OK, it's 'Oklahoma!'

COEUR d'ALENE - As Sandra Seaton watches in the back of darkened auditorium at Lake City High School, a few actors wander around on the stage.

"Boys, what are we doing out?" she shouts.

Moments later, another costumed student walks up to Seaton.

"The wheels on the thing broke," he says.

There is no hesitation in the answer.

"Walk it tonight, we'll repair it tomorrow," Seaton said.

The student nods, turns and walks away.

Seaton smiles as she waits for one more rehearsal of "Oklahoma!" to begin on a Tuesday night.

"Today, everything has worked really well," she says. "It's starting to look like a show."

The musical's first curtain was Thursday night and it continues tonight, Saturday and next week.

With a cast of 26 and a crew of 20, the 2 1/2 hour production is the result of eight weeks of practice, preparation and stage work.

Seaton said it's the first time for "Oklahoma!" at LCHS. It creates special challenges with the dancing, the singing and the multiple stage sets.

"It's a classic favorite," she said.

She credited the musical direction of Bill Rhodes and the choreography of Ashley Cooper for bringing top quality to the performance that promises to be filled with energy.

"It's a great time, an inexpensive evening of fun and laughter and traditional values. It's a memory they'll take away with them forever," Seaton said. "It's live theater. You can't get any better than that."

The musical is described as a "simple tale of cowhands and farmers finding love and community in the Oklahoma territory.

"Laurey, a spunky girl who runs to her aunt's farm, is courted by two very different young men: Curly, a brash cowhand, and Jud, a surly, pathological farmhand. Her journey to find the man of her dreams and the satisfaction of settling down with the right one underscores the journey of the territory toward progress, community and statehood."

The cast includes Taylor Rogers (Curly McLain), Leah Meyerholtz (Laurey Williams), Jeff Phillips (Ali Hakim), Patric Schwaab (Jud Fry), Dylan Townsend (Will Parker), Natalie Mitchell (Aunt Eller), and Stefanie Wolf (Ado Annie Carnes).

Cooper, a 2003 LCHS graduate and a 2006 graduate of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., has enjoyed working with the students.

It's a challenge in a musical to help the cast learn the movements behind the dancing.

"Most of them aren't dancers," Cooper said.

But they've caught on.

"This is my favorite group to work with," she said. "They all want to be here."

Leah Meyerholtz said the rehearsals were "crazy" at first with such a large cast and crew.

"Things were rocky at first, but now that we're getting the show going with costumes, it's beginning to come together," she said. "I love it. Most of us are theater addicts. We couldn't stop if we tried."

Taylor Rogers, who plays Curly, took voice lessons this summer to prepare for his role that requires plenty of singing.

He said the hours of rehearsal and practicing lines and songs at home will be worth it once the stage lights are on for the real deal.

"Show night, you look out on the crowd, curtain call, every thing falls into place and you realize why you did it," Rogers said.