BWW Preview: Territory Folks Welcome Audiences to Limelight's 25th Season

Audiences at Limelight's 25th season opener will be treated to a cozier, more down-home OKLAHOMA! on their intimate mainstage, but that's by design. Executive Director, Beth Lambert, who also directs this production of the landmark Pulitzer Prize-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, didn't want this to be the "show that you do to pay for the other shows in your season." It's a show that she has always wanted to do since performing with her mother in a summer stock production when Lambert was in fifth grade. However, Lambert thought it was too large of a production for the Limelight space.

"But then I saw the amazing London version with Hugh Jackman where they went back to the book," Lambert recalls. "They didn't turn it into a large production. I didn't want this to be a big painted backdrop full of corn and matchy-matchy costumes and huge dance numbers. I didn't want it to be one of those shows where the dialogue is only there to push the music along. That London version focused more on the story, which is important because it deals with real problems people had and it doesn't have the happiest ending. So I said 'Let's look at that!'"

And it works. Taking that inspiration, Lambert, along with her creative and design teams, have fashioned a warm and snug production that will two-step itself straight into the hearts of audiences by bringing them much closer to the characters than is usually the case for this typically over-produced traditional show. With a modest cast of just over twenty performers and a small ensemble of four musicians, the stage of Limelight came to life during the first dress rehearsal prior to opening on September 23.

Within the first 20 minutes, cowboy Curly (Jimmy Alexander) serenades Aunt Eller (Donna Boggess) about that famous "bright golden haze on the meadow" and woos feisty farmgirl Laurey (Amy Conlon) with promises of a date in a fantastically-fringed surrey, followed by rambunctious fellow cowhand Will Parker (Michael Cejvanovic) regaling his neighbors about "up-to-date" Kansas City. It's certainly familiar and classic, but there's a wonderfully easy accessibility that's typically missing from bigger productions.

The music and dance have received a similar "intimate treatment." Although they originally looked at the available dual-piano version, Lambert and Music Director Shelli Long have opted for a "real stripped-down and bare" orchestration. "We wanted to keep it small," Long explains, "so I tried to pick some color instruments. So I have a violin (yes, I've got a fiddle), a musician doubling on clarinet and flute, and the guy who played guitar for the last production just happens to play the banjo!" Choreographer Katie Raulerson has made the dance more accessible as well. "It's not strict ballet," Raulerson adds. "I added a little contemporary jazz in there, too." Not only that, but the team has kept the real Laurey, Curly, Ado Annie (Jessica Alexander), and Jud (Patric Robinson), along with actual members of the ensemble in the game-changing "Out of My Dreams" ballet that closes the first act, eschewing the standard corps of dancers that typically serve as dream shadows for the lead characters.

OKLAHOMA! kicks off Limelight's 25th Season, which features an exciting mix of brand new and comfortable older pieces. Lambert didn't want the season to be filled with the best of 25 years of productions. "I'm not a big believer in reprises of shows," Lambert says. "I've done it a couple of times and they never really work out. The only show I agreed to do that with this season was Neil Simon's I OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES and that was because it was the very first show we ever did." The anniversary season also includes COTTON PATCH GOSPEL, Ibsen's classic HEDDA GABLER, along with local premieres of the Charles Ludlam Victorian comedic farce THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP and the recent Tony Award-nominated comedy-drama THE NANCE.

OKLAHOMA! runs through October 23 at the Limelight Theatre located at 11 Old Mission Avenue in St. Augustine. For reservations and information on this production and subscriptions to their 25th Season, visit the Limelight website at limelight-theatre.org or call 904-825-1164.

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