Broadway's original lovebirds, Curly and Laurey, are portrayed for a whole new generation in the Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma!, currently running on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre. And this productions is not your grandparents' Oklahoma! Or is it?
"The reality is, that in 1943, when [Oklahoma!] dropped, it was punk rock as hell," says leading man Damon Daunno. "It was progressive! I personally think that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote what we are doing. So I'd like to think that it's 100% your grandparents' Oklahoma!"
Both Daunno and leading lady Rebecca Naomi Jones agree that they never thought they'd be playing such classically iconic characters on a Broadway stage. How did they find their ways into their roles? "I think that in doing the piece from start to finish, it all opens up like a flower... just in the doing of it," says Jones. "So now, going back and being in specific moments, being aware of where we are headed makes it all that much clearer."
Below, watch and Jones and Daunno tell us even more about life at the Circle in the Square, how they each got their start in theatre, and so much more in the latest episode of Backstage with Richard Ridge!
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