Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" was a hit in the spring when UNC School of the Arts presented the musical at the Stevens Center.
A filmed version of that production, which airs tonight on UNC-TV, looks just as successful. The screen version has either enhanced the best elements of the live staging or brought them into sharper focus. We gain a greater appreciation of all the little things that comprise a winning enterprise of this kind, from the alert engagement of a supporting cast member to the expressive playing of a solo instrumentalist.
And we marvel at the bigger things, too. These include some superb solo singing by the leads, particularly Kyle Guglielmo, who plays Curly. Guglielmo's vocalizing is invariably marked by a felicitous sound and a classy, natural way with a phrase. The dance sequences, particularly those in the famed dream sequence, come off with a daunting professionalism.
All this and more will surely help the school build goodwill across the state, especially among legislators and philanthropists. The recruitment of North Carolina students stands to benefit, as well.
Sure, several fine schools are training the next generation of performers. But how many arts conservatories give their students the chance to appear on what amounts to North Carolina's answer to "Live from Lincoln Center"?
The filming of other UNCSA productions for broadcast on UNC-TV will continue over the next five years, thanks to a $500,000 gift from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation of Raleigh. Fletcher underwrote the "Oklahoma!" filming, with additional support coming from the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts and the William R. Kenan Jr. Fund for the Arts.
The "Oklahoma!" airing tonight on UNC-TV gets the broadcaster's renewed relationship with UNCSA off to an auspicious start. John Mauceri, UNCSA's chancellor, conducts the pit and serves as a host.
As a host, Mauceri is personable, knowledgeable — and persuasive, particularly when he talks about the show's concept. This was to replicate the look and sound of the original production of "Oklahoma!" that opened on Broadway in 1943 and ran for more than five years.
UNCSA presented "Oklahoma!" in late April and early May. Crews from UNC-TV filmed parts of the two last performances in the show's run, along with a private session, to capture bits of the show from different angles. David Stern, the noted television director, supervised the camera work, and Andrew Young, an alumnus of UNCSA's School of Filmmaking, served as the associate director and editor of the project.
Max King, a School of Filmmaking student, served as a production assistant during the filming, as did Leo Hurley of the School of Music. King also served as an automated-dialogue-replacement editor during post-production, which means he matches up the dialogue with the people saying it in a film and may edit in actors repeating dialogue that wasn't captured crisply during filming.
The editing reveals a knack for when to zoom in close and when to show off the whole of a scene. This is particularly evident in the many scenes in which solo singing alternates with chorus singing and dancing.
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