The London transfer of the 2019 Broadway revival of the 1943 musical Oklahoma! has received near universal acclaim from critics. The creative team includes Oscar Hammerstein II (book, lyrics), Richard Rodgers (music), Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein (direction), Daniel Kluger (orchestrations, arrangements), John Heginbotham (choreography), Laura Jellinek and Grace Laubacher (sets), Terese Wadden (costumes), Scott Zielinski (lights), Drew Levy (sound), Joshua Thorson (production design), Nathan Koci (arrangements), and Tom Brady (music direction).
The cast includes Marisha Wallace (Ado Annie), Stavros Demetraki (Ali Hakim), Liza Sadovy (Aunt Eller), Arthur Darvill (Curly), Patrick Vaill (Jud), Anoushak Lucas (Laurey), and James Davis (Will Parker) with Greg Hicks (Andrew Carnes), Ashley Samuiels (Cord Elam), Rebekah Hinds (Gertie), Marie-Astrid Mence (Lead Dancer), and Raphael Bushay (Mike). The production runs at the Young Vic through June 25.
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): The big numbers … still come across beautifully. But the themes of awkward young love, poisonous jealousy, exuberant celebration and the hard pragmatism of forging a new state are thrown into sharp relief. … Overall, it’s a stunning reinvention by directors Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein, although their radicalism very occasionally feels laboured. … The stark ending is powerful, if a little forced. I still can’t totally get my head around a musical where the titular anthem insists that a fairly boring US state is “ok” and “doing fine.” But this Oklahoma! has an urgency and zest that beats any other version I’ve seen, including the 1998 National Theatre revival that featured Hugh Jackman as Curly. 4 out of 5 stars.
Guardian (Miriam Gillinson): How to rewrite Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical without changing a word? It turns out all you need do is make us really watch, and really listen. … Directors Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein have created a modern, sexy and unsettling show. And as for the music? The score sounds so revitalised it might’ve been written yesterday. … The physicality and proximity of this production make us think about the show differently. … It doesn’t all work. … But this is still a brave and invigorating show that effortlessly unearths the ugliness that has always glimmered beneath Oklahoma!’s beautiful morning. 4 out of 5 stars.
London Theatre (Suzy Evans): The genius of Fish’s concept for the revival is in the role reversal of the two male leads: Jud and Curly. … Traditionally, Curly is the strapping hero who wins the girl, while Jud is the conniving farm hand. However, without changing a word of the text, Fish highlights just how wrong we’ve been. … It seems like a cliché to say that this show couldn’t be more timely, but unfortunately, its relevance just keeps getting, well, more relevant. As a story about a divided territory with classes at odds, struggling to find common ground to become a unified state, the parallels with our divided world are painfully clear. 5 out of 5 stars.
WhatsOnStage (Sarah Crompton): It is the most thorough rethinking of Rodgers and Hammerstein that you are ever likely to see, a sensational reassessment of a classic show. … I think it is a masterpiece. … It is a dark version of Oklahoma! but it is also supremely funny and life-enhancing. It is political about the world we live in. … But it doesn’t allow any overall message to dominate. It pays each scene, each song and each character the courtesy of treating them as if they were freshly minted, revealing their complexities and contradictions. In this sense, it is truly Shakespearean— and absolutely revelatory. 5 out of 5 stars.