1954-THE DESERT SONG1955-SHOW BOAT

1956-"ANNIE GETYOUR GUN"

THEPRESTON MUSICAL COMEDY SOCI'ETY

PRESENTS

OKLA~HOMA(By arrangement with Chappell & Co., Ltd.)

A MUSICAL PLAY IN TWO ACTS

Music by RICHARD RODGERS

Book and Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II

at the

GAUMONT THEATRE . PRESTONMONDAY to SATURDAY

2nd to 7th February1 959

At 7-15 p.m.

MATINEES THURSDAY and SATURDAY at 2-15 p.m.

Hon. Producer: HARRY CROSSLEY

1957-WILD VIOLETSBRIGADOON

1958-WHITE. HORSE. INN

Affiliated to_the National Operatic and Dramatic Association

'(Ire One

Photo. by Arthur Winter

WYN TOOTELL(" Laurey It)

Page Nine

Photo. by Arthur Winter

GERRY DEAN(" Curly")

Pare Eleven

Photo. by Arthur Winter

BARBARA DALTON(" Ado Annie ")

- .~. PaKe Thirteen

. '~

Photo. by Arthur Winter_ - .

JIM PINDER(" Will Parker ")

._._--:~- :_-

Pago Fifteen

Photo. by Arthur Winter

MOLLIE BOLTON(" Aunt Eller ")

Page Seventeen

---~-~

ERNEST PHILLIPS(" Ali Hakim ")

Photo.)y Arthur Winter

Page Nineteen

Photo. by Arthur Winter

FRED STARKIE(" Jud ")

Page Twenty-one

AUNT ELLER and CURLY

Curly: "Curly-headed,.alri't I ? "

Photo. by Arthur Winter

LAUREY and CU RLY

Curley: OJ Caln't Imaginehow these uglyrumours start tt

Laurey: OJ Me neither.People will saywe're in love tt

Photo. by Arthur Winter

WILL PARKERADO ANNIE

Annie: .. Oh, please don'tlook that way, Will, Icaln't bear it ! ..

Photo. by Arthur Winter

PRESTON MUSICAL

PRES

OKLAENTIRE PRODUCTION DIRECTED BY HARRY CROSSLEY

AUNT ELLERCURLYLAUREY .IKE SKIDMOREFREDSLIMWILL PARKE.R.JUD FRY.ADO ANNIE CARNESALI HAKIMGERTIE CUMMINGS.ANDREW CARNES.AGGIE PIGTAILSFALL DOWN GIRL.CORD ELAM ..

LAUREY lCURLYJUD

(In the B.llet) I

CAST(in order of appearance)

SYNOPSIS OF SCENERY

ACT I

ACT II

TIME-Just after the turn of the century.

PLACE-Indian Territory (Now Oklahoma).

