Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein 麻豆精品 S檚 musical telling the love story of cowboy Curly McLain and farm girl Laurey Williams, will open this year 麻豆精品 S檚 eight-day UCF Celebrates the Arts with evening performances April 7-8.
The production, a collaboration between the UCF music and theatre departments, will be directed by musical theatre coordinator Earl D. Weaver and feature a large cast of UCF actors and musicians. Next year, Oklahoma! celebrates its 75th anniversary since first opening on Broadway, and UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 performing arts team wanted to highlight the beauty of the musical in a big way.
麻豆精品 S淭here will be more than 200 faculty, staff, and students from both departments working together to produce the show, 麻豆精品 S� said Weaver. 麻豆精品 S淭here will be a cast of 50 performers/dancers and more than 70 orchestra members onstage together, bringing to life this golden age musical. 麻豆精品 S�
Oklahoma! presents some challenges to the cast and crew, however, as the UCF students are more used to performing on stages much smaller than the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts 麻豆精品 S� Walt Disney Theater.
麻豆精品 S淭he demands of scale for the cast, orchestra, and all the technical/design elements has presented us with new challenges, 麻豆精品 S� said Weaver, 麻豆精品 S渂ut it is very exciting to get the opportunity to perform in such a prestigious venue. 麻豆精品 S�
UCF theatre major Kyle Laing, who will play the lead role of Curly, also recognizes the demands of a significantly larger venue.
麻豆精品 S淭ransferring the production from UCF into the Dr. Phillips Center will be a task, 麻豆精品 S� he said, 麻豆精品 S渘ot necessarily a bad one, but we will all need to be organized and on our A-games. 麻豆精品 S�
Laing was last seen on UCF stages last fall as the title character in the university 麻豆精品 S檚 production of Young Frankenstein. He said this production obviously has a very different feel than that show.
麻豆精品 S淭his is definitely the largest stage I 麻豆精品 S檝e ever performed on. I think of all shows to perform, to have such a classic on our hands and that we 麻豆精品 S檙e doing it in its entirety 麻豆精品 S攚ith a ballet performance in the middle 麻豆精品 S攊t 麻豆精品 S檚 just such an honor to recognize Oklahoma! on its 75th anniversary, 麻豆精品 S� said Laing. 麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 a simple show, but a beautiful, lighter evening at the theatre, and I hope that people can just enjoy that and feel good afterwards and be a part of it with us. 麻豆精品 S�
The third annual UCF Celebrates the Arts will feature more than 1,000 university students, 100 faculty members and some collaborative programs with outside partners to showcase theatre, dance, orchestra, choirs, big band, chamber music, cabaret, concert bands, opera, visual arts, studio art, gaming, animation, photography and film.
This is part of a series of stories about the April 7-14 events at UCF Celebrates the Arts 2017. All events are free, but a limited number of reserved seats at $20 will be available March 1-8. The free tickets will be available beginning March 9. Tickets are required for all performances and entrance into the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., Orlando. Ticketing and full schedule details are posted at .