Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein鈥檚 musical telling the love story of cowboy Curly McLain and farm girl Laurey Williams, will open this year鈥檚 eight-day 麻豆原创 Celebrates the Arts with evening performances April 7-8.
The production, a collaboration between the 麻豆原创 music and theatre departments, will be directed by musical theatre coordinator Earl D. Weaver and feature a large cast of 麻豆原创 actors and musicians. Next year, Oklahoma! celebrates its 75th anniversary since first opening on Broadway, and 麻豆原创鈥檚 performing arts team wanted to highlight the beauty of the musical in a big way.
鈥淭here will be more than 200 faculty, staff, and students from both departments working together to produce the show,鈥� said Weaver. 鈥淭here will be a cast of 50 performers/dancers and more than 70 orchestra members onstage together, bringing to life this golden age musical.鈥�
Oklahoma! presents some challenges to the cast and crew, however, as the 麻豆原创 students are more used to performing on stages much smaller than the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts鈥� Walt Disney Theater.
鈥淭he demands of scale for the cast, orchestra, and all the technical/design elements has presented us with new challenges,鈥� said Weaver, 鈥渂ut it is very exciting to get the opportunity to perform in such a prestigious venue.鈥�
麻豆原创 theatre major Kyle Laing, who will play the lead role of Curly, also recognizes the demands of a significantly larger venue.
鈥淭ransferring the production from 麻豆原创 into the Dr. Phillips Center will be a task,鈥� he said, 鈥渘ot necessarily a bad one, but we will all need to be organized and on our A-games.鈥�
Laing was last seen on 麻豆原创 stages last fall as the title character in the university鈥檚 production of Young Frankenstein. He said this production obviously has a very different feel than that show.
鈥淭his is definitely the largest stage I鈥檝e ever performed on. I think of all shows to perform, to have such a classic on our hands and that we鈥檙e doing it in its entirety鈥攚ith a ballet performance in the middle鈥攊t鈥檚 just such an honor to recognize Oklahoma! on its 75th anniversary,鈥� said Laing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 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.鈥�
The third annual 麻豆原创 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 麻豆原创 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 .