Musical with a fringe on top

Oklahoma!, Opera House, Manchester

IF you fancy two-and-a-half hours of good old fashioned musical with a long list of sing-a-long songs and a generous helping of the feelgood factor, then this is for you.

Happy-go-lucky cowboy Curly, played by Mark Evans best known as the runner-up in BBC’s “Your Country Needs You,” the search for Britain’s Eurovision Song Contest contender, competes for the affections of farmgirl Laurey (Gemma Sutton), with the sinister farmhand Judd Fry (Pete Gallagher).

Laurey was never going to chose Judd over the handsome Curly, but young women being what they are, makes the mistake of playing Judd off against her cocky cowboy admirer to teach him a lesson.

But playing with the emotions and raising the hopes of the obsessive Judd whose passions run deep is a step too far, and sparks a chain of events which sees the eventual demise of one of the love rivals.

Far from being just a love story, Oklahoma!, which is based on the Lynn Riggs play “Green Grow the Lilacs,” has its roots in the deep-seated conflict over land around the turn of the 19th Century.

Fences erected by the farmers put them at loggerheads with the cowboys who had hitherto been free to roam — hence one of the musical’s hits “The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends.”

Marti Webb is a favourite as Aunt Eller, and gives an expected strong performance in the role, heading a cast which seemed to have just as much fun on stage as the audience who made no secret of the fact they were having a great time.

With wonderful songs such as “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” “Surrey With the Fringe of Top,” and of course the title song, this brand new revival of the first real phenomenon in Broadway history can’t fail to be a hit.