Fisher Center Production of Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! Revival Wins Two Olivier Awards
The London run of Bard Fisher Center’s reorchestrated revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! has won two 2023 Olivier Awards. Director Daniel Fish’s Tony Award–winning production of Oklahoma!, which premiered at Bard SummerScape in 2015, won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, and Arthur Darvill won Best Actor in a Musical for his leading role as Curly McLain. Considered the United Kingdom’s most prestigious stage honors, the Laurence Olivier Awards are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in professional theater in London. This year’s award ceremony and celebration took place on April 2 at London’s Royal Albert Hall.The widely acclaimed production of Oklahoma!, directed by Daniel Fish, originated as a Bard College undergraduate Theater Program production in 2007. The Fisher Center produced it professionally in SummerScape 2015, and it subsequently transferred to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn and on to Broadway, where it won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical in 2019. In 2022, the production moved to the Young Vic in London and is currently playing in London’s West End at the Wyndham’s Theatre. Patrick Vaill ’07 reprises his role as Jud Fry—which he played in Bard’s initial student performance and in the SummerScape, off-Broadway, and Broadway productions—in the London staging.
For further reading:
In the Smithsonian Magazine’s recent article, “Behind ‘Oklahoma!’ Lies the Remarkable Story of a Gay Cherokee Playwright,” Patrick Vaill ’07 discusses the complexity and vulnerability of the character Jud Fry, a role he has played on and off for the past 16 years.
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