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Fine Arts Division Performs Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Classic American Musical, Oklahoma!

The Pepperdine University Fine Arts Division will stage its fall musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, from November 8 to 17, bringing to Smothers Theatre, Malibu, the beloved American tale of cowboys, farmers, and true love in the early 20th century.  

"Oklahoma!'s position as one of the most beloved American musicals is rightly deserved, and we are thrilled to be presenting it at Pepperdine," says director Bradley Griffin, associate professor of theatre and coordinator of the theatre program. "The students in the cast are bringing these classic characters to life with an energy and vitality that will have audience members shouting for more."

Griffin directs the 34-person Pepperdine student cast, which includes Tyler Burk as Curly, Lauren Long as Laurey, Kelsey Sutton as Ado Annie, Dimitri Smith as Jud Fry, Grace Edmundson as Aunt Eller, Gifford Tompkins as Will Parker, and Jon Gibson as Ali Hakim. Tony Cason, visiting professor of music, will conduct the Pepperdine University Orchestra's performance of the score, which includes the well known songs "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "Surrey With the Fringe on Top."

Oklahoma! launched a new era in the American musical. It also began the most successful songwriting partnership in Broadway history. Rodgers and Hammerstein's first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, having set the standards and established the rules of musical theatre still being followed today.

Set in a western Indian territory just after the turn of the century, the high-spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys provides the colorful background against which Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, play out their love story. Although the road to true love never runs smooth, we have no doubt that they will succeed in making a new life together and that this new life will begin in a brand-new state, providing the ultimate climax to the triumphant "Oklahoma!"

Oklahoma! is presented through special arrangement with R&H Theatricals. The performances will take from Thursday, Nov. 8 to Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m.; and Thursday, Nov. 15 to Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets, priced at $20 for the public, $10 for Pepperdine students, and $16 for Pepperdine faculty and staff, are available now by calling the Pepperdine Center for the Arts box office at (310) 506-4522. Tickets for the general public are also available through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787.

For more information, visit the Center for the Arts website.