Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammersteinβs musical telling the love story of cowboy Curly McLain and farm girl Laurey Williams, will open this yearβs eight-day ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Celebrates the Arts with evening performances April 7-8.
The production, a collaboration between the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ music and theatre departments, will be directed by musical theatre coordinator Earl D. Weaver and feature a large cast of ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ actors and musicians. Next year, Oklahoma! celebrates its 75th anniversary since first opening on Broadway, and ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs performing arts team wanted to highlight the beauty of the musical in a big way.
βThere will be more than 200 faculty, staff, and students from both departments working together to produce the show,β said Weaver. βThere will be a cast of 50 performers/dancers and more than 70 orchestra members onstage together, bringing to life this golden age musical.β
Oklahoma! presents some challenges to the cast and crew, however, as the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ students are more used to performing on stages much smaller than the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Artsβ Walt Disney Theater.
βThe demands of scale for the cast, orchestra, and all the technical/design elements has presented us with new challenges,β said Weaver, βbut it is very exciting to get the opportunity to perform in such a prestigious venue.β
ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ theatre major Kyle Laing, who will play the lead role of Curly, also recognizes the demands of a significantly larger venue.
βTransferring the production from ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ into the Dr. Phillips Center will be a task,β he said, βnot necessarily a bad one, but we will all need to be organized and on our A-games.β
Laing was last seen on ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ stages last fall as the title character in the universityβs production of Young Frankenstein. He said this production obviously has a very different feel than that show.
βThis is definitely the largest stage Iβve ever performed on. I think of all shows to perform, to have such a classic on our hands and that weβre doing it in its entiretyβwith a ballet performance in the middleβitβs just such an honor to recognize Oklahoma! on its 75th anniversary,β said Laing. βItβs a simple show, but a beautiful, lighter evening at the theatre, and I hope that people can just enjoy that and feel good afterwards and be a part of it with us.β
The third annual ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Celebrates the Arts will feature more than 1,000 university students, 100 faculty members and some collaborative programs with outside partners to showcase theatre, dance, orchestra, choirs, big band, chamber music, cabaret, concert bands, opera, visual arts, studio art, gaming, animation, photography and film.
This is part of a series of stories about the April 7-14 events at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Celebrates the Arts 2017. All events are free, but a limited number of reserved seats at $20 will be available March 1-8. The free tickets will be available beginning March 9. Tickets are required for all performances and entrance into the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., Orlando. Ticketing and full schedule details are posted at .