OKLAHOMA!

Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! is a juxtaposition between large and small; between community and individuality, between freedom and confinement.  The play emphasizes the vastness , the newness, of the Oklahoma territory. Yet despite this, the play is very much a small-town play. Though the area is huge, the community is small. Characters seem trapped in their roles and rumor and gossip plays a large part in their daily lives.  In order to reflect this, I visualized a great sweeping landscape that also serves as a fence- giving the illusion of opportunity but ultimately serving to trap the characters in their location.