Oklahoma!Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin★★★⯪☆When Oklahoma! premiered on Broadway, in 1943, it revolutionised musical theatre. Eighty years later, when popular culture is suffused with nostalgic narrative musicals about American life, from Hairspray (1960s Baltimore) to In the Heights (New York in the early 2000s), it can be difficult to understand why.With its sentimental story of confounded love on the prairie and its folksy sound, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical lionises hard work, pioneers and pastoralism, with not a Native American in sight. Oklahoma! is the apple pie of American musical theatre. Its resounding moral – “Territory folks should stick together” – might just as easily be a motto for Maga today.Claire Tighe’s production for the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre leans into the ruggedness of American rural life in the early 20th century. The set, by Ciarán Bagnall, is a suggestion of rough-hewn timber structures, with a tilted cyclorama (superbly lit by Kevin Smith) providing a window into the natural cycle of the day, and costumes, by Thérèse McKeown, that privilege practicality with denim workwear.Yet the resolution between this aesthetic and the romance of the music, particularly in the swelling underscore, creates a tension that is only exacerbated by the transitional choreography that David Bolger has devised to mark the shifts between scenes.Oklahoma!: Laurey Williams (played by Molly Lynch), Curly McLain (David James Whelan) and the male ensemble. Photograph: Marcin Lewandowski Oklahoma!: the full cast. Photograph: Marcin Lewandowski Oklahoma!: Enda Oates as Andrew Carnes and Julian Capolei as Ali Hakim. Photograph: Marcin Lewandowski Elsewhere, Bolger’s choreography is remarkable, even if the cast is not always uniformly effective in its delivery. The dream ballet, in which Laurey (the stunning soprano Molly Lynch) allows her subconscious to guide her heart, is the most challenging aspect of Oklahoma!, and it remains radical where the other elements of the musical seem twee.It was originally choreographed by Agnes de Mille; Bolger brings his own distinctive sensibility to it, using chairs as an extension of limbs, and burlesque costumes to provide a visual reference to the pictures in the Little Wonder telescope that the audience is never permitted to see. The supporting cast provide some show-stealing moments. As Will Parker, Sacha Koplewsky charms everyone with his distinctive physical and vocal range, even if he can’t quite get Ado Annie (a goofy Rachel Gaughan) to commit. Julian Capolei brings a clownish slipperiness to the potentially problematic role of Ali Hakim. Oliver Flitcroft’s Jud Fry is dark and brooding, with a deep tenor to match.Unfortunately, in the leading role of Curley, David James Whelan doesn’t quite have the vocal register to match the other voices, although in duets and group numbers this is less significant, as the calibre of the singing under David Hayes’ musical direction is excellent.Bolger’s work proves critical again in the final musical number, Oklahoma: Encore, where the company is led by Aunt Eller (the multitalented Molly Logan) in a much darker version of the chorale. Here the raised fists and foot stamping feel less like a celebration than a threat. There might well be a question mark rather than an exclamation at the end of their rally cry. “You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma, okay”?Oklahoma! is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, until Sunday, July 5th