joe
- Shaun Henson … Cast, Sam
- Sarah Ingram … Cast, Sylvie
- Neil Johnson … Cast, Tom
- Nicola Keen … Cast, Vivian
- Fergus Logan … Cast, Corky
- Helen Missing … Cast, Emily
- Craig Purnell … Cast, Fred
- Kevin Wainwright … Cast, Chalmers
- Sarah Bayliss … Cast, Mabel
- Elizabeth Cooper Gee … Cast, Alice
- Chris Coleman … Cast, Seth
- Ben Garner … Cast, Juthroe
- Pennie Mosley … Cast, a Child
- Holly Tuffney … Cast, a Child
- Ricky Lee Mays … Cast, a Child
- Kai Pearce … Cast, a Child