Oklahoma! O.K.!! Yow!! By Marisol Cintron "Oklahoma!" "Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends!" chanted "Pa Carnes" (Lou Crivelli) at gun point in Notre Dame High School's '92 musical, "Oklahoma!" Over eighty students participated in recreating the life of tum-ofcentury Oklahoma territory folk in this humorous, romantic musical. Essentially, "Oklahoma!" centers around the Jove of "Curly" (Todd Caruso), a cowman, and "Laury," a farmer's daughter. By refusing to admit their love for each other, they humorously entertain the audience with the help of "Will Parker" (Matt Kasperzak) and "Ado Annie", who also are in love. N.D. parents, students, and families witnessed a rare explosion of talent. In fact, for the first time, NO's Drama Department divided the two female leading roles "Laury" "Ado Annie" between weekends: Performances on March 6 and 7 featured Laura Heinz as "Laury" and Kristin Chebra as "Ado Annie"; performances on March 1.3 and 14 featured Lorette Schroth as "Laury" and The combined result was a spectacular outburst of song, brightly-colored ginghams and a first-hand view of Squaredancing and the "Two-step", making everyone eager to participate in the celebrations. "It had a lot of energy, " said Roger DeiPrado, a chorus member. With all it's power and excitement, the play expressed the theme that although the farmer and the cowman were seemingly different kinds of people, both shared a love of the land they lived on, and there was no reason why they shouldn't be friends. This is something to be remembered, especially in these violent times where prejudice often leads to acts of violence and hatred. "Aunt Eller", played by Adrienne Coe, wryly summarized the thought when she sang, to her people, "I don't say I'm no better than anybody else, but I'll be damned if I ain't jist as good!" The Drama, Music and Theater Tech Departments, with the help of parents, teachers, and community all fit together to form a large piece of Notre Dame's performing puzzle. Because of the drive, desire, dedication, and determination of all involved, "Oklahoma!" was a huge success, fascinating all who saw it and making memories to last a lifetime. " You did fine, Oklahoma- you're ok!" Top Rightj OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING! Todd Caruso as Curly Middle / SURREY WITH THE FRING ON TOP: Laury played by Laura Heinz and Todd. Bottom / GOT A DREAM WORTH KEEPING : Lorette Scroth as Laury with Todd .
Victoria Czarnik as "Ado Annie". Mr. Lou Gibilisco, the director, explained, "There was a lot of talent, and it would be a shame that the girls missed the chance to perform such good roles simply because the roles were never divided before. All the ladies deserved it." Because each actress brought her own unique style it was a difficult adjustment for the other actors. Todd Caruso ("Curly") explained, "Both girls acted from different angles: one was serious, the other was comic." Often, scenes had to be redone to fit each individual actress, which meant a lot of hard, long, and strenuous hours full of work for the technical crew as well as the cast. Frequently, the entire cast worked right after school until 6 or 7 at night, as well as on weekends. The technical crew sometimes worked harder than the cast, working long hours on sets, props and scenery. Crew member Tommy Farrell commented, "The work we did was excruciating, and though crews often don't receive enough credit for it, it was worth it."