Porthouse’s ‘Oklahoma!’ earns the exclamation point Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Member, American Theatre Critics Association Porthouse Theatre patrons still in the throes of depression after seeing the marvelous but mournful “Next To Normal” will most certainly get the giddy-up back in their gait with the joyous production of “Oklahoma!” currently on stage. The musical – the first of nine shows written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II – tells the simple tale of cowhands and farmers finding love and community in the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the 20th century and just a few years away from statehood. At the center of the story is Laurey (Rebecca Rand), a spunky young woman who runs her aunt’s farm and is courted by the brash cowboy Curly (Matthew Gittins) and the brooding and dangerous farmhand Jud (Sam Johnson). How this plays out is pretty much what this musical is about. Running parallel is the comedic courtship between the good-natured and air-headed champion steer roper Will Parker (Christopher Tuck), the perpetually flirtatious Ado Annie (Samantha Russell) and the smooth-talking traveling salesman Ali Hakim (Joey Fontana). In 1943, when “Oklahoma!” hit Broadway, the show and its hummable, delightfully romantic score caught the imagination and patriotic fervor of wartime America. Today, the corn in the script and in the score is as high as an elephant’s eye. But the show’s stirring optimism still resonates. And this production is so vividly staged and vibrantly sung under Terri Kent’s stalwart direction and with its airy design by Brittney Harrell (costume), Cynthia R. Stillings (lighting) and Nolan O’Dell (scenic, revived from the 2008 Porthouse production), that it is very easy to forgive the work’s terribly outdated socio-political trespasses. Interestingly, it is not the lead players who are responsible for our forgiveness or who provide this production’s bursts of escapism. For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/