Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Carnegie Hall’s concert presentation of OKLAHOMA! scores big with its sterling cast and symphonic sound

• By drediman
• January 14, 2026
• No Comments

Earlier this week, Carnegie Hall scored big with its one night only concert presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! One of the seminal musicals in history, the show is notable for being the first Broadway musical to seamlessly weave together song, dialogue, and dance for the sole purpose of storytelling. With the choreography largely excised from the concert, the focus was directed mostly towards Rodgers and Hammerstein’s rousing score, which has rarely sounded more sublime than it did wrapped in the swooning symphonic playing of the excellent Orchestra of St. Luke’s, which was conducted by Rob Berman (the former music director of New York City Center’s essential Encores! series, a position he held for an impressive 15 years).

But a rich orchestral sound — the lovingly recreated original orchestrations are courtesy of the great Robert Russell Bennett — is only half the battle. Luckily, Carnegie Hall assembled a sterling, all-star cast to put over the musical’s iconic songs and animate its beloved and well-worn characters. Among the more established and recognizable names in the cast included the Ana Gasteyer and David Hyde Pierce as the feisty Aunt Eller and Andrew Carnes. Suffice to say, they lit up the stage with their brilliant comic timing. But where the casting really shined was in the younger, hormone-driven roles, starting with Emmett O’Hanlon as Curly, who along with Jonathan Christopher’s unsettling Jud, were the real finds of the evening (both are relative newcomers to the New York theater scene). With his old school matinee idol good looks and gloriously booming baritone voice that effortlessly floated through the storied auditorium, O’Hanlon in particular seems poised for bigger things. Also noteworthy were Tony-nominees Micaela Diamond and Jasmine Amy Rogers — two young talents who have already garnered much attention — both using their big voices and distinctive star power to put their stamp on Laurie and Ado Annie, respectively.

The concert was directed by Shuler Hensley (himself a deserved Tony-winner for his performance as Jud in the 2002 Broadway revival of the show, which originated from the West End), who went back to basics for the production, smartly relying on the sturdiness of the material to captivate the completely sold out audience. Although a part of me missed the firs act’s pivotal dream ballet choreography, the evening on the whole was perfectly paced and inventively blocked — often using the auditorium’s aisles for character entrances and exits, to savvy theatrical effect. Additionally, an intelligently truncated version of the book was used for the concert, moving things along without sacrificing character development (plot-wise, not much happens in the musical to begin with besides the occurrence of a dance social benefit for the town’s new school).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

OKLAHOMA! IN CONCERT
Concert
Carnegie Hall
2 hours, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
One night only