R.I.P. Joan Roberts

[Reza]

Joan Roberts, the Soprano Who Gave Voice to Laurey in Oklahoma!, Dead at 95

By Kenneth Jones
14 Aug 2012 playbill.com

Joan Roberts, the soprano who originated one of the
major leading-lady roles in American musical
theatre Laurey in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
died in Stamford, CT, on Aug. 13 at the age of
95, her son Jack Donlon announced. The cause of
death was congestive heart failure.

In age when taste seem to dictate that sopranos
sound ethereal and unreachable, stressing the
melody and shimmering vocal technique over the
lyric, Ms. Roberts (if the groundbreaking cast
recording is accurate evidence) clearly
articulated both the earthbound lyrics of Oscar
Hammerstein II and the beauty of Richard
Rodgers' music. The 1943 show was, after all, set
in the plains of Indian territory, not in some gossamer fairyland.

Ms. Roberts, whose final Broadway appearance was
as faded operetta soprano Heidi Schiller in
Roundabout Theatre Company's 2001 revival of
Follies, was born on July 15, 1917, in New York
City. She appeared on Broadway in the musicals
Sunny River (by Hammerstein and Sigmund Romberg,
1942), and the post-Oklahoma! shows Marinka, Are
You With It? and Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn hit High
Button Shoes (she was a replacement).

Ted Chapin, president of Rodgers & Hammerstein,
said on Aug. 14, "Joan Roberts was a wonderful
character. When I first met her and that feisty
spirit came with a decidedly Long Island accent,
her uniqueness became apparent. But she was sharp
as a tack with a wonderful memory of Oklahoma! It
is sad to see one more member of the original cast leave us."

Earlier this summer, actress Celeste
Holm who created the role of Laurey's pal, Ado Annie died.

In addition to working in TV and films (making
her professional debut at the age of five in an
episode of the "Our Gang" films, according to her
son), in recent years, Ms. Roberts conducted
workshops on singing and voice projection. In
2011 she was honored by the University of North
Carolina's School of the Arts while attending
their replica production of the original
Oklahoma!, where she was joined by fellow
original star Holm. Ms. Roberts' autobiography,
"Stage Right," was released by Kaufmann Publishing earlier this summer.

In her bio in the 2001 Playbill for Follies, Ms.
Roberts indicated that she was handpicked by her
mentor Hammerstein for the part of
"yeller"-haired Laurey Williams, a country girl
caught between two men confident cowboy Curly
and hulking ranch hand Jud. The conflict in the
show largely has to do with Laurey and Curly's
stubbornness and pride. Nevertheless, in
articulating the tension of young courtship, they
sang the choice duets "The Surrey With the Fringe
on Top" and "People Will Say We're in Love."
Laurey also sings "Many a New Day" and "Out of My
Dreams." The latter sparked the show's famous
"dream ballet," in which separate dancers played
a "Dream Laurey" and a "Dream Curly," dancing the
inner feelings of the characters.

In 2003, Freeport High School on Long Island got
a brush with American musical theatre history
when Ms. Roberts appeared as the jewel in a
diadem of Richard Rodgers songs in concert. Ms.
Roberts, of Rockville Centre, NY, was the
above-the-title star of the concept concert, Oh,
What a Beautiful Evening, which was constructed
by Freeport High School choral director Stephen
C. Pagano as a show of Rodgers songs refracted through Roberts' experience.

Pagano told Playbill.com at the time that he met
Ms. Roberts after she attended a previous
Freeport High School concert and she volunteered
her talents to the current show. Pagano
constructed the show around Roberts. Pagano said
his students gained invaluable experience working
with Roberts, and that working with professionals
often teaches students more than they could learn
in a teacher-only environment.

"I'm training them, but when you are working with
a professional, it's wholly different," Pagano
said. "I've also gained a lot from this, going to
her house and rehearsing with her."

That concert was framed with an "Inside the
Actors Studio"-like interview with Roberts, with
songs flowing from the interview. Act One
featured songs by Rogers and Lorenz Hart, and Act
Two featured the lyrics of Hammerstein.

The show was presented almost 60 years to the day
(March 31, 1943) of the opening night of Oklahoma!

Roberts' most recent Broadway appearance was in
the Roundabout Theatre revival of Follies, in
which she sang "One More Kiss." In Oh, What a
Beautiful Evening, an original show constructed
with the permission of The Rodgers & Hammerstein
Organization, Roberts sang "Where or When," "With
a Song in My Heart," "Getting to Know You,"
"Climb Every Mountain," and (from Oklahoma!) "Out
of My Dreams" and the title song (she played Aunt Eller in the latter).

Late in her career, in 1998, she played Daisy in
the play Driving Miss Daisy on the Hempstead
campus of Long Island's Hofstra University. She
also appeared in Legacy, a show at San Jose Rep in California.

Over the years, in stock or on tour, she played
leading roles in such shows as Guys and Dolls,
Too Many Girls, Naughty Marietta, Up in Central
Park, Show Boat, Music in the Air, Carousel and more.

Joan Roberts was married to John Donlon, MD,
until his death in 1965. She was married to
Alexander Peter, DDS, until his passing in 1993.
She is survived by her son John Donlon and his
wife, Margaret, of New Canaan, CT; two stepsons,
Robert Peter, MD and his wife Mary Ann, of
Hillsborough, NC, and James Peter of Des Moines, IA.

Funeral arrangements are as follows: visitation
on Thursday, Aug. 16 from 2-4 PM and 7-9 PM at
Macken Mortuary, 52 Clinton Avenue, Rockville
Centre, NY. The funeral mass will be held on
Friday, Aug. 17 at 10 AM at St. Agnes Cathedral,
29 Quealy Place, Rockville Centre.