From Tuesday 26th October to Saturday 6th November 1976 the Bristol Light Opera Club staged Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “OKLAHOMA!”, set in Indian Territory “just after the turn of the century”, at the Bristol Hippodrome. Almost every principal part was double-cast, with two companies alternating performances and only Clive Farrow playing Curly throughout, while Roland Bilston, Janice Tayler and Peter Holbrook danced Curly, Laurey and Jud in the ballet. The programme lists a Gala Night on 30th October for the Rotary Club Glen Two Project for “Mentally Handicapped Young Adults” and a Civic Night for the Lord Mayor, and notes the show was entered for the Evening Post Rose Bowl and the Butlin Awards after “Showboat” won four Butlin awards the year before.
Cast
- Aunt Eller — Meirion Ashton / Rosalind Cockbill
- Curly — Clive Farrow
- Laurey — Susan Bradshaw / Frankie Skirton
- Ike Skidmore — John Humphries / Alan Williams
- Slim — Mark Adams / Simon Shovelton
- Will Parker — Julian Morgan / Derek Hough
- Jud Fry — Brian Harding / Gerry Parker
- Ado Annie Carnes — Cicely Meyer / Alison Hembury
- Ali Hakim — Rod Young / Chris Chapman
- Gertie Cummings — Diana Cole / Nadia Florence
- Andrew Carnes — Fred Finch / Dennis Dew
- Cord Elam — Arthur Cox / Eric Price
- Curly (in the Ballet) — Roland Bilston
- Laurey (in the Ballet) — Janice Tayler
- Jud Fry (in the Ballet) — Peter Holbrook