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Oklahoma |
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October 2005 The setting is the Indian territory now known as the state of Oklahoma; the time, soon after the beginning of the 20th century. Aunt Eller is churning butter outside her farmhouse as from offstage come the strains of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'". The singer is Curly, come to invite Aunt Eller's niece, Laurey, to a box-social that evening. When Laurey appears she feigns indifference to Curly so he presses his invitation by describing to her the surrey in which he will take her to the party ("Surrey with the Fringe on Top"). Curly is finally compelled to confess that the surrey is only a figment of his imagination, a fact that sends Laurey off in anger. Will Parker now appears with a description of his recent experiences at a fair in Kansas City, where he won fifty dollars in a steer-roping contest. That fifty dollars is highly important to him: he wants to marry Ado Annie and her father, Judge Andrew Carnes, had specified that he will not give his consent until Will can manage to accumulate such a sum.
The flirtatious overtures that Hakim has been making to Ado Annie make her father insist that the peddler marry the girl. Will is out of the running: he has extravagantly spent his fifty dollars on presents.
In a dream which becomes an elaborate dance sequence, Laurey imagines how it would be to marry Curly. She further sees Jud breaking up the marriage, beating up her lover and forcing her to go off with him.
Three weeks later, the marriage of Curly and Laurey takes place. Jud, drunk, breaks into the festivities and threatens Curly with a knife. In the ensuing brawl Jud falls on the blade and dies. A makeshift trial is hurriedly improvised by Judge Carnes so as not to delay the young couple. Curly is acquitted of murder, and is free to go off with his bride on their honeymoon ("Oklahoma!"). |
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In spite of her assumed diffidence
towards and anger at Curly, Laurey is really in love with him. To arouse his
jealousy she accepts an invitation to the box-social from the hired hand, a despicable
character named Jud Fry. When Laurey discovers that Curly intends going to the affair with
another girl she tosses her head indifferently ("Many a New Day").
Meanwhile, Ado Annie has let it be known that her partner would be the Persian
peddler, Ali Hakim; at the same time she reveals that she is the kind of girl
who cannot refuse a man anything ("I Cain't Say No").
When Curly and Laurey again meet
they decide to be discreet about their behaviour or be misunderstood in
their intentions towards each other ("People Will Say We're in Love").
Curly tries to persuade Laurey to go to the party with him instead of with
Jud. Laurey sticks to her guns so Curly visits him at his dismal and shabby room in the
smokehouse. He tells Jud that he'd be missed by all his friends if he were
to hang himself ("Pore Jud!"). Jud almost falls for the
flattery. Curly delivers a scathing verbal attack on Jud and leaves him wallowing in self-pity ("Lonely Room").
The box-social, opens the second
act. Farmers and cowmen speak of their
mutual rivalry with good humour ("The Farmer and the Cowman"). Then
the auction of food boxes takes place with the men bidding for the boxes of the
girls of their choice. A spirited contest ensues for Laurey's box between Jud
and Curly. Determined to be the winner, Curly sells everything he owns and gets
the box for the exorbitant price of $53. Meanwhile, Hakim pays Will fifty
dollars for all his presents (having no intention of marrying Ado, Hakim would
very much like to see Will get the girl). He further rescues the witless
Will from Bidding the whole fifty dollars for Ado Annie's hamper. Now Will and
Annie are in a position to
talk about their future together ("All or Nothin'").