Lake City Playhouse visits ‘Oklahoma!’

Lake City Playhouse is getting traditional this week, opening its 2012-’13 season on Friday with the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!”

Artistic Director George Green said Lake City’s small venue – it seats 170 – allows the theater’s creative team to take big, sprawling productions such as “Oklahoma!” and concentrate on the story.

“We have such an intimate venue. That’s the big thing to really focus on when you come to see a show here,” Green said. “Although we have 170 seats, the way our theater is set up, it feels like you’re right up there with (the actors).

“What we do here is make sure that our adaptation of the show focuses on the character work and the storylines within the musical numbers.”

The large cast of 27 actors is headed by the four who play the lead couples. Aaron Baldwin, a Coeur d’Alene native and popular local actor, is Curly, while Adara Tredway, a junior at Spokane’s University High School, is Laurey. Tredway stepped into the role three weeks ago when the other Laurey took ill, Green said.

“She has a beautiful bell-tone soprano that is a delight to listen to,” he said.

Two other Coeur d’Alene natives, Jett Bingman and Micah Lynn, play Will Parker and Ado Annie.

“They bring so much energy to the show,” Green said. “Their scenes are delightfully funny. They’re witty, they’re corny. They have a lot of fun.

Two other standout performances belong to Terri Grubbs as Aunt Eller and Alex Eddy as Jud Fry.

Grubbs plays Aunt Eller as “a very nice, warm character, very loving. Yet she’s a stern, stern woman,” Green said. While Eddy’s Jud “brings a dark side to the story. His Jud Fry is very dark, very real.”