MOLLIE BOLTONGERRY DEAN

· WYN TOOTELLDUNCAN HILTON

WILLIAM H. LAWSONPETER RADMORE

JIM PINDER· FRED STARKIE

BARBARA DALTONERNEST PHILLIPS· FRANCES MEE

CLIFF REGAN. . HEATHER FITCHETT

KATHLEEN JONESRICHARD ARTON

BETTY HILLJOHN FEWERYFRED STARKIE

. The Front of Laurey's FarmhouseThe Smoke House

A Grove on Laurey's Farm

. The Skidmore RanchSkidmore's Kitchen Porch

The Back of Laurey's Farmhouse

Scene IScene IIScene III

Scene IScene IIScene III

Page Twenty-eight

COMEDY SOCIETY

E. White

~ NT S

BOMACHOREOGRAPHY BY MARGARET SAND HAM

I[ T. Aspey

M. AlmondE. AlcockO. BracewellD. Bell

H. Bickerstaffe

D. BrothertonM. Durham

R. AFto~R. DarkF. Davies

J. rranklandL. Faner

LADIES OF THE CHORUS

E. EasthamD. Kemp

H. LindsayM. McCullochD. MeylerE. Mercer

N. MarsdenM. Nix

B. Richmond

_B. RatcliffeM. RyanD. Redmayne

J. SlaterM. VaneJ. WestrayA. y./lnders

GENTLEMEN OF THE CHORUS

T. HartleyD. HiltonW. H. Lawson

C. Lyon

F. McDadeA. Mould

F. ParkerP. Radmore·E. Regan

D. Turner

J. Baxter

• M. Brooks

S. BusbyI. Gregson

LADY DANCERS

P. HeaneyK. JonesJ. Lockley

L. Marshall

D. Stand ring

E. SwannA. Whitehead

T. BeckP. Buckley

GENTLEMEN DANCERS

J. FeweryB. Hull

G. ReganA. Topping

Cos.tumes by : S. B. WATTS & CO., Manchester

Scenery by :._CAPE (NORTHERN) LTD.• Cheadle. Cheshire

Page Twenty-nine

P.·ogramme of Musical Nomlters

PRESTON MUSICAL COMEDY SOCIETY ORCHESTRAunder the direction of JOHN STOREY, A.R.C.M., L.R.A.M.

OKLAHOMAACT I

Scene 1.. Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" ... The Surrey with the Fringe on Top ..•• Kansas City".. I Cain't Say No .... Many a New Day".. It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage! "... People Will Say We're in Love".

CurlyCurly, Laurey, Aunt Eller

Will, Aunt Eller, and the BoysAdo Annie

Laurey and the GirlsAli Hakim and the Boys and Girls

Curly and Laurey

Scene 2.. Pore Jud ..•, Lonely Room " •

Curly and judjud

Scene 3II Out of My Dreams" . Laurey and the Girls

ACT II

Scene 1Carnes, Aunt Eller, Curly, Will, Ado Annie, Slim

and Ensemble. Ado Annie, Will and Two Dancing Girls

.. The Farmer and the Cowman"

.. All er Nuthin' It.

Scene 2Reprise-" People Will Say We're in Love" .

Scene 3

Curly and Laurey

.. Oklahoma ..II Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' It

Finale .

Curly, Laurey, Aunt Eller, Ike, Fred and EnsembleLaurey, Curly and Ensemble

Entire Company

Page Thirty-one

LAUREY, ALI HAKIM, AUNT ELLER, ADO ANNIEAli ; " Real silk, made in Persia"

Photo. by Arthur Winter

ALI and WILL

Ali : "It don't fit you sogood, I'll pay you twenty-two dollars."

Photo. by Arthur Winter

" The Farmer and the Cowman should be friends"

Photo. by Arthur Winter

JUD CURLY" You can hang yourself on a rope like this"

Photo. by Arthur Winter

TI.e Story of

OKLAHOMAACT I. Aunt Eller is sitting contented looking out over the meadow and churning to the

rhythm of a gentle melody. Then like the sound of the morning, a song comes from somewhere-growing louder as the young singer comes nearer. The singer is Curly McClain, a young cowboy.who is in love with Laurey, a girl of very considerable charm. He has a rival, however, in Jud Fry,a rather" nasty piece of work" who is a hired hand on the farm. and lives in a miserable smoke.house. He has a strong passion for Laurey, and is not particular in his methods of claiming herfavours.

Will Parker, who is in love with Ado Annie Carnes, the daughter of one of the ranchers, hasbeen to Kansas City and bought her presents, but thinking he may lose her, sells them all to AliHakim, a pedlar man. The Pedlar man is in a panic as he thinks he will have to marry Ado Annieand is most anxious that Will should have the fifty dollars, being the extent of the dowry demandedby Annie's father before he will consent to Will's marriage.

Laurey has consented to go with Jud Fry to the box social and though she would rather gowith Curly, is afraid to tell Jud. Curly goes down to see Jud in order to persuade him to free Laureyfrom her promise and we find Curly and Jud in the smoke house where Curly suggests that Judhang himself.

