Oklahoma!: Oh, what a beautiful performance

Set outside the town of Claremore in Oklahoma Territory in 1906, a young cowboy, Curly McLain (Zach Karolek) tries to win the favor of farm girl Laurey Williams (Aubrey Trecek).

Shortly after being shown my seat, the lights in the PAC faded out, and all that was lit was the orchestra pit, where a beautiful combination of the string and brass instruments played the overture lead by Ms. Staaden. When the curtains finally opened, the stage lit up, revealing a lovely country scene complete with hay, a huge painting of the plains of Oklahoma, and Aunt Eller (Bailey Pietsch) churning butter.

The musical elicited laughter from many throughout the theater with dirty humor and elaborate displays of affection and action. Each dance performed was on point and quite impressive to watch, for the foot work looked complicated and obviously took a lot of practice and hard work to get every move executed at the same time. One of the most impressive of dances was the Dream Sequence, with Dream Laurey (Elena Hausman) and Dream Curly (Trevor Whittow).

As for the best performances, the ones who stood out the most were Trevor Whittow, as Ali Hakim and Dream Curly, for his fantastic high energy dancing with Elena Hausman in the ballet scene and at the box social dance. Trevor has exhibited fantastic performances throughout the years and this year, he certainly did not disappoint. Aubrey Trecek also has a record of excellent performances, and she sure proved that she has an incredible singing voice. Every song she sang was beautiful, and her voice was loud and confident. Both Aubrey and Trevor have had much experience in theater, and it most certainly showed.

It was a successful night for the musical, but it was also extremely emotional for the seniors that performed, for it was their very last musical here at New Berlin West. When the play ended, the actors made their way into the PAC, accepting bouquets of flowers, hugs, and compliments. After attending many previous performances, Oklahoma! would have to be the best and most memorable performance that I have seen.