THEATER REVIEW : ‘OKLAHOMA RIGS’ EXUDES HOMEY WARMTH, HUMOR

The first warm feeling about “Oklahoma Rigs” comes with the red linoleum and red vinyl kitchen chairs, the wooden cupboards painted with thick white enamel, the round corners on the refrigerator--and the turtle in the fishbowl in the center of the red Formica table.

David McFadzean’s play, which premiered over the weekend at Lamb’s Players Theatre, is 1960-quaint, a gentle family comedy wrapped in glowing memory.

For Claremore, Okla., Karla Zeller’s (Kerry Cederberg) calendar-girl occupation is slightly scandalous, slightly enviable, and--for two guys who went to high school with her--highly titillating.

Tom Sampson (Ken Wagner), whose family owns the red-schemed kitchen, can’t be much more than 19 years old, a good ol’ boy in the making, with a bright yellow engine block in his father’s kitchen. It’s his ticket off the Oklahoma oil rigs.

He has sold his dream about a trucking monopoly to his buddy Finny Clemmet (Phil Card), the gawky preacher’s kid who is totally in love with Tom’s sister, Virla (Deborah Gilmour Smyth), and a willing partner in Tom’s Dale Carnegie-influenced ideas.

Nothing is likely to slow Tom’s enthusiasm, not even his mellow widowed father, Sam Sampson (played with cool control by David Cochran Heath), who loves his boy but would be much comforted to see him get a steady hold on reality before his dreams land him in financial disaster.

Even Finny’s close encounters with Karla inspire Tom with a new business scheme. Oblivious to his sister’s hurt feelings, Tom adds dangerous fuel to a fire that is sure to scorch someone.

McFadzean’s story doesn’t take on major dramatic tasks. It succeeds with witty dialogue and an interweaving of small family dilemmas that are realistic and familiar--but just odd enough to be very funny.

Wagner is terrific as Tom. He’s a teen-age Willy Loman in a greasy sweat shirt, still rough-housing in the kitchen but bursting forth with passionate sales pitches for the American dream.

Card steals his usual share of laughs as Finny, a young man trying to be an obedient boyfriend who falls victim to Karla’s devious seduction. He gets exposed, of course, in an amusing midnight escapade that has something to do with getting his trousers caught in the neighbor’s bicycle.

As Virla, Smyth suffers from the first pangs of traditional womanhood struggling to form the coming decade’s liberation cry. She does it in simplified terms: Will Finny marry her? Will it fill the empty ache she’s beginning to feel about her limited life?

McFadzean, true to the time and the life of his characters, never resolves Virla’s deepest dissatisfactions. On the surface, “Oklahoma Rigs” is situation comedy, but its real warmth comes from the humanity at work on the inside.

Heath, as the father, keeps his performance tranquil and it works beautifully. When the opportunity arises for the young widower to marry his next-door neighbor (Veronica Murphy Smith) in an all-round happy ending, McFadzean backs gracefully out of this too-sweet circumstance.

Julianne Arnall adds another twist of lemon as the preteen Cally Sampson. Arnall is delightfully scientific, the precocious owner of Eldridge the Turtle, a cage of rats in the gas oven “incubator” and Margaret, the colorful hen that mopes when the family has leftover chicken casserole.

Margaret the Chicken’s elaborate affair with a borrowed rooster is amusingly orchestrated by Arnall with advice from her big brother, candlelight and a touch of her dad’s after shave. If it weren’t for the good performances of her elder peers, the young actress would steal the evening.

The period rock songs selected by Thayer add to the fun. The names may be long lost to memory but the tunes are as cozily familiar as a favorite work shirt pulled out of storage. Mike Buckley’s lighting keeps the reminiscent feeling intact.

The “period” kitchen has must have been meticulously salvaged from attics, basements and thrift shops by scenic designer David Thayer. The same sources may have been raided by costumer Margaret Neuhoff Vida, who parodies ‘60s bad taste with a terrific, side-zippered pink polka dot number for a local-girl-turned-Hollywood-cheesecake model.

Director Smyth--who has seen his theater through five premieres of McFadzean’s work--squeezes all the love-and-family goodness from “Oklahoma Rigs.” It’s a happy collaboration.

“OKLAHOMA RIGS” By David McFadzean. Directed by Robert Smyth. Costumes by Margaret Neuhoff Vida. Lighting by Mike Buckley. Scenic and sound design by David Thayer. Stage manager is Rick Meads. With Ken Wagner, Phil Card, Julianne Arnall, David Cochran Heath, Veronica Murphy Smith, Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Kerry Cederberg. Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., through Nov. 15, at Lamb’s Players Theatre, 500 Plaza Blvd., National City.