Royal High School student, Jessica Rood, reviews a compelling, charming and completely captivating joint production of the musical classic between pupils from Beechen Cliff, Hayesfield and the Bath Theatre School
I’ve enjoyed musical theatre since before I can remember. It was therefore a real pleasure to find myself sitting in Hayesfield Girls’ School’s Roper Theatre for the opening night of Oklahoma!, a joint production put on by Hayesfield and Beechen Cliff School, in partnership with Bath Theatre School.
While Bath Theatre School has previously worked with Beechen Cliff, this was the first time that pupils from Hayesfield School had also taken part. However, the expansion has been greatly welcomed and Bath Theatre School’s principal Tom Bright expressed how much enjoyment everyone has got out of the experience.
As well as the brilliant student performers, the crew was primarily made up of students, while the band performed the Rogers and Hammerstein songs wonderfully.
Oklahoma is set just after the turn in the 20th century and discusses topics such as being an outcast, social divides and, most notably, romance. The storyline of cowboy Curly (Hamish Metcalfe) and farm girl Laurey (Ella Markall) plays against a backdrop of western rivalry and the statehood converge, all told through the mediums of dance, song and witty dialogue.
The performance was by far above that of a regular school production, the talent radiating from the leading roles and allowing the audience to see such a wide range of pure talent as well as professionalism. The characters of Curly and Ado Annie (Amelia Lomas-Wright) were performed perfectly with, in Curly’s case, a wide range of acting skill utilised to tell the story as well as impressive singing numbers.
Ado Annie’s delivery of lines and expression emitted such joy and often left the audience members in stitches. In fact, all members of this cast shone in their own way and nothing was unnoticed – I commend them all.
The attention to detail in this production was exemplary, with the use of lighting being a perfect example. During a tense moment, the lights created a caged effect directly referencing the internal turmoil Laurey was feeling – a moment of a real theatre magic and I could understand completely the artistic intentions made by the director.
Throughout this performance truly was brilliant and I would recommend it to anyone, whether musicals are your thing or not. Oklahoma is a pleasure to watch and will leave you feeling a warmth of joy and love for the quaint storyline.
Oklahoma! runs until Friday the 31 March at The Roper Theatre, Bath. Tickets can be purchased for £14/£12 (U18s) from www.baththeatreschool.com/tickets or by calling 01225 640046.