And the reviews are in!!!

Matthew Neff | Aug 05, 2008 | 0

I am surrounded by the Postcard Girls from the Dream Ballet

The production of Oklahoma! that I choreographed in New Orleans is over. It was a fun experience to be part of the creative team for this theater. I started working at Summer Lyric in 2002 as a chorus boy. Summer Lyric is different from other theater companies because of it's schedule. You have 9 days of rehearsal from 6:30pm - 10pm. That's it. You can imagine my fear of choreographing a show that is over 3 hours in that time crunch. I made it through and am very pleased with the results.

If you would like to read more about Summer Lyric or donate to the company. Feel free to visit their website at http://summerlyric.tulane.edu/aboutus.cfm

Click on "Read More" to read the review of the show.

'Oklahoma!' is OK at Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre
Posted by David Cuthbert, Theater writer, The Times-Picayune August 01, 2008

When it's singing and dancing, Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre's production of "Oklahoma!" is a thing of beauty and a joy till Sunday.

There are marvelous musical theater talents populating the show, splendid voices and choreography with more than a bit of daring. Rodgers & Hammerstein's glorious score, lushly arranged and played by a 24-piece orchestra, is enough to bliss you out. When we get to the rousing title song by the entire company, it's goosebump time.

But when seen at dress rehearsal, "Oklahoma!" had yet to coalesce, a problem which may have been remedied by the time you read this, if director Ed Kresley has given the show a good kick in its bluejeaned behind. Book scenes played slowly, sound was erratic, with dialogue and some lyrics emerging mushy. A musical celebrated for its fluency seemed oddly fragmented and disconnected.

On the eve of statehood, shy yet boastful cowboy Curly and headstrong farmgirl Laurey find their hesitant romance threatened by ominous hired hand Jud Fry, the brooding drifter who both attracts and repels Laurey.

At Tulane, Curly is played by Stephen Lukas, a vigorous young singer-dancer who throws himself into the role, almost defying Laurey and the audience not to like him. Fortunately, he has us from the moment he begins "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" offstage. His lyric baritone can stand alone, in "Surrey With the Fringe on Top, " and is up to partnering Melissa Marshall's supple, emotive soprano in "People Will Say We're in Love." Marshall is prettily plump, but her costumes do her no favors, whether tomboyish bib overalls (think Judy Garland in "Summer Stock") or dresses overburdened with froufrou.

Lee Farrar Bailey brings a voice of operatic power to Jud; his "Lonely Room" is a showstopping highlight. He modulates his volume to join Lukas on the comic "Pore Jud is Daid" and creates a villain with depth and feeling.

The show's comic triangle is wonderfully cast and played. Chase Kamata's Ado Annie sparkles with such flirtatious mischief and vivacity, you wish her "I Can't Say No" had endless reprises. Brian Bell is Annie's lanky love Will Parker, half his body seeming to be Ray Bolger-like legs, which choreographer Matthew Neff uses amusingly. Lorenzo Gonzalez follows his Petruchio and Touchstone at the Shakespeare festival with Ali Hakim, the lustiest traveling salesman joke ever.

Beverly Trask is an ideal Aunt Eller, projecting a pragmatic, mature femininity and generosity of spirit. Katie Howe's giggly Gertie is properly irritating and Tom Grantham and Daniel Garvey add strapping cowboy flavor. Eleanor and Ian Carney positively soar in Laurey's Dream Ballet, the breathtaking, Freudian first-act finale.

Neff acknowledges Agnes de Mille's original choreography, but has developed a bold dance vocabulary of his own. His cowboys have a hard, percussive edge, the girls a graceful blur of pirouetting skirts and petticoats. But it's his invigorating, insistent suggestiveness -- splayed female legs, athletic masculinity -- that bespeaks barely contained sexuality. Neff can be subtle or overt, but he is always a dance storyteller.

Rick Paul's set designs give a nod to original designer Lemuel Ayers (the vast expanse of land backdrop), but his main motif is of horizontal, slat-like lines using a pastel palette, evoking farm structures of all sorts. Lighting designer Michael Batt provides that "bright golden haze on the meadow" and illumination that is always sensitive to shifting moods.

This three-hour "Oklahoma!" is indeed OK, with many transporting moments. But the seamless consistency we expect of this show is lacking.

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Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Teacher, Parent, Performance, Summer Study, Oklahoma!, Summer Lyric, Tulane (all tags)