Old faithful

‘Oklahoma!” seems so familiar and sweet to us now, that we forget how radical it was in 1943.

American musicals up to this point were generally bits of fluff with minimal storylines, interrupted at random moments by tap dance numbers or syrupy ballads.

Rodgers and Hammerstein, however, made it their goal in “Oklahoma!” to unite story, song and ballet into one comic-dramatic narrative – complete with a dangerous edge in the person of the creepy Jud Fry.

The subtitle – “A musical play” – summed up the difference between this show and those others. They were musical extravaganzas, not musical plays.

The New York critics recognized the difference right away. Burns Mantle of the Daily News wrote the next morning, “ ‘Oklahoma!’ really is different – beautifully different.”

It went on to become a Broadway sensation for the next five years. When it finally closed, it was the longest-running show in Broadway history, at the time.

“Oklahoma!” ushered in what is often called the Golden Age of the American musical. Without having it prove that the formula could work, we might never have seen “South Pacific,” “My Fair Lady,” “Fiddler on the Roof” or any of those other “musical plays.”

So it’s high time for the Spokane Civic Theatre to bring this legendary and still-popular show back to their stage.

“The theater hasn’t done it for over 20 years,” said the Civic’s executive director, Yvonne A.K. Johnson. “The real grand chestnuts should be produced every 10 years.”

For one thing, that gives every new generation a chance to see these classic shows. For another, people love them and tend to fill up the seats.

Most people love “Oklahoma!” not for its freshness, which has faded over a half-century, but for its songs, which are still as much fun as ever: “Surrey With The Fringe On Top,” “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ “ and “People Will Say We’re In Love,” to name just a few.

In that sense, things haven’t changed much since 1943. Audiences loved this play from the beginning, as is evident from the reviews the morning after it opened.

“Songs, dances and a story have been triumphantly blended,” wrote Howard Barnes of the Herald Tribune. “The Richard Rodgers score is one of his best, and that is saying plenty.”

“It has, as rough estimate, practically everything,” wrote John Anderson of the Journal-American. “Even Guild First Nighters (a group that attended opening nights), suspected for years of not having hands, applauded.”

The Civic is using some of its most proven talent in this production. The director is Kathie Doyle-Lipe, one of the area’s most gifted performer-directors.

Some Civic veterans fill key roles in the cast. Jean Hardie plays Aunt Eller, Thomas Heppler plays Ali Hakim and Peter Hardie plays Andrew Carnes.

Adam Peterson plays Curly, Alyssa Day plays Laurey and Emily Cleveland plays Ado Annie, which means she gets to sing “I Cain’t Say No.”

Other cast members include Brad McDowell as Ike Skidmore, Cameron Lewis as Will Parker, Shawn Hudson as Jud Fry and Katie-Sarah Phillips as Gertie Cummings.

Filling out the stage will be a 24-person chorus. Carolyn Jess handles the musical direction.