The Oak Ridge High School Fine Arts Department production of Oklahoma! was impressive! If you missed it, you missed a gem. The very best talent in choir, band, orchestra and dance came together to put on this fabulous show. The talented cast was led by the strong vocal and acting performance of the beautiful Caroline Hunt as Laurey, the lovable Curly played by Avery Rabon and Camber Comeaux as Aunt Eller. It’s hard to believe this was Camber’s first time acting . She’s a natural. “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin”, “The Surrey With the Fringe On Top” and “People Will Say We’re in Love”…Caroline and Avery nailed them!
The comic relief was provided by the lively and flirtatious Rachel Lamphier as Ado Annie and Caleb Clark as Ali Hakim, the Persian peddler. The audience really enjoyed the humorous lyrics of Ado Annie’s “I Cain’t Say No!” and Ali Hakim’s “It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage!” Will Parker, played by Zach Biehl, finally got the girl, and the audience learned the difference between a Persian good-bye and an Oklahoma hello! Zach, an accomplished dancer, also played the part of Curly in Laurey’s dream, and danced a well choreographed ballet with Renee Richardson in the Dream Sequence.
Lane Randall played the dark farm hand, Jud Fry. His strong, full voice was perfect for the sinister Jud in “Pore Jud is Daid” with Curly and “Lonely Room”. Ado Annie’s father, Andrew Carnes, was played well by ORHS veteran actor Ben Hoffman as was the part of Ike Skidmore played by Justin Pata. Meghan O’Sullivan as Gertie Cummings was perfectly cast with that horribly obnoxious laugh! It was perfect. The vocal performance by the Ensemble members during several numbers couldn’t have been better! They were superb. ”Oklahoma” was high energy and well done.
From the time the show opened with Curly and Laurey singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin” to the finale with the full company, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a high school production. These singers/actors/dancers made it look effortless, as if they were born to be on stage. All of this talent at our Oak Ridge High School! Congratulations to the entire cast, crew and orchestra for an amazing performance!
