Hollywood visits Door County in new musical 'Oklahoma in Wisconsin'

When Hollywood began thinking seriously about adapting “Oklahoma!” for the big screen, its producers had originally hoped to shoot onsite in Oklahoma itself.  But there were too many oil wells dotting the landscape, blotting potential backdrops involving a “bright, golden haze on the meadow.” The film would eventually be shot in Arizona.

But who’s to say that location scouts searching for an alternative venue couldn’t have stumbled on Wisconsin, where “the corn is high as an elephant’s eye”? 

That’s the question driving “Oklahoma in Wisconsin,” yet another new musical from Wisconsin’s own stupendous dream factory: Northern Sky Theater in Door County, which has now launched an astounding 50-plus new American musicals into a world perennially decrying the death of the American musical. 

Written by Richard Castle (book and lyrics) and Matthew Levine (music), it’s directed and choreographed by Pam Kriger (music direction by Tim Lenihan) in a production now onstage at Northern Sky’s pristine outdoor amphitheater in Peninsula State Park.

Hugh Fiedler (Alex Campea) – the Hollywood scout showing up at Fish Creek’s Rocking Chair Inn on a lovely day in April 1954 – is a local boy who’s traveled a long way from home, geographically and morally. 

While vaguely reminiscent of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s restless Curly, this pretty boy is much more squirrelly. Promising the cash-starved Bradley family that Hollywood’s finest are on their way, he books the family’s inn for the entire summer, assuring them that the check is in the mail.

In truth, his skeptical Hollywood boss (Doug Mancheski, who doubles as a sleazy Door County realtor) is unsure Wisconsin can deliver what his movie stars want: modern amenities and a vibrant nightlife. 

Hugh tries to make both happen by enlisting the overly trusting Bradleys to give their inn and lives an expensive makeover – without telling them he hasn’t yet actually sealed the deal.

For Archie (Bill Theisen), an  old-fashioned family patriarch, moving forward involves reaching back, by sprucing up the inn’s backyard and introducing a then-obscure tradition called a fish boil. It’s memorialized in a song invoking “This Was a Real Nice Clambake” from “Carousel,” in a show continually paying homage to Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals.

For Ginny (Rhonda Rae Busch), Archie’s star-crazed wife, Hugh’s arrival is an excuse to update the inn’s décor and appliances, in ways that slyly critique the 1950s culture of consumption.

For teenaged Billy (John Brotherhood), Hugh’s hopes for live entertainment give him all the excuse he needs to let loose with his impassioned love for rock 'n' roll – also given ample play in this musical’s score, particularly in a high-octane, smartly choreographed hot-rod number and in “Doin’ a Doo-Wop,” in which Theisen shines.

Finally, there’s no-nonsense Charlotte (Eva Nimmer), Billy’s older sister.  There’s more than a little of Laurey in her, meaning she’s both sweet on and skittish about Hugh, as most fully expressed through one of this musical’s best songs: “By the Time This Song is Over.”

Channeling “People Will Say We’re in Love” from “Oklahoma!,” this duet fulfills the promise baked into every musical: By bursting into song, we can give vent to our best selves, expressing how we feel in ways that magically transform who we are.

Given how much is going on in this show’s plot, as well as its creators’ willingness to bend story and dialogue on behalf of its Rodgers and Hammerstein pastiche, it doesn’t always fully serve this premise; instead, Castle and Levine’s unabashed love of musicals occasionally gets in the way of the love story, as well as character development.

But at its best, “Oklahoma in Wisconsin” makes good on what the characters here will expressly suggest, time and again: Life really is best when it’s lived as though we’re in a musical, giving full-throated life to the sort of fantasies that might bring “Oklahoma!” to Wisconsin. 

“Oklahoma in Wisconsin” continues through Aug. 25 at Northern Sky Theater in Peninsula State Park.  For tickets, call 920-854-6117 or visit www.northernskytheater.com/. Read more about this production at TapMilwaukee.com.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Eva Nimmer: Along with Doug Mancheski, Eva Nimmer – now in her fifth Northern Sky season – is appearing in all four of this summer’s shows, with significant roles in each as an ingénue (“Oklahoma in Wisconsin” and “Victory Farm”) or a variation thereof (a crossdressing lumberjack in “Lumberjacks in Love” and a young schoolteacher who doubles as a surrogate mother in “Doctor! Doctor!”). 

It adds up to eight shows in these four roles every six days.  Seeing all four Northern Sky shows in just over 48 hours, I got a sense of how taxing this must be, allowing me to appreciate all the more the many moving ballads Nimmer sings.  She’s among several younger actors whose work here and elsewhere (both Madison and Milwaukee, for Nimmer) has benefitted enormously from the years spent with Northern Sky’s theater veterans.      

Karen Brown-Larimore: Attention must also be paid to Brown-Larimore’s evocative, period-specific costuming, for both the mid-1950s world that comes alive in “Oklahoma in Wisconsin” and the more austere world of late-Depression America she creates in “Doctor! Doctor!” (set in 1938). 

