28 ARTSTheatre: Oklahoma!
Chichester Festival Theatre (01243-781312). Until7September Running time: 2hrs 35mins (incl. interval) ★★★★“If ever the exclamation mark of
atitle could be felt on the pulse,
this isaprime example,” said
Dominic Cavendish in The
Daily Telegraph. With songs
full of “capering wit”,asimple
storyline and plenty of “folksy,
thumbs-on-belts dancing”,
Oklahoma!delivers pretty
much everything “any
summer audience could want”.
Yet Jeremy Sams’ staging at
the Chichester Festival Theatre
is alsoa“subtly challenging
evening”, tackling some of the
darker themes of Rodgers and
Hammerstein’s first
collaboration.
Opening with the “rapturous” melody ofOh, WhataBeautiful
Mornin’,the show is set in 1906, whenalawless Oklahoma is on
the verge of becomingastate, said Sam Marlowe in The Times.
We follow two parallel love triangles in which the male characters
vie for the affections of bright young Laurey (Amara Okereke)
and the giggling flirt Ado Annie (Bronté Barbé). It’salight plot,
but Sams does well to make his production “more tough than
twee”. Jud, the farmhand usually portrayed asasinister loner, is
transformed intoafigure of long-borne suffering. The constant
presence of guns, too, reminds us that as well as “romance, high-
kicking energy and pioneering adventure”, this isaworld of
“ruthlessness, fear, hardship and inequality”.Abeautiful mornin’
gives way to “a surprisingly dark evenin’”, said Mark Lawson inThe Guardian. The gloomy
second half, featuring only four
songs, one of themareprise,
proves problematic, even for a
“skilled” musical specialist like
Sams. “But this production
impressively harvests all that
Oklahoma!has to offer.”
This “once-revolutionary
1943 show feels hokey today”,
said Nick Curtis in the London
Evening Standard. The ending is
“arguably the worst inamajor
musical”. Even so, there are
some “career-making
performances” here, and it may
well follow other Chichester hits
into the West End. The “real
winner” is the choreography, said Alex Wood on What’s on Stage
–the show is chock-full of lassoing tricks, hay-bale buggy rides
and twirling parasols. “Euphoria, humour and tension all coexist
as the piece spirals towardsasad climax.”THE WEEK3August 2019DramaArevival with “career-making performances”: Okereke (right)The week’s other opening
Blues in the NightKiln Theatre, London NW6
(020-7328 1000). Until7September
In theloungeofacheaphotelinpostwarChicagoresidethree
female singers, in variousstages of disillusionment. Getting its
first major London revival in 30 years, this “essay in nostalgia”
is powered by the “regal” Sharon D. Clarke (Guardian).Ed Sheeran:
No. 6
Collaborations
Project
Atlantic £10.99“Talk about an A-team,” said The Sunday
Times. Ed Sheeran–“the Brit who can’t
stop writing hits”–has delved deep into his
“superstar-stuffed” contacts list to come up
with an album all but guaranteed to flood
the charts. Blending his unfailingly catchy
hooks with dancehall, rap, Latin and R&B,
this is “streaming catnip”. It works best
when Sheeran bends to his guests. In
Take Me Back to London,headopts the
“mischievous” style of Stormzy, and he
gets angry onAntisocialwith Travis Scott.
However, the talents of CardiBand Camila
Cabello are wasted on the “Latin-by-
numbers” track,South of the Border.
Given his mega-stardom, Sheeran still
seems oddly obsessed with his perceived
“outsider” status, said Michael Cragg in
The Observer. He’s the loner at glitzy
showbiz parties with Justin Bieber in
IDon’t Care,and raps “I was bornamisfit”
inRemember The Name,with Eminem and
50 Cent.Acynic might say this album is just
aplaylist “primed for summer dominance”.
That person would be “100% correct”.Alot has changed since the Kaiser Chiefs
rose to fame 15 years ago, said Laura
Snapes in The Guardian. Their singer, Ricky
Wilson, is nowajudge onThe Voice UK,
and “parochial indie culture is dead”. But
on this enigmatically named album, they
still manage to come up with enough hooks
and “appealingly weird quirks” to get away
with it.Target Market,for example, sees
Wilson’s lovelorn narrator unable to figure
out why his Powerpoint presentations
aren’t succeeding in winning over the girl
of his dreams.
This indie-rock ensemble is now “deeply
uncool” and out of touch with pop trends,
but they don’t seem to care, said Neil
McCormick in The Daily Telegraph. The
Kaiser Chiefs haveawitty, optimistic niche,
and this is “as strong an album as they
have ever made”. True, the opening track,
People Know How to Love One Another,
may open with the chorus phrase and
repeat it 27 times in three-and-a-half
minutes. But you’ll struggle to resist
jumping around and singing along.Wynton Marsalis’s ambition “knows no
bounds”, said Ivan Hewett in The Daily
Telegraph. Having been dubbed “the
greatest trumpeter on the planet” in the
1980s, in both the classical and jazz worlds,
he began to marry the two styles as a
composer. This ambition shines through his
40-minuteViolin Concerto,written for star
Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti. The piece
hasaclear thesis: that jazz isahybrid art
form. And that thesis comes across, even
if it’s sometimes demonstrated too “strenu-
ously”. Benedetti, performing live with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, managesa“hugely
taxing” part with “tenderness and brio”.
While classical composers have always
given nods to other styles of music, it’s
amazing just how many genres Marsalis
includes, said Richard Fairman in the FT.
From blues to Scottish jigs, African gumbo
to aMardi Gras party, it’s all in there. When
it premiered at the Barbican in 2015, the
concerto seemedabit ofa“hotchpotch”,
but some pruning since then has made this
recordingarich and rewarding experience.Kaiser Chiefs:
Duck
Polydor £10.99CDs of the week: three new releasesWynton
Marsalis: Violin
Concerto &
Fiddle Dance
Suite; Nicola
Benedetti
Decca £10.99©J
OHAN PERSSON
Stars reflect the overall quality of reviews and our own independent assessment (5 stars=don’t miss;1star=don’t bother)
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