Manatee Players stage a game-changing musical classic with ‘Oklahoma!’

Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·3 min read
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It was nearly 81 years ago that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II changed the future of musical theater and forged an enduring creative partnership with the opening of “Oklahoma!”

With the musical, based on Lynn Riggs’ play “Green Grow the Lilacs,” Rodgers and Hammerstein blended music, characters, plot and dance together into one seamless story for the first time.

“It has character development and depth of character, a realization that dance has a purpose. It’s not just filling a space and looking pretty. It can advance the plot,” said Rick Kerby, the Bradenton theater company’s producing artistic director who is staging a new production that opens Jan. 18. “It was innovative in its day just in the way it opened with a woman alone on stage churning butter when people were used to pretty girls, kick lines and feathers.”

Olivia Turpening, left, plays Laurey Williams, and Gary Kurnov plays the cowboy Curley in the new Manatee Players production of “Oklahoma!” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
Olivia Turpening, left, plays Laurey Williams, and Gary Kurnov plays the cowboy Curley in the new Manatee Players production of “Oklahoma!” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

Kerby has a long history with the show, having performed in it earlier in his career, as well as choreographing and directing other productions.

“I feel like it’s going back and visiting an old friend and I really understand why it became part of musical theater history.”

The musical, which opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943, tells the story of the romance that blossoms between the cowboy Curley (played by Gary Kurnov) and the farmgirl Laurey (Olivia Turpening). Their relationship is complicated by the farmhand Jud Fry (played by Benjamin Eisenhour), who wants Laurey for himself. There’s also a subplot about cowboy Will Parker (Jackson Madison), who is in love with Ado Annie (Amanda Lade) who enjoys flirting with all the young men in the area.

Rick Kerby, second from right, was a young performer when he appeared in a production of “Oklahoma!” in about 1982. He is directing and choreographing a new production for the Manatee Players.
Rick Kerby, second from right, was a young performer when he appeared in a production of “Oklahoma!” in about 1982. He is directing and choreographing a new production for the Manatee Players.

The show also tells the story of a new state about to be born.

Based on advance ticket sales, Kerby said the audience “clearly knows this show and loves this show. It’s our most popular show of the year so far.” But he’s excited that the young cast members, many of whom “did not grow up with this are falling in love with this old warehouse classic.”

The production will mark the debut of a new video wall, a giant television “that covers the entire back part of our stage” which can display virtual backdrops through videos and still photos. “We’re going out and filming a sunrise that will be part of the scene that opens the show,” Kerby said.

Those images will be combined with the physical sets that Kerby designed with technical director Larry Krause. Aaron Cassette is the musical director.

From left, Julee Breehne as Meg, Emily Eader as Lenny and Haley Hines as Babe play sisters in the Manatee Players production of “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley.
From left, Julee Breehne as Meg, Emily Eader as Lenny and Haley Hines as Babe play sisters in the Manatee Players production of “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley.

A new look at a Pulitzer Prize-winning play

The musical runs in the Stone Hall in the Manatee Performing Arts Center, where Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy “Crimes of the Heart” is playing in the more intimate Kiwanis Studio Theatre.

It’s about the three Magrath sisters (played by Emily Eader, Hailey Hines and Julee Breehne), who are reunited at their grandfather’s Mississippi home after the youngest sister, Babe, shoots her abusive husband.

Director Kathy Junkins said that even though the play is set in 1974 – a time when the country was still dealing with unrest about the Vietnam War and witnessing the resignation of President Richard Nixon – it could be happening today.

There are many parallels in the play’s setting to our time, she said, including the political unrest and division of the day, and the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine. But the dysfunctional family dynamics that are revealed over the course of the play “are timeless. We are always dealing with tragedy and when things happen in your life, you come together as a family and you can bond. The love of the family can help you get through the tough times.”

How to get tickets

“Oklahoma!” runs Jan. 18-Feb. 4 in Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $30. “Crimes of the Heart” runs through Jan. 21. Tickets are $27. 502 Third Ave., West, Bradenton. 941-748-5875; manateeperformingartscenter.com

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Classic musical ‘Oklahoma!’ returns to Manatee Players