Oklahoma Comes To Sartell

When you think of going to a middle school play, you automatically think "How can this possibly be good, right?" I went to the Sartell Middle School production of Oklahoma this weekend and I was blown away.This wasn't your typical middle school production. This musical comedy could have been performed at The Paramount easily!

These 7th and 8th graders put on one amazing show! Under the direction of Rick Cicharz, they transformed the Sartell High School auditorium into a Broadway production.

The sets were simple, yet elaborate at the same time. From Aunt Eller's house to the Smokehouse, the attention to detail was apparent from the time the curtains opened to the last bow. I have seen Off-Broadway productions that didn't have sets designed as well as this one. From what I understand the students and their parents put in a lot of time to get them perfected. Kudos to them!

As far as the young actors and actresses go, they have a great future in theater in my opinion. Curly was cast perfectly as the young smooth-talker in town. Laurey did an amazing job pulling her role off as Curly's love interest and Ado Annie played up the ditsy town girl to a tee. My favorite character has to be Aunt Eller. To be honest, I thought they had brought in a high school drama student to play the role. With the makeup on, she appeared to be 60 years old and played the wise old lady role better than some little old ladies I have seen performing on stage.

Mr. Cicharz has done a fantastic job with these students to present an unforgettable performance. I hope you take a chance to see a production at your local high school or middle school - you might just be surprised!

Oklahoma gets two thumbs up from me!