by Steven Greenfield

One of the many ways that musical theatre differs from other theatre forms is that in a musical, there are essentially three directors: the actual director (who is responsible for the staging and the overall vision of the piece), the choreographer (who is responsible for dance and movement), and the musical director. So, what does a musical director do?

In musical theatre and opera, the MD is in charge of the overall musical performance, including ensuring that the cast knows the music thoroughly, supervising the musical interpretation of the performers and pit orchestra, and conducting the orchestra. And in theatre, this person often serves as the rehearsal pianist as well.

When a Broadway musical like Oklahoma! is first created, there are several people involved in bringing the music to life: the composer (who writes the music), the dance music arranger (who, together with the choreographer, uses the themes that the composer has created to provide music for the dance breaks) and the orchestrator (who takes the music that the composer has created, and expands it for a Broadway-sized pit orchestra to play). And then the MD comes in, and does exactly that - directs the music. The musical director is to the composer what the carpenter is to the architect; together with the director and the choreographer they take the blueprint that has been given to them, and they craft a piece of musical theatre from it.

The work of a MD starts even before auditions are held. The MD analyses the score, and determines which voice type each of the characters is written for, and, based on the size of the cast, what the ratio of voice types should be in the ensemble. Although transposition is always an option to make a song sit better in a singer's range, the voice type should remain the same: for example, Curly should always be a baritone; and Aunt Eller should always be a mezzo. The quality of the character's singing voice is equally important to the character as any other personality trait; the composer chose to write the part in that voice type for a very specific reason. Many other details can factor into the MD's casting needs, such as "money notes" (Jud needs to have a low D, Laurey needs to have a high A), dancing abilities (Will Parker needs to be a true "triple-threat" - able to act, sing and dance equally well), and, when the director's vision calls for it, instrumental abilities.

For most productions, the three "directors" will limit their creative input to their respective disciplines. However, with this particular production of Oklahoma!, we have the benefit of having a directing team comprised of three individuals who each have hands-on experience in a diverse selection of both onstage and offstage roles. This has allowed us to ensure the seamlessness between spoken text, music and dance, and to fully allow Hammerstein's book and lyrics, Rodgers' music, and a re-imagining of de Mille's choreography to tell this classic story.

One of the first challenges of a regional production of a Broadway musical is the scale. You will probably not be surprised when I tell you that at today's performance, you will not see a cast of 57 or a 23- piece orchestra. It is simply not feasible to recreate a Broadway-sized production in a 274-seat theatre. At today's performance, what you will see are fourteen actor/ singer/ dancer/instrumentalists who have found a relevant way to use their skills to imbue this 66-year old musical with new life; not a re-creation, but an exciting re-imagining. We have delved into Russell Bennett's beautiful original orchestrations, and re- orchestrated them for instruments that Ado Annie and the gang would have actually played in pre-state Oklahoma at the beginning of the last century: guitar, honky-tonk piano, harmonica, tub bass, banjo - and other found percussion instruments that could have come right off Ali Hakim's peddler's cart.

At the same time, you don't want to fool around with a good thing too much. Oklahoma! became a box-office smash and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances, later enjoying award-winning revivals, national tours, foreign productions and an Academy Award-winning 1955 film adaptation. It has long been a popular choice for regional theatres. Peter, Melissa, the cast, designers, crew and I have striven to find the perfect balance between acknowledging what Oklahoma! is and always has been, and giving CTF a fresh and exciting Oklahoma!