Review of ‘Oklahoma!’
A huge amount of hard work over the last couple of months paid off for everyone involved in the latest College musical, Oklahoma! last weekend, with three excellent performances of this old Rodgers and Hammerstein favourite (their first collaboration) for pupils, teachers, parents and friends. This production maintained the high standards of recent years in Grease, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof and Guys and Dolls.
Directors Mrs Malone Brady (music), Mr Swift and Mr Clarke co-ordinated the elements: acting, singing, dancing. A large chorus was fronted by a strong first-line cast, with Alex Russell and Nicole Dickerson singing powerfully as the (eventual) love-birds Curly and Laurey, Alexandra Murray Donaldson and Tiernan Mullane delighting all with the wit and charm of their performances as Ado Annie and Will, and Aurora Higgins Jennings and Harry Oke-Osanyintolu knitting it all together as Aunt Eller and the ‘Persian’ peddler Ali Hakim. There were also effective contributions from Toby Green, James O’Connor and Caoimhe Cleary, amongst others.
A highlight at the end of the first act was the dream sequence, a mock black and white movie with musical accompaniment from ‘the band’ directed by Mrs Malone-Brady, and the visual look of the whole production was created by Ms Hennessey’s terrific costumes.
The cast sent everyone happily into the November evening humming the title song, and you can relive it below.
The production is excellently captured in the following series of superb photographs behind the scenes, and on stage, by our resident photographer, Daniel Owen.
