Letter from James “Chip” Northrup
‘Oklahoma!’ Really Good, but Could Be Tweaked
The Glimmerglass Festival production of “Oklahoma!” is a rollicking good show. As directed by Francesca Zambello, it captures all the energy and joy of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s masterpiece. We enjoyed it immensely. Go see it before it sells out.
For anyone that has actually ever been to Oklahoma, there is one rather glaring omission. Based entirely on a Dust Bowl-era play about settlers, neither Rodgers nor Hammerstein had a clue about life on the prairie when they adapted the play as a musical. What they left out was a lot: Cherokees, Choctaws, and Comanches.
I grew up in Texas just south of the Oklahoma border with Indian friends, schoolmates and co-workers. They have Anglo names: Lois Jordan and Steve Meyers, my schoolmates. Doris Timberlake, my co-worker. They’re funny—Jim Northrup, the Native American novelist and a friend of mine, quipped: “All the Jim Northrups I know are funny and good looking.” The governor of Texas, Sam Houston, was raised by Cherokees. His second wife, Tiana Rogers, a Cherokee, was the Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers’ aunt. None of this is a mystery to real Oklahomans. None of this cultural relevance is even alluded to in the musical now playing on the banks of Lake Otsego (an Iroquois compound word “Ot” meaning place and “Sego” meaning greeting.)
A long-overdue improvement would be to cast some of the actors as Native Americans or of mixed race. Jud Fry’s character could be considerably more sinister as a Comanche renegade. Curly would be a convincing Cherokee buckaroo. Laurey’s back story would be deeper if she was of mixed race. They don’t have to be costumed as Pocahontas and Tonto. An eagle feather in a cowboy hat band, some bandana headbands, some Indian jewelry and a ponytail should suffice to infer their ancestry. The audience will get the picture. Native Americans speak flawless English. They sing. They dance. North of the Red River, they’re not invisible. It’s high time for their close-up on the stage. Or the audience will be left in the dark.
James “Chip” Northrup
Cooperstown
Some simple wardrobe and make-up changes and the musical will finally look like it’s set in Indian Territory !
Can loan some Indian jewelry, head bands, and eagle feathers to stick on cowboy hats to make this happen 😎
Well said
Thanks Mary. Any reference to Native Americans is conspicuously absent. Easily remedied
I grew up in Oklahoma and live there now. The state’s name is derived from the Choctaw words meaning “red man.”. I have also lived in Cooperstown and nearby Norwich, McDonough and Roseboom for decades. The musical Oklahoma! was based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Green Grow the Lilacs” and was produced by the Theater Guild and my late law firm founder Lawrence Langner, also one of the founders of the Theatre Guild. There are many stories told and to be told about native nations once and now in Oklahoma, but the story of the musical does not involve them. Neither Shaw nor Rogers nor Hammerstein had been to Oklahoma before Oklahoma! was presented, as far as I know. What is now being presented at the Glimmerglass Festival is a musical drama that involved full operatic production and treatment. I know of some musical presentations of Oklahoma native nations but none that would fit the production values of Oklahoma!
My error. Green Grow the Lilacs was by Lynn Riggs. Shaw was involved in some way in the formation of The Theatre Guild.
I agree it is a fine production, faithful to the source material, but it would be more realistic and more interesting if one or more of the characters were portrayed as Native Americans or of mixed race.