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St. Ann's Warehouse and Eva Price have extended the celebrated Bard SummerScape production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma, directed byDaniel Fish, to November 11.
Reviewing this re-imagined Oklahoma! for the New York Times in 2015, Ben Brantley said that it "elicits what has always been just below the surface of this magnificent musical." Now bringing audiences and artists together in this production under the vast canopy of St. Ann's Warehouse, Fish illuminates the musical form's essentials to better expose the show's emotional range and layered characters. The result is a production as fresh and revelatory as if it were written for today's America.
Performances of Oklahoma! will take place September 27-30, October 2-6, 9-14, 16-21, 25-28, 30-31, and November 1-4, 6-11 at 7:30pm; September 30 and October 7 at 5pm; and October 6, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28, and November 3-4, 10-11 at 2pm. Critics are welcome as of October 5 at 7:30pm for an official opening on October 7 at 5pm. Tickets start at $41 and can be purchased at www.stannswarehouse.org, 718.254.8779 and 866.811.4111. St. Ann's Warehouse is located in Brooklyn Bridge Park at 45 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
With no chorus, a seven-piece band, a theater repurposed as a community social hall, and chili shared by the audience and actors at intermission, this intimate production derives much of its power from its stellar cast. Rebecca Naomi Jones, whose recent performance in the new Fire in Dreamland at The Public Theater prompted The New York Times to call her "an actress of luminous intensity," plays Laurey. Damon Daunno, who as Curly "capture[d] perfectly the spunk and uncertainty of inchoate manhood" at Bard (The New York Times), will reprise the role at St. Ann's.
Two-time Tony Award nominee Mary Testa returns to the production with her "compellingly pragmatic" (The New York Times) Aunt Eller, and Patrick Vaill again plays the socially isolated and troubled farmhand, Jud Fry, having done so as a Bard student in 2007 workshops and again, as a professional, in the 2015 production. Ali Stroker-who, with her "vocal powerhouse" (Variety) performance in Deaf West Theatre's Spring Awakening, became the first actress in a wheelchair on Broadway-plays Ado Annie. James Davis returns as Ado Annie's boyfriend Will Parker, while Michael Nathanson (of Netflix's The Punisher and HBO's The Knick) plays her competing suitor, Ali Hakim, and Mitch Tebo her father, Andrew Carnes.The cast also features Mallory Portnoy, reprising the role of Gertie Cummings and others; Anthony Cason (Soho Rep.'s Is God Is) as Cord; and Will Mann as Mike.
Oklahoma! features music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs, with original dances by Agnes De Mille. The creative team at St. Ann's Warehouse includes Daniel Fish (Director), Daniel Kluger (New Orchestrations, Arrangements & Music Supervision), John Heginbotham (New Choreography), Nathan Koci (Music Direction), Laura Jellinek (Scenic Design, based on an original concept by John Conklin), Terese Wadden (Costume Design), Scott Zielinski (Lighting Design), Drew Levy (Sound Design), and Joshua Thorson (Projection Design).
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