To close Act I, there is a dream ballet. It depicts Laurey, dreaming she is being married toCurly, but as the figures move forward, to Laurey's amazement it is .. Jud " and not .. Curly"standing by her side. The long awaited conflict with Jud is now unavoidable. They fight, Curlyattempts to shoot Jud, but Jud appears to be invulnerable. Jud throws Curly to the ground and afierce fight ensues. The friends of Curly and Laurey run from side to side. Just when it looks asthough Curly is winning, Jud gets a death grip on his throat. Laurey begs him to release her lover.It is clear she will give herself to Jud if he will let Curly go free. Jud drops Curly's limp body,picks up Laurey and carries her away. She blows a heart broken kiss over Jud's shoulder to Curly'sprostrate body. The crowd surround Curly and carry him off.

The real Laurey is awakened by the real Jud. As she starts to go with him the real Curlyenters expectantly, Jud scowls and offers her his arm. Remembering the events of her dream, shelooks sadly at Curly as. she goes off on Jud's arm, Curly stands alone, puzzled, dejected and defeated.

ACT II. A party is in progress which eventually becomes rather rough. the rival factions inOklahoma, the farmers and the cowboys, begin to fight it out. They are stopped by the sound ofpistol shots fired by Aunt Eller, who forces them to behave peacefully. She then starts the auctionof the hampers to see which boy takes which girl, Curly and Jud try to outbid each other for Laurey'shamper. The result is that Curly parts with all his worldly possessions and wins the day.

Will Parker does not approve of his girl's flirtation at the party. and gives Annie a lecture onher behaviour with other men and tells her if she's going to marry him it's got to be .. All er nuthin' "and they end up dancing together.

Later on at the party Jud Fry follows Laurey to the Kitchen Porch at the Skidmore's farm andtries to embrace her against her will. She very roundly tells him what she thinks of him and ordershim off the ranch, never to come back. She has at last lost her fear of Jud. He goes off furiousjust as Curly arrives, who rather diffidently asks Laurey to marry him. She consents and they singtogether" People will say we're in Love".

The party is over and the Pedlar says goodbye to Annie and Will Parker, as he goes on his way,but not before Will has some worrying moments over Ali's type of goodbye!

Time passes, Curly and Laurey have just been married and there's a party in progress atLaurey's house. Ali Hakim appears and tells everyone that he has been married to Gertie Cummings,a girl with a terrible laugh. He was forced into it by her father's gun. In the middle of the party,Jud, who has not been seen since Laurey threw him out, turns up, and there is a fight in which hegets killed. Cord Elam, a member of the party and a federal marshall tells Curly to give himselfup. But here Aunt Eller intervenes, .. What, give himself up and go to jail on his wedding night! ".She suggests that Old Man Carnes, who happens to be the local judge, holds an improvised courton the spot. This is done and the verdict is given as .. Accidental Death" caused by Jud falling onhis own knife. Curly and Laurey depart for their honeymoon in the" Surrey with the Fringe onTop" to the sounds of cheering and singing of the entire company of .. Oh, What a BeautifulMornin' ".

Page Forty-one

JUD, CURLY, AUNT ELLER, ADO ANNIE, LAUREY, WILL PARKER,ALI HAKIM

Aunt Eller: "Who fired that gun? ",

Photo. by Arthur Winter

JUD ALI CURLYAli: .. Mind if I visit with you gents? Got some arti postcards

special for menfolk"Photo. by Arthur Winter

Curly: .. Look at him Fell on his own knife"

Photo. by Arthur Winter

CURLY and LAUREY.. Surrey with the fringe on the top"

Photo. by Arthur Winter

DANCING GIRLS:Rear: A. WHITEHEAD. K. JONES, I. GREGSON, L. MARSHALL, P. HEANEYFront: D. STANDRING, M. BROOKS, J. LOCKLEY, J. BAXTER

Photo. by Arthur Winter

DANCING BOYS:J. FEWERY, G. REGAN, A. TOPPING, B. HULL, T. BECK

Photo. by Arthur Winter