Oklahoma! Proms 2017

There is only one star at a John Wilson prom and that is the man himself and, by extension, his orchestra. He conducts Roger's music better than any of the other Broadway/Hollywood greats that he specialises in. The orchestra were magnificent, beautifully balanced textures, subtle rubato and sumptuous string tone.

At today's matinee the cast was OK but nothing more.
Nathaniel Hackman was a rather wooden Curly but he has little light and shade in his voice, which is incapable of expanding at climaxes (Ovenden would have been SO much better.)
Strallen was miscast as Laurey, the part lies a bit too low for her and much as I have enjoyed her in many other productions, Strallen always seems to act Strallen.
Brigstocke was surprisingly good but why is he trying to sound like Jimmy Durante?
The one stand out talent was Robert Fairchild, huge charisma and great presence (predictably inspired dancing.)

Agreed that Strallen was miscast in this. Seems to be a running theme for her.. says it all that we have so little talent here (that casting directors want to cast) that she gets cast in everything, whether she's suitable or not.

Robert Fairchild is just dreamy. Gorgeous and incredibly talented. Swoon.

Loved Lizzie Connolly too , what a talent.

Wrong, look again, there was a black actor in the company.

Robert Fairchild was a joy throughout but I was happy with all the casting, especially the rather sympathetic portrayal of Jud Fry. The dancing was excellent and overall I thought the production worked slightly better than I was expecting in the Albert Hall. John Wilson's contribution was as always superb. I don't see what is wrong with having a white cast performing a musical written in 1943 about the state of Oklahoma, as it was about to become, in 1906. Yes, it is a bit long but what would you cut?  My only disappointment was the the cast at the end did not line up for an encore of the title song, go down on one knee and raise their arms in a wide arc as they sang.  I am sure this is what happened at the end of the original Australian production in 1949 but I might just be mis-remembering. I know every amateur musical society in Sydney did that in every revue for the next couple of years!

Having only once before seen Oklahoma onstage, a local production when I was 7 about which I remember nothing, I found tonight's Prom very interesting. I hadn't realised that the film omitted 2 songs for starters. Even though the uncut Act 1 must have run about 1h45 I didn't find it dragged. I was impressed the Dream Ballet was fully staged.

Near the end of Act 2, when Aunt Eller is comforting Laurey after Jud's body is taken off, the piece seemed to be screaming for a song-sung-by-older-woman-to-heroine a la "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Something Wonderful" or "Climb Every Mountain". Did anyone else think that? (Though given Belinda Lang's singing elsewhere, if such a song existed they'd've needed a different actress for Aunt Eller.)

Please can the government slap an export ban on Robert Fairchild & keep him in the West End! He was the standout performer for me tonight. For a ballet dancer to be that good at MT is so impressive.

It was very interesting having a more sympathetic Jud Fry. In the film he's such an out-and-out villain but here there was more ambiguity. I thought David Seadon-Young played him very well, though was slight puzzled as to why his AAIP hirpling came with him for this role too.

Yes, Marcus Brigstocke is not remotely plausible as a Persian (if he's supposed to be one) but I'm not bothered & I thought he gave a good performance, better than I was expecting.

Lizzy Connolly was very good as Ado Annie, which was exactly as I'd expected. Did anyone else who'd seen her in DRS like the irony that she was now in Oklahoma? (For those that didn't see it, her character in DRS had a song called "Oklahoma".)

I was pleased to spot Matthew Malthouse & Danny Collins amongst the ensemble & watched them in the ensemble numbers. Not something you can do when watching on TV.

I'm still on the train home & won't get home till about 1am. Not ideal when I have to get a train at 10.45 tomorrow morning to go & see ALNM in the wilds of Berkshire!

Yep, too long and started late, so missed my train by 2 mins with an hour wait for the last, all-stopping service which is only just now leaving London - should be home by 2am! But I loved it and I can lie-in tomorrow so I'll stop grumbling.

The orchestra are indeed fabulous, that overture was sublime, while on the stage, I think the choreography was the stand out for me, perhaps because I wasn't expecting much of it in this format. Robbie Fairchild was, as others have said, a dream, David Seadon-Young a revelation (that dream sequence was properly disturbing!) and I really liked Nathan Hackmann's voice, though it would have been good to see home-grown talent in the leads (but then I'd have missed Robbie... OK, as you were).

I was sitting back row of the Side Stalls level with the front of the stage, so look forward to a slightly better angle on the proceedings when I watch it again on TV.

Unfortunately he leaves for the US tomorrow but I don't think it will be long before he's back, I've already cast him in Strictly Ballroom if it ever transfers!

How refreshing to hear something properly sung in the correct style for the piece. (Minority opinion here but) I struggled with Nunn's RNT version and have always found the piece overlong (like many R&H shows) but this seemed very fresh and bright. The five leads pretty prefect and sounded wonderful. I could have done without Belinda Lang's one note shouting though! Orchestra not bad too...........

I'm not playing devils advocate here, I am genuinely interested to read your opinions - Given that John Wilson has created such a niche for himself and his orchestra and can and has created so many magical evenings with his music, do people feel he is playing "second fiddle" (pun intended!)when the performance is semi-staged like this?