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Review: Oklahoma!
Director John Doyle puts a new and revealing twist on Oklahoma! from the start.
He has Oh What A Beautiful Morning sung by misfit Jud Fry before handsome young Curley takes it over.
That instantly creates a sense of Jud as a man who like anyone else wants to be happy. If the other characters see him as villain, with him stalking the stage, casting shadows on the two large drapes that form the set, we can see him also as victim.
But it would be wrong to suggest this is a 'dark' Oklahoma! overall. It has a strong sense of 'belonging to the land' (to amend a line from the title song) and brims with vitality in the big dance numbers.
And the comedy is irresistibly led by Natalie Casey as Ado Annie, the girl who can't say no.
The actress from Hollyoaks and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps plays Annie with supreme comic timing, a flirtatious wiggle of her hips and a picture-gallery of vivid facial expressions.
Her delivery of a line such as 'Well, how far did you want to go?' twinkles with suggestiveness.
Michael Rouse is full of comically acrobatic antics as one of her potential lovers, and Amy Ellen Richardson from Fareham unleashes an outrageously manic laugh as the girl who marries the other.
Craige Els glowers gloriously as Jud and Michael Xavier is properly heroic in singing and movement as Curley.
Leila Benn Harris is vocally most effective when her heart is in danger of breaking.
Musical director Catherine Jayes not only secures punchy playing from the orchestra but skilfully paces and shapes the melodies and rhythms.
One warning for those of a nervous disposition: beware the gunshots.
In repertoire until August 29.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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