Oklahoma! - The Road to Success

[alma]

Jul 14, 2016 12:08:44 GMT -5 carouselkathy said:

This is also the first R&H show which changed Musical Theater forever on March 31, 1943. My love of Rodgers & Hammerstein fed my interest in the London production which starred Hugh Jackman. Some of my friends said, "That's Wolverine." I rented the XMen video. This "Wolverine" guy played "Curly"? O.K., he did have screen presence. Finally, the video of OKLAHOMA! became available. A movie star that could do musical theater. Enough for me!

Kathy, something very similar happened to me!
About twelve or fourteen years ago, I was watching Hugh's Oklahoma one Saturday afternoon on PBS when my children walked by (then in their late teens/early twenties).
My daughter asked my son, "That's the guy from the X-Men movie, right? The one who plays Wolverine?"
My son confirmed it, but my response, of course, was, "Huh?" I had no idea what they were talking about.
Having avoided anything to do with the internet so far, I suddenly had an incentive to start searching for information on this guy.
And of course I visited Blockbuster and discovered the X-Men and Wolverine.

There's an interesting—and opposite—parallel I can't help comparing this to which makes me smile every time I recall it.
When Hugh and Schuyler Hensley were doing the L.A. Comicon for Van Helsing, they were at different ends of the table during a Q & A. Hugh broke into a wonderful, "Poor Judd is dead, poor Judd Fry is dead."
That's all he sang. Of course I recognized it immediately. Schuyler looked over at Hugh and cracked a huge grin.
But everyone else there was like, "Huh?"
These Comic Book Geeks. Something tells me not many of them went home and googled about it, but who knows?

Alma

[jo]

Three critics/musical theatre talent seemed to have all appreciated Hugh's ability to segue from song to words and vice versa --

Adam Guettel ( grandson of Richard Rodgers; composed Light in the Piazza) --

Yet Guettel said that the best piece of musical theater he's ever seen was Trevor Nunn's 1998 London production of Oklahoma!. He praised Hugh Jackman's ability in the role of Curly to transition naturally between dialogue and song, helping the audience to believe a person can legitimately express themselves through music as well as speech.

David Heppel --

After being brought up on Curlys with powerful, booming voices (like Howard Keel, or Gordon Macrae in the film) it is initially strange to witness one singing with a more delicate realism. Rather than 'bursting' into song, Hugh Jackman's Curly slips seamlessly from dialogue to song and back so that it seems the most natural thing in the world.

Ben Brantley --

As for the songs themselves, Brantley said that even the opening chestnut ("Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'") "had a feeling of conversational spontaneity".

Hmmm.... why does this ability for a musical theatre actor to look at musicals as simply another way to tell a story remind me of a major musical adapted for film 14 years later


Jo

[jo]

Since there is a celebratory mood related to the 18th anniversary of Hugh appearing for the first time in an international production ...which would lead to his becoming a film/stage performer -- may I choose replaying some overtures/orchestral music from Richard Rodgers --

From CAROUSEL --





The Carousel Waltz deserves its own celebration

[mamaleh]

The "Carousel Waltz" is a lovely piece of music--and very clever. I like how, early on, it mimics the calliope-like sounds one usually hears as the painted horse figures bob up and down on a moving carousel. I like other Rodgers waltzes, too: The "Cinderella Waltz", "Falling in Love with Love", etc.

Ellen

[carouselkathy]

Thanks, Jo!

THE CAROUSEL WALTZ is the ringtone on my cell.

[jo]

If I recall right, this was the musical which made me fall in love with the music of RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN!

