Word: oklahomas
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Besides being one of our largest domestic news bureaus, in terms of the population and territory it covers (from North Dakota and Minnesota south to Oklahoma), the Midwest bureau is also the oldest. It was established in 1929 and counts as the first cover it reported a 1930 piece on Mobster Al Capone. Nowadays the big stories that occupy the bureau can range from projects involving long-term reporting, like our November 1978 cover on "The New U.S. Farmer" to this week's fast-breaking examination of "Grain As a Weapon." Such high-pressure assignments can be tough...
...Over. But the individual songs were only a part of his achievement. He and his lyricists, principally Lorenz Hart and Hammerstein, wove these numbers into increasingly coherent plots, transforming the traditional hotchpotch of musical comedy into unified musical theater. If Rodgers had written nothing else but Pal Joey and Oklahoma!, his penultimate collaboration with Hart and his first with Hammerstein, he would still have had an indelible influence on the genre...
...fact remains that Oklahoma! is as anachronistic as the surrey with the fringe on top. More than any other theater form, the musical mirrors the social milieu in which it is born. This show's ostensible locale and time span are Indian territory, now Oklahoma, just before statehood. But its real dateline is U.S.A., 1943. It exudes robust confidence, the abiding force of the individual will, and a subliminal, but immutable, determination to defeat the Nazis and the Japanese...
...U.S.A. in the shadow of the 1980s echoes them? Doubt and the rage of impotence stalk the land. People worry about whether they can gas up to cross a state, let alone found one. With three trusty assistants -his horse, his saddle and his gun-the cowboy hero of Oklahoma!, Curly (Laurence Guittard), is his own man. Where is the man who would dare or would be permitted to carve out his personal destiny that way today? There is a winning comic figure in Oklahoma!, a lustful Persian peddler (Bruce Adler) who is the butt of much joshing...
...Oklahoma! is nothing if not escapist. The creaky book centers on true love be tween Curly, a bold man, and Laurey (Christine Andreas), a spirited maiden, aided by an earthy matchmaker, Aunt Eller (Mary Wickes). They make it real, even when the dialogue resembles subtitles from a silent movie. As in the silents, there is a villain, Jud, played by Martin Vidnovic, who brings to a thankless role a Freudian depth of characterization and a richly textured voice...