Oklahoma! (1956): A Review (Review #1835)

 

OKLAHOMA!

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Gordon MacRae.

I think that there are some Broadway musicals that transformed the genre. Show Boat is one. Cabaret is another. Maybe Cats. Too soon to say that about Hamilton. One musical that I would include in the pantheon of great musicals is Oklahoma! which was the first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Oklahoma! is filled with a catalog of extraordinary songs and barring some off moments is delightful, if a bit long.

Shortly before the Oklahoma Territory is finally admitted into the Union as a state, cowboy Curly (Gordon MacRae) and farm girl Laurey (Shirley Jones) are clearly in love with each other. However, both are too stubborn to admit it to the other, so they trade insults while making doe-eyes at each other. Laurey is first smitten by then angered how Curly initially sweet-talks Laurey about taking her to a local party in The Surrey with the Fringe on Top only to tell her he has no such vehicle. In response, she agrees to go to the party with farmhand Jud (Rod Steiger). Curly then offers to take local legend and Laurey's Aunt Eller (Charlotte Greenwood). 

Arriving from Kansas City is another cowboy, Will Parker (Gene Nelson), who has been attempting to hold on to $50 in order to win over his sweetheart, Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame). Ado Annie is a girl who admits I Cain't Say No to every guy who looks at her. She is fond of Will, but her father Andrew (James Whitmore) is certainly not. Andrew is not enthusiastic about Ado's other beau, traveling peddler Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert), who is equally desperate to get out of Ado's arms. 

Jud, menacing and with a chip on his shoulder, want to force himself on Laurey. She has a dream where she sees Curly is the man for her, but she can't back out of going with Jud.  Laurey does manage to escape a pair of frightening experiences with Jud in time for the box social/bachelorette auction. Jud manages to get there too in time to get into a bidding war with Curly. Will the Persian peddler manage to simultaneously get out of Ado's clutches and throw her into Will's? Will Curly and Laurey join in marriage at the same time Oklahoma joins the Union? Will Jud come between them?

I am a bit surprised that Oklahoma! is seen as this delightful musical number when it has a surprising number of dark elements. There is an attempted rape. There is attempted murder. One character gets killed. Our hero makes the none too subtle suggestion to another that he ought to commit suicide. I was a bit taken aback by how some aspects in Oklahoma! were less than family friendly.

I do think, however, that people do not remember the darker, even murderous aspects in Oklahoma! but rather the songbook, one of the finest written for the stage. Oklahoma! has among the very best opening songs with Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin', sung so beautifully by MacRae. The lushness and optimism of Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' works so well between the music, the lyrics and MacRae's delivery. Physically and vocally impressive and imposing, MacRae dominates this opening number.

In terms of singing, MacRae is absolutely perfect as Curly.  His delivery of every song he sings is excellent. There is the joy of The Surrey with the Fringe on Top and the romance of People Will Say We're in Love. MacRae understands that he has to communicate character through song, and in Oklahoma! he does it very well.

This role suits MacRae so well, as he makes Curly into a somewhat arrogant but endearing figure: proud but committed to Laurey. MacRae balances being silly with serious. I think perhaps the one weak moment is with Pore Jud is Daid, one of the creepiest numbers in what is meant as a joyful musical romp. More on that later.

Shirley Jones, making her debut, is absolutely charming as Laurey, able to keep up with MacRae in terms of playing coy, hurt and lovelorn. She was delightful in her love for Curly but also in her frustration about his ways. Jones plays the doubts behind the empowering Many a New Day number. Here, she is meant to insist that she is not concerned when Curly starts flirting with another woman. However, we know that like Curly is crazy for Laurey but does not want to admit it, Laurey is mad for him and doesn't want to admit it either. Jones in a way has a tougher role in that she faces the threat from Jud, so she cannot be all jolly. Fortunately, Jones' Laurey never came across as dim.

