Oklahoma Is Not OK!

 Whenever I hear the word Oklahoma, I always burst into the theme song from the musical. It’s catchy. It’s fun. I enjoy singing it. But I’d never seen the musical until Wednesday night.

From its title song, I assumed that the musical would be catchy and fun, too—something that I’d enjoy. I was wrong. I didn’t enjoy it at all. In fact, I left at intermission.

 

Wednesday night’s production of Oklahoma! was a revision of the original show. The thing is--this revision didn't change the plot or text--it just changed the setting, costumes, instrumentation, musical arrangements, and mood of the storyline.

 

There is a scene in the show where one main character, Curly, tries to convince another main character, Jud, to commit suicide. Evidently, in the original show, the conversation and subsequent song are presented in a sort of light-hearted, funny way, so it's not obvious that the conversation is sinister. In this show, though, the conversation happens in the dark. The audience sees nothing, rather hears two voices. "That's a nice rope...that's a nice hook...you could use those to hang yourself."

 

Then the song "Poor Jud is Dead" begins. During the song, Jud's face is projected through the view of a nighttime lens--very close-up--very haunted--very pained. The audience watches as Curly sings about the possibility of Jud hanging himself.  You see Jud respond. It's all very intimate, very sad, and very disturbing. It is clear that this character has a mental illness with likely a developmental delay that is being manipulated and exploited by someone who does not.

 

When the scene ended, I looked at the friend I was with and said, "I didn't like that. At all." She said, "I didn't either."

 

To put it simply: Oklahoma! is a dark and sinister show. I could give more examples. But I will stop there.

 

And yet…people laugh.

 

I didn’t stick around to see how things unfolded in the second act. I read the story online. I knew that it was going to continue to be dark. I knew that show was going to end in murder. I knew that there wasn't going to be justice. I knew that toxic masculinity was going to continue to be a theme. And so I left, completely baffled as to why this show has been popular for so long.

 

Has anything like this ever happened to you? Have you ever been completely blindsided by a movie, book, or show? Have you ever re-visited a classic from your childhood only to realize that it was completely inappropriate for you then and probably still is now?

 

While sitting in the lobby before leaving, I heard a man say to his wife, “It’s okay. Theatre is supposed to be entertaining, and tonight just wasn’t that night.”

 

Dear God: Thank you for the ability to walk away from entertainment that is far from entertaining. Give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear what entertainment is from You, and give us the wisdom and discernment to know when things cross the line. Amen.