South Pacific --





And the overture with its lush music performed at Carnegie Hall --







Maybe because it resonated with me, as it takes place near where I live ( the eastern Philippines is surrounded by the Pacific), there is drama ( war, racism, love, etc) and it was a book that I read after I had seen the movie. "Tales of the South Pacific" by James Michener -- I remember giving that name as a response ( on the question as to which was the most recent book that I had read) to a panel interview for my Fulbright scholarship to the USA


I had seen it revived twice -- both at the Lincoln Center ( with Florence Hendesron the first time around; the recent revival at the Baumont). But the movie is one musical I occasionally still visits. Maybe John Kerr also had something to do with it

Some Enchanted Evening, Younger than Springtime, Bali Hai, There Is Nothing Like a Dame, CockEyed Optimist, Dites Moi, even Happy Talk, Twin Soliloquies, etc. -- another gorgeous score by the talented duo!


Jo

[jo]

This musical also had an Asian theme, married with Western sensibilities --

[jo]

The fifth musical which rounded off Rodgers & Hammerstain top five musical scores which were successfully translated into film ! And this time, the cultural theme is brought to old-world Europe!


Who can ever forget the most famous movie musical overture of all time


The Sound of Music --

[jo]

And for you, Ellen


The Cinderella Waltz --

[jo]

And it all comes back to the musical which became the landmark work for American musical thaatre!


OKLAHOMA! --

[jo]

If I had a bucket list of musicals that I would like to see --

It would be the top five Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals performed in repertory, with Hugh Jackman as Curly, Billy, Emile, the King, and Captain Von Trapp

Or maybe a one-off concert with Hugh singing all those roles! Maybe with Audra singing Aunt Eller, Aunt Nellie, Bloody Mary, Lady Thiang, and Baroness Von Trapp

Jo

[carouselkathy]

Jo, could we add space for Kelli O'Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell?

[jo]

Of course

Choose your own ( not poison - LOL) favorite roles for them

Jo

[jo]

The stage musical revival by RNT is being re-released on BluRay in May, 2017.

www.amazon.com/Rodgers-Hammersteins-Oklahoma-Blu-ray-Jackman/dp/B06VSWVGQB/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1488309991&sr=1-2&keywords=oklahoma+blu-ray&linkCode=sl1&tag=eylitowa-20&linkId=d4d6912be325758d5c9ec7f2bb8d9b8d

[jo]

His co-star Maureen Lipman ( Aunt Eller) shares this anecdote --

www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/3159729/maureen-lipman-reveals-hugh-jackman-once-deserted-her-on-stage-london/

I was once left alone on stage in front of a thousand people by Hugh Jackman! We were appearing in Oklahoma! at the Olivier Theatre at The National in London. Hugh had a chest infection and told the audience he couldn’t carry on and would send his understudy on. He just kissed me on the head and left! I got chatting to the audience and they had to get me off with a hook in the end. I loved it.

[jo]

From 2003, when the DVD of OKLAHOMA! was released in the USA --

articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/16/news/tv-coverstory16

Jackman Is Better Than OK in 'Oklahoma!'

Australian actor relished his role as the iconic cowboy in the Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway classic.

November 16, 2003|John Crook | Special to The Times


Hugh Jackman must be feeling a little time-warped these days as he sits in his dressing room inside Broadway's Imperial Theatre.

Each night, the 35-year-old actor revives the glorious, glittering excess that was flamboyant entertainer Peter Allen in the new musical "The Boy From Oz," which has earned Jackman ecstatic reviews.

Recently, however, he took a short break from his whirlwind schedule to reflect on one of the roles that helped launch his international career: Curly in Trevor Nunn's acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of "Oklahoma!" Jackman's star quality lights up a "Great Performances" PBS telecast of that production (filmed in 1999) Sunday on KVCR and then Saturday on KCET.

Jackman recalls that he jumped at the chance when Nunn offered him the job.
"I was blindly enthusiastic. I was excited without even having to think about it," he says. "I had worked with Trevor Nunn on 'Sunset Boulevard' and was excited to have the opportunity to work with him again. No director makes you feel more confident."


And confidence is key in a role that calls for a natural swagger, as well as vocal nerves strong enough for the show's unconventional opening, in which Curly is heard singing the first measures of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' " without the orchestra.

"It's a pretty naked beginning," Jackman agrees, "but the first phrase of the song is sung in the wings, and by the time I was on stage, the butterflies in my stomach were gone."

