Oklahoma- Young Vic

[BlueBloodedBlue]

Anyone seen this?

Be interesting to hear what people think - we enjoyed it but it was certainly........different!

[HarpQuartet]

@BlueBloodedBlue if you're still checking... Saw this last night and yes, as you say, different! The long dream ballet didn't quite do it for me but the darkness and menace - for example bringing out the nasty side of Curly - were great for highlighting the uneasy birth of a new state. The cast were great, especially Arthur Darvill, and the band terrific. The direction managed to chime with things today like the incel movement. We thought the misfit character of Jud Fry was done really well. I've probably made it sound very po-faced but it was terrific, the songs are wonderful and I loved the arrangements. Lovely close interplay between band and actors.

[thinkfast]

I found the extended ballet scene very awkward. Didn't get it at all. Hated it in fact.

I also thought having one scene in pitch blacked worked well, but it reduced the effect by repeating that.

I wasn't sure how I felt about leaving the house lights on for most of the show....

Overall I enjoyed it, the performances were excellent, but I'm not sure whether I'd recommend it to others, or that if I'd as sexy or great as the reviews led me to believe.

[Azure]

By coincidence I saw it last night too. To me the production lacked energy and the staging was claustrophobic; definitely no feeling of the great outdoors or farmers vs cowboys. The beginning was flat. Ado Annie and Will Parker songs were delivered really well. Jud Fry very good but why that version of the ending?

[HarpQuartet]

@Azure I hadn't realised before Tuesday evening that some people can't do suppressed sneezes! A man near me did such a loud sneeze in a dramatic pause that it gave me the giggles, and I saw Ali Hakim laughing too.

[JoanOgden]

I found it incredibly bleak. It may be fair to present the American West whites of that period as callous and totally lacking in morals, but it didn't really gel with the cheery music.

[HarpQuartet]

I've been thinking that I might look for interviews about that with Rodgers, Hammerstein and whoever wrote the book. I was wondering if there was any tension/discussion about how to treat the subject matter.

[HarpQuartet]

Just read that Hammerstein wrote book and lyrics before any music was composed

[Azure]

@HarpQuartet

@Azure I hadn't realised before Tuesday evening that some people can't do suppressed sneezes! A man near me did such a loud sneeze in a dramatic pause that it gave me the giggles, and I saw Ali Hakim laughing too.

I might have heard that sneeze

[squashyhat]

Just searched to see if there was a thread as I saw it today. I found the ballet sequence boring and the ending...weird. What humour there was sat very oddly with the rest of the story. I remembered many of the songs and they say the story hasn't changed but I was about 10 when I saw the film so most of it probably went over my head. Still I suppose West Side Story wasn't all fun and games either despite the gorgeous music.