This morning, Arena Stage announced that their groundbreaking production of Oklahoma! returns to the Fichandler Stage for an extended 3 month run, July 8–October 9, 2011 featuring many of the performers from its original 2010 production.
Oklahoma!, which opened the new Mead Center for American Theater, won critical acclaim, drew the attention of Broadway producers and and was a smash hit at the box office. The Arena Stage press release quotes Arena Stage Managing Director Edgar Dobie: “When we first opened Oklahoma! last fall, audiences couldn’t get enough of it, and it was difficult to have to turn people away at the box office.” “Even though it was playing to an average of 99% capacity each performance, we couldn’t extend to meet demand this winter due to the next incoming show in the Fichandler.”
By year’s end, Hilton Als, critic of The New Yorker, summed it up by listing as one of the 10 best performances of 2010 ““the entire cast of Oklahoma! at Arena Stage. A production that needs to be seen by larger audiences because it offers spectators a chance to see themselves, which is to say that all the actors look like real people, and are so winning in their various effects, they remind one of what naturalism meant, certainly on stage: unaffected expression of joy and pain. The artists involved in this production made theatre less a cultural event than a shared one; when the performers soared, we did, too.”
Tickets become available to supporters of Arena Stage Tuesday, February 22, to subscribers Monday, February 28, and to the general public Friday, March 4 with a 24-hour sale featuring limited special offer $50 tickets. These $50 tickets will be available in person at the box office and by phone at 202-488-3300 from 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. and online at www.arenastage.org from 12:00 a.m. – 11:59 p.m. March 4.
Related:
DCTS review of Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! showstoppers June Schreiner and Cody Williams
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