In “Oklahoma, Wisconsin,” Ginny sports the polka-dotted dresses in vibrant colors that were then popular; younger Charlotte favors the loose-lined blouses and a modified sweater-girl look, with tapered jeans and loafers.  Meanwhile, the men cover the waterfront featured in “Happy Days,” from Hugh’s preppy look to Billy’s late evocation of Fonzie, as Billy finally lets his freak flag fly. 

In “Doctor! Doctor!,” high-waisted dresses and pants for the younger women counterpoint period-specific house dresses of roughened, peasant fabrics for the older women.  Costumes for the men range from the conservatively colored and cut suits (complemented by smart fedoras) worn by professionals and politicians with the denim overalls and battered hat featured by a farmer straight out of Steinbeck.       

It all rings true; one would expect nothing less from this acclaimed Madison creative, who designed the original dresses for American Girl dolls Samantha, Molly and Kirsten, while also doing extensive work with the Madison Opera and Madison Ballet. Brown-Larimore’s work also caught my eye in Northern Sky shows as different from each other as “Windjammers” (2013) and “No Bones About It” (2015).       

Easter eggs: One need not be a Rodgers and Hammerstein nut to enjoy “Oklahoma In Wisconsin”; while my companion at this performance isn’t one, she nevertheless loved the show.  But for those of us who can’t get enough of these great musicals – and knowing laughs from fellow audience members suggest our numbers are legion – “Oklahoma in Wisconsin” is a veritable Easter egg hunt. 

With such games, the surprises are for each of us individually to discover; I’ll therefore only disclose one of my many favorites.  Early in the show, the siblings played by Brotherhood and Nimmer sing “Parlor Show,” which captures what is cute and touching even as it acknowledges what can be chafing and cloying in “So Long, Farewell,” through which the von Trapp children sing goodnight and then goodbye in “The Sound of Music.”

Rodgers and Hammerstein: “Oklahoma!” is not only a watershed moment in the history of the American musical.  Thematically, it also captures a similarly transitional moment when what was still a territory was about to become a state, with roaming cowboys like Curly settling down into a domesticated life as farmers.  Hugh, in Northern Sky’s musical, will confront a similar choice and the challenge of a similar sacrifice as he weighs his adventurous and potentially glamorous life as a Hollywood scout against the quiet life in Door County.  

Many Rodgers and Hammerstein shows mark such transitional moments between a way of life that’s passing away and a new one being born; in each, dramatic tension and resolution involves an effort to preserve what’s best from what was even as the shows’ protagonists confront and make peace with changes that must be.  That’s also the central dilemma in a bevy of Northern Sky shows pitting the seemingly timeless, nearly mythic traditions of a communal Door County past with the inevitable changes – and opportunities – of modern life. 

No wonder Rodgers and Hammerstein’s masterpieces as well as Northern Sky’s original musicals are both so popular: each taps the sense so many of us have that for all we’ve gained in a world where the pace of change is continually accelerating, we’ve also lost a great deal along the way.  How might we preserve the best of who we once were, individually and as a community, even as we take a chance on something new? 

Northern Sky’s Constellation Campaign: Northern Sky doesn’t just wrestle with this question of preserving the old while embracing the new through its many shows.  It’s also doing so through its ambitious, recently launched Constellation Campaign, in which it’s hoping to raise $6.7 million to ensure that it can continue its extraordinary, nearly half-century tradition of creating new musicals to be staged within the Peninsula State Park amphitheater.  

Some of that money will be spent on upgrades to this venerable performance space, from improvements in sound and lighting and a technical booth rebuild to upgraded concessions areas and restrooms; Northern Sky just signed a new lease with Peninsula State Park and makes clear it has no intention of ever leaving this magical summer home. 

But most of the money will be invested in building a much-needed creative campus, on already-purchased land in Fish Creek that will house a 244-seat indoor theater as well as costume and set facilities, administrative offices and a box office.  Currently, Northern Sky’s operations are spread all over Door County, with offices in Ephraim, shop and costume space in Baileys Harbor, rehearsal space in Egg Harbor, storage space in Fish Creek and fall performances at various venues (rental expense for these various venues runs $80,000 each year).  The current Egg Harbor rehearsal space is the latest of ten different rented rehearsal spaces in the past 25 years.

It’s a small miracle that Northern Sky has continued to produce consistently high-quality, original work under such challenging conditions.  But as the company continues to grow, such an arrangement isn’t ultimately sustainable.  New musicals don’t come cheap; the Constellation Campaign helps ensure we never reach a day when they don’t come at all.  Given the unique nature of the material Northern Sky produces – family friendly and inclusive while nevertheless musically sophisticated and frequently taking on thorny themes – losing these musicals would be an incalculable blow to Wisconsin.  It would also be a huge loss for Milwaukee, home to many of the actors and creatives making Northern Sky possible, as well as to many Northern Sky patrons taking in a show under the stars during summer vacations in Door County. 

You can learn more about the Constellation Campaign through an excellent, comprehensive eight-minute video at the Northern Sky website. And yes, for the record: I will put my money where my mouth is on this one.  It’s an investment worth the consideration of anyone who cares about supporting Milwaukee’s theater community as well as the future of theater in Wisconsin.  As I’ve written before, there’s really nothing quite like Northern Sky Theater, in Wisconsin or anywhere else. The Constellation Campaign aims to keep it that way.