Short Take: Oklahoma! (1999)

If I had to pick a least-favorite movie genre, it would be screen versions of Broadway musicals. The sins of these films are many: hackneyed stories and characters; awful pacing; over-elaborate sets and costumes; bombastic musical arrangements; insipid song lyrics; actors of highly variable singing and dancing abilities--the list goes on. The 1999 film version of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Oklahoma!, which debuted in the United States on television in 2003, is a lovely exception. It shows the best way to make these pictures is to keep things simple and appropriately cast. The film is a modestly shot and edited treatment of the stage production that played on London's West End in 1998. The original play is arguably Rodgers and Hammerstein's best effort. (It was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1944) The story is a straightforward romantic comedy, set in 1906 Oklahoma. Two farmhands, one cheerful and optimistic, the other surly and obsessive, vie for the hand of a rancher's daughter in marriage. Trevor Nunn, who directed both the stage production and the film, keeps the sets, costumes, and musical arrangements rather spare. The charm of the story isn't smothered by the weight of the presentation. The performers and musical numbers are allowed to breathe, and the film has a happy atmosphere comparable to the best of the Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Gene Kelly vehicles of 1930s, '40s, and '50s. Hugh Jackman, who plays Curly, the more likable of the two farmhands, is a particular delight. He has a wonderfully sunny presence, a gorgeous baritone singing voice, and phenomenal grace as a dancer. Those who only know him from his Hollywood roles, namely the antihero Wolverine in the X-Men films, will find his performance astonishing. Jud Fry, Curly's romantic rival, is played by Shuler Hensley, who brings the part a striking touch of menace. Josefina Gabrielle plays Laurey, the rancher's daughter, and Maureen Lipman steals every scene she's in as Laurey's Aunt Eller. Susan Stroman provided the excellent choreography, on best display in the dream-sequence ballet scene. The film's only conspicuous flaw is the inclusion of cutaway shots to a theater audience ostensibly watching the play. It's the visual equivalent of a TV laugh track.