Theodore S. Chapin, the president and executive director of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, says Nunn had Jackman in mind as his "Oklahoma!" leading man from the very start.

"Shortly after I met Trevor, he said, 'I have the Curly. You are just going to have to trust me,' " Chapin recalls. "He sent me a little piece from an Australian TV show on Hugh Jackman, and I put it on in the office, and very soon all the women in the office were coming in going, 'Ooooh, who is he?'

"When we went over to see what I think was the first dress rehearsal, I could tell Hugh was really exceptional, although I am still convinced English audiences did not 'get' Hugh's Curly the way American audiences will. In a funny way, he is so straight as Curly that you know he is completely undone by this pretty girl and has no idea how to handle her. It just makes the character so incredibly real."

That credibility also carried over into the realistic fight scenes between Jackman and costar Shuler Hensley, an American actor who earned ecstatic notices with his dangerous yet surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of Jud Fry, Curly's rival for Laurey.

"I was in heaven, with these two big, strapping men who really knew how to move," laughs Susan Stroman, whose lusty, fight-based choreography is another highlight of the piece.

"Hugh and Shuler got to be good friends during rehearsals, so there was a level of trust that allowed them to really throw themselves into that last fight scene, which really looks kind of dangerous," Chapin adds.
What left audiences gasping was just another source of fun for Jackman and Hensley, however.

"I know it might be hard to believe, but Shuler Hensley is one of the funniest men I have ever met," Jackman says. "The fight scene rehearsals were like the WWF, and I enjoyed that more than any other serious theater enterprise that I have been a part of."

The performances of Josefina Gabrielle as headstrong Laurey and character actress Maureen Lipman as crusty Aunt Eller also were well-received by London critics and audiences, but PBS viewers will note that this "Oklahoma!" is undeniably Jackman's show. With his sunny grin as broad as the prairie itself, the star radiates a joy in performing that is all too rare.


"Hugh has strength and vulnerability at the same time," Stroman says. "By the time we finished rehearsing 'Oklahoma!' it was shaped through the eyes of Curly, and audiences saw it through his eyes. I never had felt that with any other production of 'Oklahoma!' and it had everything to do with Hugh Jackman.

"He comes out and he has the audience in the palm of his hand. Hugh has that as a human being too. He lives in the present and is right there with what is happening around him, whereas, sadly, many other actors always seem to have one foot out the door toward the next job when they are rehearsing or even performing. I think audiences feel that."

For all this London success with an American work, Jackman's heart remains Down Under, which is why his current Broadway gig in "The Boy From Oz," an Australian-crafted musical about an Australian entertainer, is providing a very special reward.

"Peter [Allen] had an honesty in his songwriting that just touches you," Jackman says, "and being an Aussie, singing 'I Still Call Australia Home' every night is, of course, very special to me.

"I remember very clearly once watching Peter sing the song, which is now like a second national anthem in Australia. The first time he sang it was at the launch of a 15,000-seat entertainment center. Peter had on this waistcoat with an Australian flag behind him.

"My father was watching with my brother and I," the actor recalls. "We looked up, and Dad was crying. Peter had that way with everyone -- old, young, men, women, gay, straight -- which in Australia was not always that easy."
John Crook writes for Tribune Media Services.

"Great Performances: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!" airs at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on KVCR, San Bernardino. It will air at 7 p.m. Saturday on KCET, Los Angeles.
Cover photograph by Hugo Glendinning

Already a great showman then

[mamaleh]

I remember that article well. I had only recently seen THE BOY FROM OZ for the first time and was hooked on everything Jackman from that point on. I might not even have decided to watch yet another iteration of that old warhorse OKLAHOMA!, but when I realized who was playing Curly, you can bet I was glued to my PBS station that (I think) Thanksgiving weekend, if I recall correctly. Definitely something to be thankful for.

Ellen

[jo]

Ellen,

Did you see Patrick Wilson in the Broadway revival -- which happened a year or so before Hugh's OKLAHOMA! became available in the USA?

