Analysis Of The 1999 Broadway Musical 'Oklahoma !'

Oklahoma! Response Paper
The musical being watched and analysed is Oklahoma! It is a 1999 Broadway musical directed by Sir Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Susan Stroman starring Hugh Jackman, Josefina Gabrielle and Shular Hensley amongst others. Oklahoma! is originally the result of collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, with the former composing the music and the latter writing the screenplay. It is touted as a landmark American musical, and the 1999 production is a marker of the musical’s 70th anniversary. The musical, on the surface of things seems like mostly like a love story, but from my point of view, there are a few other themes lurking below the surface. Most central to the story, I believe, is the portrayal of the distinction between civilised American living and animalistic living. Though this may sound bizarre at first, but after a deliberate peeling of the various layers of the musical, this theme most resonates with me.
The main characters – Curly and Laurey have been developed as ideal Americans.
The ideal American, in the mid-1900s, was white, cheery, decent, well groomed and clean-cut and also chaste. Moreover, the way to achieve this idealistic tendency was to put faith in science and technology. The term “modern” became synonymous with clean, hygienic and good. This emphasis on good through science and technology was so strong that even nursing babies naturally was shunned in the face of bottles in place of a mother’s teat and lab-created formula in place of natural milk. Being civilised and progressing scientifically were the way to
go.
This is obvious in the musical too. When Will returns from Kansas City, he recounts with great gusto the various technological advancements he has witnessed there such like “bell telephones” and “gas buggies” in the song “Everything’s Up To Date in Kansas City”. Curly, when he proposes to Laurey, declares that he will turn into a farmer from a cowboy and "buy a mowing machine and mow down the prairie" because "Times are changin' and I got to change with 'em". Will and Curly are the good guys, the heroes. Thus, being good and civilised is strongly associated with progressing through science and technology.
This emphasis on civility is better explained when viewed in contrast to its nemesis. Jud, the villain, is very different from Will and Curly. He is dark, ruminating and sexual. His living quarters are described by Curly as filthy and capable of warping his mind and heart. He tries to forcefully take Laurey, showers her with death threats when she rejects him and then plans to kill her and Curly on their wedding night. Being sexual was considered to be the most animalistic of tendencies in those days, and it was to be distanced from completely in order to be categorized as good. Jud’s dark sexual side makes him very beastly compared to the heroes.
The conflict between civility and bestiality is further heightened in the song “Oklahoma”. The dance routine depicts Laurey’s dream of getting married to Curly turning into a nightmare when Jud kills Curly and takes Laurey away to do with her as he pleases. Jud is seen as evil in his actions of kidnapping Laurey and killing Curly. The dream, which was characterised by peace, chastity until marriage and general gaiety turned into a nightmare when the bestiality of Jud, in the form of rampant sexuality and murder.
Oklahoma! depicted how civility eventually triumphed over baser, animalistic human behaviour. Back in the day, what was socially acceptable is very different from what is socially acceptable today. Sexuality was more of a taboo while discrimination based on social class was more rampant. As obvious from Curly’s aforementioned proposal declaration, being a farmer was preferable to being a free-ranging cowboy. Today, there is more freedom to be what one wants to be, but to an extent, that strong distinction between the good and the bad still exists.