In the two years out of the theatre, they performed concert shows under the "West End to Broadway" banner in the Culloden Academy Theatre, rather than staging the full-scale stage musicals that have been their forte over the years.

The resumption of activities in the Empire Theatre — named after the venue where Inverness Opera had their start in 1925, although at that stage it was still the Central Halls Picture House — has allowed them to tackle a stage work again and they have turned to an old favourite in Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic "Oklahoma".

This will be the fourth time the company has performed the show. Previous stagings came in 1961, 1975 and 1993 and Donald Matheson, one of the senior members of the company, will be appearing in it for the third time when he takes the stage in the role of Andrew Carnes, father of Ado Annie.

It is one of the lesser roles, but Matheson has worn both the white and the black hats in previous outings, having played hero Curly McLain in 1974 and bad guy Jud Fry in 1993.

Those roles will be taken by Garry Black (another who has played both parts — he did Jud in a youth theatre production in the Borders) and Peter Kelly (also known as Ben Kelly of "Scottish Showtime") respectively. In another historical echo, Matheson played opposite Peter's sister, Louise Kelly, in the 1974 show.

"They are both excellent in the parts and I think anybody who knows Peter in his affable persona in 'Scottish Showtime' will be pleasantly surprised at how well he handles this darker role," Matheson insisted.

"He is absolutely cracking in singing 'Lonely Room' — I remember finding it very difficult to sing when I did that role, but he is spot on with it. Having said that, I really enjoyed playing Jud — it's a great part.

"Although it is quite a happy, breezy show overall, it also has a bit of a dark side to it. Jud has a genuinely evil side to him and the scene in the smoke house is quite sinister. I think honestly, though, its enduring popularity is largely down to the tunes — they are pretty memorable and very well known and the show is great for the cast as well because it is a good sing.

"The only problem is that there isn't a lot of chorus work and not all that many principal roles either. This year we could have cast the show comfortably twice over with the standard of auditions that we had. One of the virtues of the concert work we did in the last two years was that it allowed a lot of people to get a chance to solo and plenty of big chorus work."

"Oklahoma" was an immediate hit for the newly-formed Rodgers and Hammerstein team in 1943 and won them a Pulitzer Prize the following year. Its legacy of memorable songs includes "Oh! What a Beautiful Morning", "Surrey With the Fringe on Top", "Kansas City", the aforementioned "Lonely Room", "People Will Say We're in Love", and "Oklahoma" itself (later adopted as the American state's official theme). With such bankers in hand, the show was an obvious choice for a safe box office return to the big venue.

"We needed something that we felt would be a box office success with Highland audiences," Matheson confirmed.

Inverness Opera's principal cast members of 'Oklahoma'.

"It has always done well for us — it's one of the ones that I think of as an Inverness show. If you go for something more obscure you are taking a big chance — the last time we did 'Oklahoma' we packed the place out and then the following year we did a much less well-known show called 'The Gypsy Baron' and the audiences dropped away.

"There is no appetite for that old-fashioned operetta type of show now and although there are a few older hands like myself still around we have quite a young company these days — we have to give them something they are interested in doing. We have a 19-piece orchestra that is being directed by Alyn Ross, who is back with us after a break, and our stage director, George Reynolds, is also back after a spell away in Stornoway."

Their aim in this production is to give the show a fresh makeover, and also to answer one of the persistent criticisms of the former editor of this newspaper.

"I remember Jim Love always criticised the sets we hired for being dull," Matheson laughed. "But we are using a new company to provide sets this year and George Reynolds is determined to give it a fresh look and feel, so we'll see how it goes! Cameron Macintosh revived the show around five years ago in the West End in a production that was really freshened up and that is what we are trying to do in this one."

Tickets are selling fast. When we spoke two weeks before opening night, they stood at 80 per cent overall and from the company's point of view that is not merely satisfying, it is essential.

They may be doing it for the love of performing, but the commercial pressures of mounting a full-scale show are no less pressing, particularly when box office income constitutes the vast majority of their funds.

"It is a pressure in a theatre this size — we pay Eden Court a substantial rent for the venue, and they also get a percentage of box office, as do the rights owners, so you have to allow for 25 per cent of your income going even before you start to think about an orchestra and so forth," Matheson revealed.

"So to go into Eden Court you do have to have a show you think has a good chance of selling out."

* "Oklahoma" runs in the Empire Theatre at Eden Court from Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th March.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---