YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown Playhouse is putting an exclamation point on its centennial season with “Oklahoma!”
Tyler Stouffer is directing the Broadway touchstone, and he is thinking big.
“We’re not shying away from the word ‘spectacle,’” he said. “We’re going full-out to make this special.”
The two-weekend run opens Friday.
How big will it be?
The Playhouse production will have a cast of 40 actors, dancers from Ballet Western Reserve and – for the first time in over a decade – a 25-piece orchestra on the stage.
“I wanted the music to be featured, because that is what has kept the show relevant for the past 70 years,” said Stouffer, who is also the show’s music director.
The musicians have been incorporated into the set design.
Video monitors have been installed so the musicians will be able to see conductor Todd Maki when he is obscured by scenery. “We will hide the technology so the audience can get lost in 1902 Oklahoma,” Stouffer said.
The show will be a visceral experience for the audience and the cast, according to Stouffer. “They will feel the music rattle in their rib cages,” he said. “It’s going to be a humongous wall of sound.”
There will be 65 singers and musicians on stage for the final scene. “I cannot wait to experience it,” Stouffer said.
Collaboration with BWR
The ballet dancers will perform in the musical’s dream sequence. “This will be a true ballet piece on stage, not just a choreographer trying to plug them into a number,” Stouffer said.
The collaboration with BWR is the first under an agreement the dance school recently reached with the Playhouse.
The ballet is leasing the theater and rehearsal space in its downtown building to the Playhouse, which will begin staging plays there next year. Ballet Western Reserve will also collaborate with the Playhouse on future productions and in dance education, according to Danielle Perrotta, artistic director.
The Playhouse asked BWR dance instructors to choreograph its portion of “Oklahoma!”
“The dream scene has been a wonderful way for our organizations to collaborate,” Perrotta said. The students are getting experience in musical theater and being reunited with BWR alumni who have returned to take part in the production.
Emily Pasquale, BWR director and ballet mistress, is in charge of the scene. Rachel Theis is the ballet lead for the show.
The cast of “Oklahoma!” includes Ashlyn Young and Jonathan Beveridge as Laurey Williams and Curly McClain, Molly Galano as Aunt Eller, Rebecca Campbell as Ado Annie Carnes, Peter Sherman as Will Parker, Connor Bezeredi as Jud Fry, Michael Allenbaugh as Ali Hakim, Theis as dream sequence Laurey Williams and Zavier Rubante as dream sequence Curly McClain.
Ellen Licitra is lighting director, and Johnny Pecano is technical director.
“Oklahoma!,” by Rodgers and Hammerstein, is one of the most famous Broadway musicals of all time. It tells the story of a farm girl (Laurey Williams) who is courted by cowboy Curly McClain and farmhand Jud Fry in the rural Oklahoma territory.
A 1955 film adaptation starring Shirley Jones, Gloria Grahame, Eddie Albert, Gordon MacRae and Rod Steiger won two Oscar Awards.
Stouffer said he decided not to watch the acclaimed film because he did not want to be swayed by it when creating the Playhouse production.
Although Stouffer has been musical director for several Playhouse productions, “Oklahoma!” is his directorial debut at the theater.
He said he was honored when the theater approached him a year ago to helm the centennial season finale.
Stouffer’s past credits at the Playhouse include musical director of “9 to 5,” “Shrek Jr.,” “Something Rotten” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”
His first stint as a director was for Salem Community Theater’s 2013 production of “The Producers.”
Stouffer moved to Los Angeles that year to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and became involved in the theater scene there.
He returned to the Mahoning Valley in 2022 and quickly became immersed in the local art scene.
“Oklahoma!” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. May 9-10 and 16-17, and at 2:30 p.m. May 11 and 18.
Tickets can be purchased HERE; at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, downtown; and at the Playhouse box office an hour before each show.
Pictured at top: The cast of the Playhouse’s production of “Oklahoma!” includes Ashlyn Young, Rebecca Campbell, Molly Galano, Peter Sherman and Jonathan Beveridge.