Good news: Oklahoma! is coming to The Bord Gáis Energy Theatre this summer with an all-Irish production.
As the 19 June opening night approaches, rehearsals for Bord Gáis Energy Theatre’s second ever in-house production have begun. Following the success of the theatre’s first fully in-house production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’, a new production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s 1943 smash hit ‘Oklahoma!’ will run for three weeks this summer. The production features an all-Irish cast and creative team, who have kicked off rehearsals recently.
The classic musical is set in the early 1900s Oklahoma Territory, following the romantic rivalry between a charming cowboy and a sinister farmhand over a headstrong farm girl. It made its debut opening night in 1943, and the reaction was extraordinary.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration was groundbreaking; it was the Hamilton of its day. This will be the first time the iconic musical, with songs including Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’, I Cain’t Say No and People Will Say We’re in Love, will play on Ireland’s most prestigious stage, with a dynamic new approach.
Stephen Faloon, who produced ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ last year is returning as producer for this production. CEO of TheatreworX Productions, Claire Tighe, is onboard as director and has said that this production of ‘Oklahoma!’ is putting a real focus on its female characters, taking a more feminist approach and giving them real agency, particularly through their costuming choices, with many of the female characters and ensemble members set to appear in trousers and one even touting a gun holster.
There has been huge buzz surrounding the all-Irish cast of this production, with big names like ‘Wild Youth’s’ David James Whelan as ‘Curly McClain’ and musical theatre star Molly Lynch known for her role as ‘Eliza Doolittle’ in Leicester’s Curve Theatre’s production of ‘My Fair Lady’ playing ‘Laurey Williams’. IFTA award winning actor Enda Oates has also signed on to play ‘Andrew Carnes’ many would know him as ‘Fair City’s’ ‘Pete Ferguson’. Oliver Flitcroft , graduate of The Lír Academy, recently played the role of Glen in Cara Christie’s ‘Brambles’ at Dublin Fringe Fringe Festival 2025, will be joining the cast as ‘Jud Fry’.
Ahead of rehearsals commencing this week, we spoke to the leads, Molly Lynch and David James Whelan about all things ‘Oklahoma!’.
Claire spoke about how the switch up from the original story has taken more of a feminist approach. Was that hard to grasp or a breath of fresh air?
Molly: “Like Claire said, I think the text itself is actually quite feminist. It’s just because it’s such an old piece when it was first done, I think it reflected the times it was made in. Whereas actually, reading the text, Laurey is a character with so much agency. Really, it’s about her having to choose between two guys, which, I mean, couldn’t get more feminist than that. I always say to people that it’s a bit like Twilight. There’s Team Edward Team Jacob. It’s like Team Judd, Team Curly, and she’s really empowered throughout it, I feel, and I’m really excited that Claire is taking that and going to really lean into it for this interpretation of the story. It’s fascinating and so exciting”.
This is Bord Gáis Energy Theatre’s second in-house production. Do you feel there is a little bit of pressure, with ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ being received so well?
David: “I think so. Yeah, there’s definitely pressure there, obviously last year, ‘Little Shop’ went down so well. It was an amazing production. So we obviously want to keep the standard up and hopefully deliver for Stephen and everybody in the Bord Gáis and for the directors and everybody who’s putting so much love into it. I think we’ll do a good job. I think we’re all very excited. The cast is amazing. Everybody here is so passionate. We all just met each other there for the first time as a group and everybody’s smiling and ready to go and it all looks great on paper so far. So we hope we deliver it”.
You have both performed on huge international stages. What is it like getting to perform in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, in front of a home crowd?
David: “Amazing. It’s class. It’s my home. I’ve seen a few things in the Bord Gáis, and it’s an amazing theatre, an amazing space. I’m biased. I love Dublin. I’m born and raised here. I’m obsessed with it. Like every time I leave, I want to come home. I’m a real home bird. So to actually be doing that for 3 weeks every day as we were saying, we get to live there, basically, and to do it with everybody is kind of class, I can’t wait”.
Molly: “I’m so proud to be doing something of this scale in Ireland. I’ve been living in London for 10 years, and I’m from Cork, so I’m not from Dublin and I’m so proud of Cork as well. I think just the talent in Ireland for musical theatre is so epic, and there’s so many of us over in London to work and how incredible it is to have a theatre like this supporting artists like ourselves. To do something of this scale, of this caliber, of this quality, I think, is just so exciting”.
What are your hopes for musical theatre in Ireland?
Molly: “I think, for me, it would just be to have it regarded at the same par and level as we do film and opera and plays. You know, I think Ireland is so well respected; our legacy in poetry and music is massive, but I do feel musical theatre gets put a bit on the back burner. It gets dismissed a lot as sort of like a pantomime, which I love the art form of pantomime as well, but it is kind of seen as a silly art form, or not important. I think what Stephen’s doing here at the Bord Gáis, and what all these artists are doing is showing that this is a high art. It’s multidisciplinary, it’s so embedded into our history and culture, and I just would love for it to be given the same weight as the other art forms that are so well respected around the world and done so beautifully by Irish people. You know, Jesse Buckley, who’s one of our heroes, is a musical theatre artist herself, and I think just to have it up there with those art forms is the dream for me”.
There’s a huge buzz with this being an in-house production, all Irish cast, Irish creative team. You have all just started getting to know each other, do you think it makes it a little bit easier, with everyone being Irish?
David: “I think Irish people in general, we kind of have the same sense of humour. It’s just built into us. We’re not afraid to laugh and joke. And we’re really rooting for each other as well. That’s one thing I find is really special with this production, just from being in that room together, there for the 1st time. Everyone’s rooting for each other in that room because of those reasons. This is one of the first times we have an Irish production with such a big Irish cast and everyone wants each other to do well and have each other’s backs and that’s going to create magic and a beautiful space to live in because you’re not going to feel on your own ever”.
Molly: “I think I’m going to have to readjust because I’ve gotten so used to masking so many of my Irishisms over in the UK. I’m like, ‘Oh my God! I can be completely myself here’. I can say the really weird joke or something. And it’s, I don’t know, I’m about to be let loose. You know what I mean? Because I’ve gotten so used to ‘rein it in, Molly, rein it in’ over there. And now I’m like, ‘wow, everyone’s wild’. I love it”.
Oklahoma! will be running from June 19 to July 5 in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Tickets available here.
