Phil Dunster and Zizi Strallen to star in Oklahoma! concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! will return to Theatre Royal Drury Lane to celebrate its 80th anniversary year.

Leading the concert staging will be Ted Lasso star and Emmy nominee Phil Dunster (who was last seen in the West End in The Entertainer at the Garrick Theatre) as Curly, alongside WhatsOnStage Award nominee Zizi Strallen (Mary Poppins, Cake) as Laurey. Further casting for the show is to be revealed.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s seminal piece, which includes numbers such as “Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’”, “The Surrey With The Fringe On Top” and, of course, “Oklahoma”, was first seen on UK shores at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1947, where it ran for 1,543 performances. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs’ play Green Grow the Lilacs, and follows an Oklahoma community in 1906, grappling with multiple love triangles, ostracisation and questions of collective justice.

The concert event is to be directed and choreographed by Bill Deamer, and will feature Robert Russell Bennett’s full original 28-piece orchestrations performed by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Ben Glassberg.

It will play for two performances at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 19 and 20 August 2024. Tickets will go on sale at 10am on 19 April.

It is produced by JAS Theatricals, Fourth Wall Live and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, the team behind the WhatsOnStage Award-winning concert of Love Never Dies.

Sign up for our newsletters for more stories like this.