Agnes de Mille’s dream ballet in “Oklahoma!” – a good-versus-evil showdown that represented a departure from musical-theater norms when it was introduced on Broadway in 1943 – traditionally introduces three new characters.

There’s Dream Laurey, Dream Curly and Dream Jud, three dancers who take over the lead roles for an extended section that advances the story through dance.

But when Rockland Country Day School presents the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic starting tonight, Dream Laurey, Dream Curly and Dream Jud will be played by the same students playing Laurey, Curly and Jud.

Yup. Like Rod Steiger in the 1955 movie version, Jud’s doing his own dancing.

Eliza Simpson, 18, a senior, plays Laurey, “a complex character” she describes as “ingenue, but also an enigma.”

“We do our own ballet, and it’s really coming together,” she says. The ballet is choreographed by Gina Martin, Simpson’s mother, a veteran of the Broadway revival of the show and a national tour.

Simpson has studied ballet for years, but she still finds the change from musical theater to ballet “a bit jarring because it’s a whole other way of telling the story, a whole other medium.”

The actress says the casting of Jerryd Richards as Jud sets this show apart.

“In our production, it’s interesting that our Jud is played by Jerryd Richards, who’s a really good-looking guy. So it layers on this whole other aspect of ‘Well, he is a farmer, he’s handsome, he’s reliable, he’s always there. He’s an option for Laurey.’

“Sometimes, Jud’s played like a beast and you wonder ‘Why would she even think about it?’ and the whole ‘Make up your mind, make up your mind, Laurey’ doesn’t really make any sense. If she has an option, it’s multi-layered.”

Options or not, Laurey has some wonderful songs to sing.

“I love the music,” Simpson says. “All of it is in a gorgeous, high range and really pretty. I think we’re really enjoying it because it’s classic Broadway music but at the same time it’s really interesting.”

As the cowboy Curly, junior Jason Avezzano sings the show’s first notes, offstage, and enters singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ ” – as optimistic a song as you’re likely to hear.

He says that Richards gets so into character as Jud that it’s fun to get back at him in the song “Pore Jud,” in which Curly insults Jud while pretending to be his friend.

“I feel like every song he sings — ‘Surrey with a Fringe on Top’ and ‘People Will Say We’re In Love’ and even ‘Oklahoma!’ – they’re all happy, happy songs. It’s hard to not have fun when you’re playing such a happy character,” Avezzano says.

Richards, a senior, says Jud takes a bit of getting used to.

“I’ve never played a dark villain, so it’s kind of intriguing to play him,” he says.

He says the ballet is easier than it might have been if the stage hadn’t been extended. As it is, the raised platform dominates the hall, giving Richards and Co. plenty of room to roam.

Director Marsha Korb Predovic says “Oklahoma!” was an easy choice.

“It’s got so much heart and hope in it and it sort of typifies the community feeling that we have in our school,” she says.

“Because we have such a small school, we have from fifth grade through 12th grade in our show. They become really close buddies; it’s a community-forming thing.”

These territory folk stick together, whether they’re seventh-grader Luke Solomon who plays the sheriff’s boy, or Aisling Crispi, the cast’s youngest member and the smallest of a quartet of Crispi sisters who grace the stage this weekend.

There’s Aisling, 10, a fifth-grader, who plays Aggie; Maeve, 13, an eighth-grader, as Vivian; Brigid, 15, a ninth-grader, as Ellen; and Katie, 17, a senior, as the straight-talking, sensible Aunt Eller, a far cry from her evil Queen Aggravain in last year’s “Once Upon a Mattress.”

Hailey Fyfe, a standout last year as Princess Winnifred in “Once Upon a Mattress,” plays Ado Annie, the girl who sings “I Cain’t Say No.”

“There are more lyrics than you think there are to that song and they’re really repetitive, but with really small changes, so that’s a bit awkward – and I’m singing parts of it while swinging on a swing, so I’ve got to work that out, too,” she says.

Some of the kids are pulling double duty. Eighth-grader Nina Heller will play the overture on the violin and then take to the stage as Kate, a farmer’s daughter.

Her brother, Ian, a senior, plays Will, Ado Annie’s beau. He’s learned to work a lariat for the role, a “genuine and sincere character” he calls “a lovable idiot.”

Heller also is in charge of lighting the stage, “the biggest one we’ve ever had.”

“We’ve had to get creative with how you turn a gym into a theater, which is fun every year,” he says.

Tie Taylor and Haley Tokarski play best giggling friends, pals of Laurey.

Tokarski is happy to have one line, although it takes a little prodding for her to share it when she’s not on stage. The line starts with her mimicking the way another character, played by Isabelle McCalla, laughs.

“Hee, hee, hee, looks like Curly took up with that Cummins girl,” she says, as a knot of friends bursts out laughing.

Sounds like a dream line.

Photo by Angela Gaul/The Journal News: Ian Heller practices his lariat skills during rehearsal for “Oklahoma!” at Rockland Country Day School.

“Oklahoma”
Where: Rockland Country Day School, 34 Kings Highway, Congers.
When: 7 p.m. today, tomorrow; 2 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday.
Tickets: $10 in advance; $12 at the door.
Call: 845-268-6802.
With: Katie Crispi, Hailey Fyfe, Jason Avezzano, Eliza Simpson, Ian Heller, Isabelle McCalla, Julian Aronowitz, Tim Bidon, Jerryd Richards, Alan Darer, Adam Darer, Luke Solomon, JeWoo Jun, Ben Daniszewski, Dakota Scholz, Martin Reinhardsen, Malcolm Simpson, Maeve Crispi, Brigid Crispi, Nina Heller, Molly Klinghoffer, Tie Taylor, Haley Tokarski, Aisling Crispi, Julie Needelman, Lisette Palestro, Katharine Geber, Daniel Cho, Casey Patari, Lara Pohs, Jamie Pohs, Matt Zeltzer, Ben Kapilow, Eric Press, Amelia Martin, Nathan Hasz, Nathan Lazar.