Oklahoma [Cast Recording]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 24, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: First Night (Red)
• ASIN: B000CEV4ZO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,349 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #37 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > Classic Musicals

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hugh Jackman is superb as Curly!, February 12, 2010

By 

martha89 (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oklahoma (Audio CD)

This album is excellent as a whole but Hugh Jackman deserves special mention. Both his booming voice and cheerful, vigorous performance make an excellent Curly. He masterfully combines dialogue with music and is truly a delight to listen. 5* for this Oklahoma! cast recording and 5* additionally for Jackman's superb performance.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than The Original Broadway Recording, January 31, 2010

By 

Reid in Florida "cola boy" (Clermont, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oklahoma (Audio CD)

Maybe it's because the original recording is so old, but the London West End revival is wonderful. Pieces of dialogue have been included with the songs that actually make it better (IE - during "Surrey With The Fringe"). And Hugh Jackman is excellent as an Oklahoma hick. If you think the original soundtrack sounds dated, I strongly suggest you give this version a listen.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, What a Beautiful Rendering of a Classic R&H Show, October 1, 2009

By 

Grant Alexander - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oklahoma (Audio CD)

For fans of OKLAHOMA and/or this London revival especially, this recording is a must. The cast is excellent and in top-notch vocal form. For X-Men fans, it may come as a bit of a surprise that the actor famous for playing Wolverine, the ripped Hugh Jackman, was actually a song and dance man before he came to Hollywood. He shows off his musical theatre chops here, and is in great voice. His Curly is cocky, careless, flirty, and surprisingly sensitive to his own emotions, while Josefina Gabrielle's Laurey is earthy, tom-boyish and surprisingly strong whereas the character usually comes across as two-dimensional; not so here. Gabrielle often gets flack for not being Shirley Jones a la the film version, but I enjoy Gabrielle's voice more in this role. Her rendition of "Many a New Day" and "Out of My Dreams" are amazing, esp. her delivery of the last couple of measures in "Out of My Dreams" - clear and silvery as a bell. She falters only slightly on "People Will Say We're In Love" with moving from her chest voice to her head voice, but almost every actress has that slight break when sliding up quickly like that, except for the great Marin Mazzie. Although you can't see it on the recording, but can in the filmed version of this production, Gabrielle is the first Laurey to do her own dancing in The Dream Ballet, making her the most well-rounded and only triple-threat actress to play the role. As Ado Annie, Vicki Simon gives the best vocal rendering of "I Can't Say No" and gives us an Oklahoma accent that isn't over-the-top; her comic timing is also great. Shuler Hensley, this production's Jud, is the best actor to step into the role. He isn't so much the villain of the piece as a broken man driven to madness out of loneliness, and his rendition of the oft-cut "Lonely Room" is one of the recording's highlights. I also cannot offer enough praise to the ensemble of this show - they blend perfectly to give us one big, booming, beautiful voice, as all the best ensembles do. All in all, a great and highly recommended recording of Trevor Nunn's ground-breaking opening-up of this R&H classic.