Patrick has a good voice but from the clips I have seen of him in the show, he did not bring the charisma that was Hugh's trademark as Curly.

Jo

[jo]

I just found this YouTube unofficial upload of a rehearsal version of the Broadway Oklahoma! in 2002. It is not the complete musical but long enough to appreciate the substance of Trevor Nunn's reinterpretation of the show.






So far, I have watched it till the THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP ( my favorite Hugh song in the show) --

Patrick plays Curly a little differently, sorry to say, a slightly duller version of the lead. His Curly seems to be more of the goody-goody version ( closer to the McRae version maybe) and unfortunately his Curly does not force the spotlight on him, unlike Hugh whose stunning stage presence registers right from the start! Patrick also acts with even more stage gestures...at that time, he has not learned the economy of movements that film screens demand ( but to which his moderate success in film these days has transformed him into a more quieter actor).

Hugh was really special as Curly -- as soon as he entered the stage, he was electrifying ( did you notice that he actually repeated the Oklahoma! stage entrance for Back on Broadway -- no orchestra, off-stage singing?)! His acting is also more tempered and more telling, compared to Patrick's interpretation. But Hugh played Curly more naughty, with a twinkle in his eye and an eyebrow lift ( not literally) almost He was also villainy in that scene with Jud in his shack ( Poor Jud)... Admittedly, Patrick has a beautiful voice, but combined with his acting and his stage presence, he did not seem a match to Hugh Jackman's Curly. Of course I am biased

But I think I will also enjoy this new version, tempered though my expectations are, till the rest of the upload ( it is only 40 minutes-long, so presumably the final act is not included).

Then I will watch the RNT Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman once again


Jo

[jo]

Why did Hugh not make it to Broadway, when Josefina Gabrielle could?

From Maureen Lipman's account ( btw, I also prefer her Aunt Eller), it seems that the first time around, Actor's Equity was not in favor of bringing the whole cast, presumably the major cast, to Broadway (the show closed in London in late spring/early summer 1999). Trevor Nunn wanted the first few months to feature the originals ( to be replaced by a Broadway cast immediately), which captured his full theatrical vision of the revival, but AE would have none of that. Maureen's personal view of the situation was that AE also wanted TONY honors to go an AE cast, not to the London cast... The President of AE who saw the London version live actually apologized for not being able to swing the transfer that Trevor Nunn wanted. Negotiations continued but Trevor Nunn's other commitments also hampered the timing of any Broadway transfer. Eventually, a deal was worked out but with Josefina Gabrielle being the only member of the original cast who made it to Broadway who was not a member of Actor's Equity. Shuler Helmsley is American and presumably already a member of Actor's Equity.

What happened to Hugh Jackman?

Well, like Josefina and Shuler, he also went westward from London! Not to Broadway, not to the real Oklahoma! either...but further westward...to Hollywood! To become another electrifying character, this time on the film screen. It would be the start of his 17-year journey as WOLVERINE!

However, XMEN-1 was filmed in 1999 and released in 2000, so why wasn't he available for Broadway? Harvey Weinstein found him and cast him together with James Mangold in KATE AND LEOPOLD. He also appeared in another rom-com called SOMEONE LIKE YOU. And presumably in late 2001 and/or early 2002, he was filming XMEN-2, which was released in May 2003. But he also found another way to get back to the musical stage via the Rodgers centenary concert at Carnegie Hall in the summer of 2002 - CAROUSEL with Audra McDonald ( Why they never filmed that concert is beyond everybody *rolleyes* ).

I think he also did a workshop for THE BOY FROM OZ sometime in the summer of 2002 or thereabouts, with Ruthie Henshall ( Fantine in the 10th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables) as Liza.


By 2003, he came back to musical theatre via THE BOY FROM OZ!

