If you go …

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $17 to $27 adults and $12 to $22 children ages 12 and younger and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-788-8739.

YOUNGSTOWN — “Community theater” often is said with a dismissive tone.

Some of that is understandable. No, your neighbors or co-workers probably aren’t as talented as the folks on Broadway or in the national tours that come through Cleveland and Pittsburgh, at the very least they aren’t the multi-hyphenate talents (singer-dancer-actor) those shows often demand.

But there are several singers in Youngstown Playhouse’s production of “Oklahoma!” who, if they were put in the cast of whatever the next touring show is that rolls through, wouldn’t sound out of place.

And community theater can do things that professional theater, even with skyrocketing ticket prices, can’t afford to do.

Youngstown Playhouse’s “Oklahoma!,”which runs through May 18, features a 25-piece orchestra, thanks to some generous underwriters. The recent Broadway revival had seven musicians backing the cast. That was an artistic choice, but it also was an economic one. Bands half the size — at most — of the one on the Youngstown stage are the norm these days.

And this band is “on the stage.” It makes sense. If you’re giving audiences something they can’t see anywhere else, don’t hide those musicians in a pit.

The music was one of the stars of the show on opening night, both how it sounded under the baton of Todd Maki and how the musicians were presented in Johnny Pecano’s set design.

The balance between the volume of the orchestra and the actors’ headset microphones also was perfect. I’ve been to more shows than I can count where a four-piece band overwhelmed the voices on stage. Even with 25 players, I didn’t miss a lyric.

The cast is equally massive. There are more than 40 performers on stage. That created a “spectacle” (and a herculean task for costume designer Sam Martin), but it also gave director Tyler Stouffer flexibility. Everyone on that stage doesn’t have to be a singer, dancer AND actor. On the ensemble numbers, the best singers move to the front. When that dance break arrives, the hoofers who might have been buried in the mix vocally take center stage to show off their footwork.

And when the show calls for a ballet, bring in dancers from Ballet Western Reserve and have its school director and ballet mistress (Emily Pasquale) choreograph it. The rest of the choreography is handled by Erin Morrell, whose steps give a jolt of energy to several numbers and are well executed by the cast.

The Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical is one of the shows often cited as creating the blueprint for the 20th century musical. It made its Broadway debut 82 years ago, and parts of it have aged better than others.

The songs are still magnificent. Jonathan Beveridge brought a swaggering charm to Curly’s opening number, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” and he and Ashlyn Young as Laurey delivered on the beloved Broadway standard “People Will Say We’re in Love.”

Becca Campbell was a hilarious delight on “I Cain’t Say No,” and she and Peter Sherman made a perfect pair on “All or Nothin’.” Michael Allenbaugh rivaled Campbell’s comedic chops as the Persian merchant who is as determined to get away from Ado Annie as Sherman’s Will Parker is to win her affection.

On the other side, I’m not sure how “Poor Jud Is Dead,” a first act number where Curly tries to talk brooding farmhand Jud (Connor Bezeredi) into committing suicide, played in 1943, but it’s an uncomfortable scene in 2025.

The Playhouse originally intended to stage the version of “Oklahoma!” that won the Tony Award for best revival in 2019. When it wasn’t available, the Playhouse decided to do the original script.

Bezeredi makes the character more complex than I remember from past productions, and he also possesses one of those voices that would stand out on any stage. His Jud still is menacing and potentially dangerous, but he also makes Jud more self-aware of how he’s perceived by those around him and more deserving of empathy.

Beveridge plays Curly very much as the romantic hero of an old-fashioned musical. Neither portrayal is wrong, but they don’t necessarily work together in the same production. A more sympathetic Jud makes Curly look more like Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast,” and that’s not how the character is presented anywhere else in the production.

Stouffer needed to go further with the revisionist approach or scale it back. As it is, it doesn’t feel fully committed to either.

Pondering what qualified as a romantic hero in the 1940s and what constitutes one in the 2020s will come after the show. During “Oklahoma!” viewers will be too impressed with the talent on stage and behind the scenes.