Obviously there is nothing I love more than an afternoon of community theatre. Sometimes I think I love it even more than the more polished professional variety. Of course I am here in St George to see the incredible productions at Tuacahn but I’m so glad I made time to see 2 smaller shows at Stage Door and at a new to me company in Cedar City called The Forge. I was able to see a Saturday matinee of their Oklahoma and it was a remarkable experience.

First, I want to thank UTBA for making me aware of this company in their review of High School Musical (see here.) In the review they mentioned that this company The Forge was putting on 3 musicals in 3 weeks and I just had to be a part of this! Fortunately my trip fell over week 2 of Oklahoma but Cedar City residents have the chance to see High School Musical, Oklahoma, and 1776 from the same repertory company in the same space. What a bold frankly insane project to take on but now that I’ve seen Oklahoma I only wish I lived here so I could see all 3. Incredible!

Director and producer Ellen Wheeler deserves much of the credit and she has gathered a great group of individuals to help her pull off this vision. You would think given the stark differences of all 3 shows that the sets would be minimalist black box type of environments but that isn’t the case. The set for Oklahoma by Ky Habel is arguably the most impressive part with a shack that transforms from Aunt Eller’s house, to the Jud’s smokehouse, to town center for the box social. I think they could have used the screen behind the actors more (like some stock footage of corn for “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” would be cool) but this is not a rushed together piece of theatre despite the condensed timeline.

The choreography by the leads Remington Comp and Brielle Bowden is also impressive. I particularly enjoyed the creative use of cowboy hats in “Many a New Day.” They also don’t skimp out on any part of the “Dream Ballet” which is probably the most challenging part of this classic musical.

As I said I attended the Saturday matinee of Oklahoma and there was an unexpected joy in the performance I’m so glad I was in attendance for. Amazingly both of the options for Ali Hakim were unable to perform so Austin Fronk who normally plays Slim stepped in as a last minute replacement. I can’t overstate how impressive his performance was. He made the book part of his movement and expression. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I can tell you if I was casting for a project in Utah I would absolutely hire him. Not only was it a clutch performance but it was good and very memorable.

I give a lot of credit to Cheyenne Grace playing Ado Annie not only for her wonderful comedic timing but for working with Fronk seamlessly and not being distracted by the book in his hand. She made it feel natural and that’s not easy to do especially with hours notice.

All 3 plays at The Forge take place in a movie theatre in Cedar City, and I still can’t believe they transitioned from something as different as High School Musical in one week. There are some typical flaws in community theater. The microphones are not always perfect, some of the singing isn’t the best but it certainly captures the scrappy message of Oklahoma and a great show for a company starting out a brand new venture in a brand new place (could almost sing ‘Cedar City where the wind comes sweepin’ down the red rock!’) It’s also a great choice to celebrate America 250 with both the light and darker elements of the American frontier spirit (great choice to be ending with 1776 right over July 4th weekend!)

If you are in Southern Utah you still have 2 chances to see Oklahoma tomorrow with both a matinee and evening performance on Monday. Then 1776 is the next 2 weekends. I highly recommend supporting this bold project and all it has to offer. Tickets can be purchased here.

Oklahoma has music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was based on Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs and first premiered on Broadway in 1943 with a most recent Tony Award winning revival in 2019.

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