Sunday, September 23, 2007

Astrology of Oklahoma/"Oklahoma!"

On Friday evening we saw our local amateur dramatic society's very entertaining production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" The show is part of the state's centenary celebrations. Oklahoma, the 46th state, was one of the last territories to achieve statehood, formed from Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. The big "statehood day" was November 16 1907. That makes Oklahoma a Scorpio state for the purposes of astrology.

Oklahoma doesn't strike me as being very Scorpio at all. The opposite zodiac sign of earthy Taurus much better describes Oklahoma: rolling hills and prairies, wheat, corn, cattle, cotton, and oil. Wide open spaces - even today, in the 21st century, there are plenty of wide open spaces here. That's one reason I love it, in spite of it carrying that "Red State" label which I abhor. (Detail from the state flag, left.) As the famous song says:

Plen'y of air and plen'y of room,
Plen'y of room to swing a rope!
Plen'y of heart and plen'y of hope.
Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.


Back to our local production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!". (Photograph by HeWhoKnows- click to enlarge.)


The movie version has always been a favourite of mine, Friday evening's stage version didn't disappoint. It was so appropriate to hear the words and songs in genuine Okie accents, actually in situ in the state itself - akin to eating "proper" Yorkshire pudding in my native English county of Yorkshire.

On the way home I got to thinking about the characters in the play and what zodiac sign best describes them.

Laurey- the female lead definitely Libra - that "love-hate" relationship she has with Curly has to be a Libran flip-flop.
Curly- hmmm, not sure. Gordon MacRae played Curly in the movie, and I loved him to distraction in my early teenage years. Although Gordon had Pisces Sun, Curly's much more Sagittarius.
Ado Annie - great character, much more interesting than Laurey I always thought, a fun and fickle Gemini.
Will Parker- wonderfully played in the movie by Gene Nelson, another of my teenage heroes - he'd be Aries I reckon (and after checking Wikipedia, it appears that Gene Nelson had Sun in Aries too!)
Aunt Eller - another great character, would be a homely mix of Taurus and Cancer.
Jud Fry- the villain of the piece,(Rod Steiger in the movie) has to be represented by Scorpio - probably with afflicted Venus and Pluto.
Ali Hakim- the peddler, an early version of the consummate salesman - Leo for sure.

There's a YouTube video featuring John Schneider from TV's "Dukes of Hazzard", and Pam Dawber from "Mork and Mindy", singing clips from some of the songs from the show - neither one is an Oklahoman, but these are nice renditions.

We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say
Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine,
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma O.K.

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