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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1973)
Oklahoma. a good ol1 American play Tired of the social depressiveness of “Endgame,” bored with the preten tiousness of classics like “Cyrano de Bergerac”, try “Oklahoma,” which opens a three-weekend run on the University Theater’s main stage Friday night, it’s a good ol’ American Play. “One should have a hell of a good time,” at the play according to its director Faber De Chaine. De Chaine likes the idea of the University producing the Rogers and Hammerstein musical which first opened on Broadway 31 years ago (starring Alfred Drake, Celeste Holme, and Joan Roberts). “Its really the grandaddy of all American musicals. Its the first real musical.” Before “Oklahoma”, De Chaine says, musicals included some silly plot with songs thrown in for the entertainment, something Busby Berkely would put together. “Oklahoma” is the first musical where the songs actually move the plot forward. They’re not just filler songs. And, of course, the music is marvelo us.” The songs are the kind mom and pop used to crowd around the old Silvertone and thrill to back in ‘42, and they - probably still humm the tunes in the - shower once in a while. Songs like “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,” “People Will Say We’re In Love”. “Everyting’s Up To Date In - Kansas City”, “I Can’t Say No”, and “Oklahoma”. Real top-40 stuff in ‘42 that has managed to last 30 years. Producing an old-fashioned play with a cast more attuned to modern theater has been an interesting exerience for De Chaine. anoto by Eric Browne “To go back a and din into this kind of piece,” he says, “with people who haven’t been ground this kind of theater has been very interesting. It’s a very ‘avantegarde’ experience for them.” The play, more than anv other mu sical of the period, capture* the spirit of the 40’s when Americans were genuine ly concerned with the preservation of old-fashioned morals and values in the face of Hitler’s rampage across Eu rope. And “Oklahoma” reflects uiis con cern. The two young lovers in the play, Lorey and Curly, have the nroper Rind - of shy love affair which is disrupted by a somewhat evil, jealous lqner. rrhe two comedy characters. Ado Annie iand Will, offer some of the cornier mom ents, reflecting the pure, un complicated humor of the 40’s. De Chaine praises the musical abilities of his cast, headed bv Pamela Kuhn and Charles Latourette in the lead roles. “We have a lot of ‘trained’ voices in the cast,” De Chaine says “I think our muical quality may very well be our strongest point.” A 20-piece orchestra backs up the production and musical director is Daniel Greeting. Glenn Bushy and Roxanna Thomas have the juicy comedy roles of Wil Parker nand Ado Annie. Cynthis Wenner plays Aunt Eller and A1 Strobe! is Judd. Russell Francis, better know as Russ Francis, javelin thrower-football catcher, plays “Peddler man” Alie Hakim. - There probably wasn’t much dancing in Oklahoma Territory, but the musical if full of it. Agnes De Mi lie’s choreography of the dancing in the original Broadway prod uction was one of the most revolutio nary aspects of the musical. Her “cowboy ballet” became a classic and she became the number one - choreographer in show business. De Chaine is after a definite mood for the ipusical. The director obviously relishes the chance to put the old fashioned production together on the the stage. “I think if everybody who goes to see the play just takes it all very easy, then they’ll enjoy it." “Besides, there’s something magical about a musical, when the lights go down and the orchestra launches into the overture.” The UT picked “Oklahoma” from a large selection of musicals after the students on the selection board, which decides what kind of play the UT will produce, approached the theater department with the idea of producing a musical. De Chaine is the musical specialist in the theater department, and he agreed to do it. “We looked at ‘Carousel’ and ‘No-No Nannette’, but we picked ‘Oklahoma’, essentially because its such a hallmark production. It has an essentially youth ful cast and its got marvelous music. Strangely enough this is the first time it’s been presented at the University.” De Chaine will “attempt to stage it - pretty much in the same manna” it’s always been done. There’s no preaching of good old values, De Chaine insists, “It merely presents those values as they existed.” “The play represents a return to innocence that actually existed at one time in our history.” “I think it will be a hell of a show.” The curtain rises at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are available at the UT box office, which is open from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays and from noon until showtime the day of the performance. Bob Baum Where's Charlie ?—just plain fun at LCC Director Edward Raggozino has scored another theatrical success. This one’s called “Where’s Charlie?” and it’s in the middle of an eight performance run at Lane Community College. “Where’s Charlie?” is a zany musical comedy based on “Charlie’s Aunt,” by Brandon Thomas. The story takes place in the 1890s, a very proper time in England. Two Oxford boys, Charlie and Jack, invite their girlfriends over, expecting Charlie’s aunt to act as chaperone. When she doesn’t show up, Charlie disguises himself as his aunt so the girls won’t realize they’re un chaperoned and leave. The results are funny enough, but there’s more to this production than a script full of comic situations. Like for instance: good actors, good singers, good dancers, a good set, <x good orchestra, good costumes and of course, good direction. Best of all, “Charlie” is just plain fun. How can an audience help enjoying a show when the cast is obviously having such a good time with it? The spirit and energy that the whole cast showed was probably the best tiling about the production. David Morgan delighted the audience as Charlie. Morgan is a pretty fair singer, but it was his dancing that earned him round after round of thunderous applause. He was fantastic in his soft shoe routine to “Once in Love With Amy." The part of Charlie is a physically demanding one, and Morgan spent a good deal of the show running up and down the stairs holding his dress up over his knees. All this was amusing, but at times it seemed like he overdid the stumbling and thrashing around. If the audience noticed, however, they more than forgave him. As Charlie’s girlfriend Amy, Cheri Kottke displayed the happy com bination of being able to sing AND act, and she does both well. She and Janet Jackson (Jack’s girlfriend Kitty) captured nicely that fluttering silliness which typifies the heroine of that period. Wayne Ballantyne was terrific as the grotesque Mr. Spettigue, uncle and guardien of the two girls. One of the highlights of the show was his solo, “Seranade With Asides,” in which he plots of marry Charlie’s aunt for her money. In reality, of course, he is pursuing Charlie, and some of the funniest scenes of the show are the encounters between these two. Ballantyne, by the way, was also responsible for costume design. Craig Wasson and John Coombs turned in fine performances as Jack and his father, Sir Francis Chesney. “Charlie” has a fairly small cast for a musical, but the LCC production is blessed with strong voices, and the effect of the chorus numbers was anything but puny. And although only nine cast members are officially designated as dancers on the program, they all did quite a bit of tricky step ping. In short, the chorus numbers all stood out as highpoints in the show. The sets designed by David Sherman were simple and functional. Panels of black and white line drawings indicated the setting in each scene. The simplicity of the scenery set off to full advantage the richness of the costumes. One chorus number, “Lovlier Than Ever,” was reminiscent of a Ziegfield Follies spectacular Couples dressed in spring attire paraded down the aisles with parasols twirling. It was really something. Under the direction of Nathan Cammack, the orchestra was more than adequate for the production. The only criticism is that it was too loud in a few spots, notably the overture. Raggozino has a highly talented cast and crew to work with, and he has carefully combined their talents to produce a funny, beautiful, en tertaining and sometimes crazy show. The audience loved it and gave the cast a standing ovation after the finale. Linda Welch - _ _.
