MARS HILL, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The SARTians have landed for their 51st season of repertory theatre in Mars Hill.
The classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!” opened the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre “Season of Artistry” on May 23. The show will run until June 8 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Owen Theatre, 44 College St., Mars Hill.
Will Ezzell, SART managing artistic director, said that their “Oklahoma!” might be a little different than people expect.
“It’s definitely a different version than they remember,” Ezzell said. “What we found about ‘Oklahoma!’ is that it lives in people’s memory differently than it actually exists, which is to say, people it as a joyful, exuberant musical, and that is not what is in the text.”
While romantic musical standards like “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” have created a sunny vision of “Oklahoma!” in popular culture, the play is actually much darker on the page.
“We haven’t reimagined anything. We have just reexamined it and reexamined it as though it had the same literary weight as Tennessee Williams,” Ezzell explained. “What I have found is that, in fact, it does. The stories and the characters are complex, human and nuanced.”
For their “Season of Artistry,” Ezzell said, SART decided to put on shows with great literary value, such as “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Smoke on the Mountain” and, yes, “Oklahoma!”
“Similarly to the fact that ‘Oklahoma!’ lives in people’s memory as a shiny, pretty thing and, in fact, as much more dark and human, that’s what the theme of the show is,” Ezzell said. “The difference between reality and how we choose to remember history, that things maybe weren’t as great as we’d like to remember them.”
Tickets for “Oklahoma!” at SART are $20-25 and can be purchased here. For more information about the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, visit www.sartplays.com.