That would be Grahame's Ado Annie, and this is a big change of pace for Grahame. Grahame's forte was as noir dames or femme fatales. In Oklahoma! she is playing a shameless but well-meaning hussy, liking men but struggling to figure them out. While I think she was miscast as this flirtatious but ultimately dear girl, Grahame did not do a terrible job. I do think her face was a bit tight throughout the film, so I never fully bought her as Ado Annie.

Much better was Greenwood as Aunt Eller, salt of the earth and wise earth mother. With a slightly creaky voice she still is able to lecture and guide the young'uns in the ways of the world. Every time she was on screen, Greenwood made Aunt Eller the center of attention.

Much worse were the curious casting choices of both Eddie Albert and Rod Steiger. While it was nice seeing Oklahoma! take a stab at representation with a Persian (or Iranian today) character, Eddie Albert as a Persian is as believable as Shirley Jones would be as Shirley Chisholm. He seems to take a stab at an accent but never manages to land it. More bizarre is Steiger as Jud. I think Jud is meant to be a terrible character, one filled with rage. However, even for someone as murderous as Jud Fry, Rod Steiger made him look perpetually angry.

I think many would be puzzled when seeing that Steiger was the only one of the three to be part of the Agnes de Mille choreographed dream ballet sequence. Here is one of Oklahoma!'s flaws, separate from Rod Steiger trying to do a ballet.

Oklahoma! is film director Fred Zinnemann's only musical; the director of such films as From Here to Eternity, The Nun's Story and A Man for All Seasons is a curious choice to helm Oklahoma! All these are deep and powerful intellectual films. One therefore wonders why or how Zinnemann came to direct this homespun musical romp. His directing of the actors was mostly good, with the location footage in Arizona enhancing the look and scope of Oklahoma! Where he fails is in the dancing.

Agnes de Mille had crafted beautiful numbers, blending the elegance of ballet with a more informal American manner. Sadly, a lot of de Mille's choreography is lost because Zinnemann opted to focus on the faces and upper bodies instead of the full body. While we do get to see the dancers in full at the Many a New Day and Kansas City sequences, we do not in other numbers which I think desperately call for them. Both the ballet dream sequence and The Farmer and the Cowman do not feature the full body. It becomes frustrating to not see the full flow of the dance. The graceful and at times firm moments are lost because Zinnemann forgot what Fred Astaire always advocated for: shooting a dance number with the entire body on screen. 

What is not in doubt however is Rodgers & Hammerstein's songbook. Oklahoma! is I think one of the first musicals to have vernacular as part of the song. Lyrics drop the "g" at the end of words such as "mornin'" for "morning" and "startin'" for "starting". The dubious word "ain't" is used often. They use mispronunciations as part of the song. Take the title song. The lyrics read "gonna give you barley, carrots and pertaters/pasture fer the cattle, spinach and termayters!" The audience would understand that they mean "potatoes" and "tomatoes", but Rodgers & Hammerstein captured how the words sound and would have been pronounced by the rustic settlers. 

They were craftsmen when it came to the score. Hammerstein's lyrics were meticulous in Oklahoma! when he wrote "we know we belong to the land/and the land we belong to is grand". The "land/grand" rhyme is perfect, coupled with the reverse repetition of the phrasing. The rhymes and rhythm are perfection. They are matched by Rodgers' pulsating and enthusiastic and cheerful music, keeping a flow that blends music and lyrics perfectly. To my mind and ear, apart from Pore Jud is Daid (which I fine extremely creepy) and possibly All Er Nuthin later in the film, every song in Oklahoma! is truly perfect. 

Oklahoma! is perhaps misunderstood as a nice romp when it is darker than given credit for. It is a bit long (I do wish Pore Jud is Daid would have been cut) and I think the filming of the dance numbers was not done well. Still, Oklahoma! works its charms on the viewer. A listen to People Will Say We're in Love will win you over, especially with how MacRae and Jones sing and play the scene. The title says it all: Oklahoma, OK!

DECISION: B+