I wonder, what would have been his career if Lauren Shuler had not seen OKLAHOMA! in London and persuaded Bryan Singer and Fox to cast Hugh as Wolverine, when the original casting fell through? Would it have been the theatre mostly? Or would some other producers or directors have found him onstage and persuaded him to come to Hollywood? We also know that he met Patrick Whitesell, his longtime agent and now co-chairman of WME-IMG, backstage in Oklahoma!, so the journey to Hollywood would have probably happened anyway.


Jo

[njr]

Mar 25, 2017 19:07:59 GMT -5 jo said:

I just found this YouTube unofficial upload of a rehearsal version of the Broadway Oklahoma! in 2002. It is not the complete musical but long enough to appreciate the substance of Trevor Nunn's reinterpretation of the show.






So far, I have watched it till the THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP ( my favorite Hugh song in the show) --

Patrick plays Curly a little differently, sorry to say, a slightly duller version of the lead. His Curly seems to be more of the goody-goody version ( closer to the McRae version maybe) and unfortunately his Curly does not force the spotlight on him, unlike Hugh whose stunning stage presence registers right from the start! Patrick also acts with even more stage gestures...at that time, he has not learned the economy of movements that film screens demand ( but to which his moderate success in film these days has transformed him into a more quieter actor).

Hugh was really special as Curly -- as soon as he entered the stage, he was electrifying ( did you notice that he actually repeated the Oklahoma! stage entrance for Back on Broadway -- no orchestra, off-stage singing?)! His acting is also more tempered and more telling, compared to Patrick's interpretation. But Hugh played Curly more naughty, with a twinkle in his eye and an eyebrow lift ( not literally) almost He was also villainy in that scene with Jud in his shack ( Poor Jud)... Admittedly, Patrick has a beautiful voice, but combined with his acting and his stage presence, he did not seem a match to Hugh Jackman's Curly. Of course I am biased

But I think I will also enjoy this new version, tempered though my expectations are, till the rest of the upload ( it is only 40 minutes-long, so presumably the final act is not included).

Then I will watch the RNT Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman once again


Jo

Patrick can't hold a candle to Hugh! Of course I too am biased!

Nancy

[jo]

I think it was an actual performance, not a rehearsal version.


jO

[carouselkathy]

I saw Patrick at the Gershwin. It was my first time in NYC. I was there for the Richard Rodgers Centennial. I loved the production and thought Patrick was fine, although I never saw Hugh do OKLAHOMA! live. I only saw the DVD, which was only partly filmed in front of a live audience. Hugh's great, but that clip from the MacIntosh Celebration gives a much better presentation of his live performance as "Curly".

[njr]

Mar 26, 2017 11:50:04 GMT -5 carouselkathy said:

I saw Patrick at the Gershwin. It was my first time in NYC. I was there for the Richard Rodgers Centennial. I loved the production and thought Patrick was fine, although I never saw Hugh do OKLAHOMA! live. I only saw the DVD, which was only partly filmed in front of a live audience. Hugh's great, but that clip from the MacIntosh Celebration gives a much better presentation of his live performance as "Curly".

I bought that DVD, watched the whole thing only to find that they had cut out Hugh's performance! It must have been a bootleg copy or something. I was so mad!

Nancy

[mamaleh]

Jul 15, 2016 0:12:22 GMT -5 mamaleh said:

The "Carousel Waltz" is a lovely piece of music--and very clever. I like how, early on, it mimics the calliope-like sounds one usually hears as the painted horse figures bob up and down on a moving carousel. I like other Rodgers waltzes, too: The "Cinderella Waltz", "Falling in Love with Love", etc.


Ellen

Speaking of CAROUSEL, there's to be a Broadway revival next year--without Hugh of course. Jessie Mueller will be Julie and Joshua Henry, recently Aaron Burr in the national tour of HAMILTON, will be Billy. The role has definitely passed HJ by. Too bad the elements didn't come together for a film version a decade or so ago.

www.broadwayworld.com/article/Breaking-Jesse-Mueller-Joshua-Henry-Rene-Fleming-to-Star-in-CAROUSEL-on-Broadway-20170416

Ellen