Carousel
Performances: July 29 (preview), July 30, 31, August 1, 6, 7, 8, 13 & 14
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Based on the play "Liliom" by Ferenc Molnar
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Directed by Donald E. Birely
Musical Direction by Tina Marie Lorusso
Choreographed by Matthew Farina
Praise for Musicals at Richter's production:
"With beautiful costumes, fine sets,
and wise, disciplined direction, this classic show is a great end to
the summer season." -Newtown Bee
"You'll get more than your money's worth here...well-directed and beautifully performed."
-Waterbury Republican American
"...an uplifting musical
with positive messages: love, faith and the human spirit
endure...visually rich and complex...aurally stunning." -New Fairfield Citizen-News
Production History
Original Broadway
The original production, directed by Rouben Mamoulian with choreography
by Agnes de Mille, opened at Broadway's Majestic Theatre on April 19,
1945, and closed on May 24, 1947, after 890 performances. The original
cast included John Raitt (Billy), Jan Clayton (Julie), Jean Darling
(Carrie), Eric Mattson (Mr. Snow), Christine Johnson (Nettie), Murvyn
Vye (Jigger), Bambi Linn (Louise), Jean Casto (Mrs. Mullin) and Russell
Collins (the Starkeeper and Dr. Seldon). A two-year national tour and
1949 Broadway revival followed.
Original West End
Carousel premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in
June 1950, soon after Oklahoma! closed, for a run of over a year and a
half.
1957 New York revival
The 1957 revival opened at New York City Center on September 11,
1957 and ran for 24 performances. The New York City Center Light Opera
Company produced this revival. John Fearnley and Robert Pageant
directed, and Agnes de Mille handled the choreography. The cast featured
Barbara Cook (Julie Jordan), Howard Keel (Billy Bigelow), Pat Stanley
(Carrie Pipperidge), Russell Nype (Mr. Snow), James Mitchell (Jigger),
and Daniel Reed (Starkeeper).
1965 Lincoln Center revival
In 1965, the Music Theater of Lincoln Center produced Carousel.
John Raitt re-created the role of Billy Bigelow. The Starkeeper and Dr.
Seldon were played by Edward Everett Horton in his final stage
appearance.
London's Royal National Theatre 1992 revival
The Royal National Theatre (RNT) revival, directed by Nicholas
Hytner and choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, opened on December
10, 1992. It played for sixteen weeks in the Lyttelton Theatre then
transferred in September 1993 to the Shaftesbury Theatre where it ran
until March 1994. The production starred Joanna Riding as Julie Jordan,
Patricia Routledge as Nettie, Michael Hayden as Billy Bigelow, and
Katrina Murphy as Carrie. Riding won the Olivier Award, Best Actress in a
Musical, and Hayden was nominated for an Olivier Award.
1994 Broadway revival
The 1994 revival, a joint production of The Royal National
Theatre and Lincoln Center Theater, opened at the Vivian Beaumont
Theatre on March 24, 1994. It ran for 337 performances plus 38 previews.
The production was a transfer of the 1992 RNT production of Carousel.
After the London run, an interracial production was directed by
Hytner, with choreography by MacMillan. It featured Sally Murphy as
Julie Jordan, Audra McDonald as Carrie Pipperidge, Shirley Verrett as
Nettie and Hayden, again, as Billy Bigelow. The revival won five Tony
Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, best direction, best
choreography. It received eight Drama Desk Award nominations, winning
five. McDonald, in her first Broadway role, won the Tony Award for Best
Featured Actress in a Musical. McDonald and Hayden received the Theatre
World Award. A Japanese tour followed.
SYNOPSIS
Act I
Two young female millworkers in freshly industrialized 1870s
New England visit the town's carousel after work. One of them — demure
Julie Jordan — shares a lingering glance and is flirted with by the
carousel's barker, Billy Bigelow (instrumental piece: "Carousel Waltz").
Mrs.
Mullin, owner of the carousel, arrives and tells Julie never to return
to the carousel because Julie let Billy put his arm around her during
the ride. Julie's friend, Carrie Pipperidge, and Julie argue with Mrs.
Mullin. Billy arrives and initially sides with Mrs. Mullin (who flirts
with him outrageously) until he realizes that Mrs. Mullin is just
jealous of Julie, at which point he switches sides and is fired from his
job. Carrie presses Julie for information about the carousel ride with
Billy, but Julie is reticent about the encounter ("You're a Queer One,
Julie Jordan"). Eventually satisfied, Carrie confides that she has a
beau of her own: local fisherman Enoch Snow ("Mister Snow"). Billy
returns and makes it clear that only Julie should stay with him. Carrie
leaves after revealing that, if they stay out, they will lose their jobs
at the mill. Mr. Bascombe, owner of the mill, and a policeman appear
and warn Julie that Billy has taken money from other women. Bascombe
offers to take Julie home so she can keep her job, but she refuses and
gets fired, too. She and Billy, now alone, can talk freely (in a scene
that is performed partly as recitative), but neither can quite confess
the growing attraction they feel for each other ("If I Loved You").
A
month passes. At a spa owned by Julie's cousin, Nettie Fowler, sailors
appear with clams for the evening's clambake. They are noisy, which
spurs Carrie and the other female townfolk to jeer at them (this section
is sung as a sort of recitative, rather than spoken). Nettie arrives
and, spotting the sexual tension, leads them all in celebrating love and
spring. An elaborate dance ensues ("June Is Bustin' Out All Over"). The
men leave as Julie, now married to Billy, arrives. (He and his whaler
friend Jigger have been missing all night.) Nettie tells Carrie to
comfort Julie.
To
divert the other girls from their eavesdropping, Nettie then
unsuccessfully encourages the girls to clean up. Julie confides in
Carrie that Billy, now unemployed and living with Julie at Nettie's, is
unhappy over the loss of his job and, out of frustration, has slapped
Julie. Carrie also has happier news — she and Enoch are to be married.
At this, the girls who have so far been feigning work, rush over,
congratulate Carrie, and imagine the wedding day (reprise: "Mister
Snow"). Enoch has arrived and startles the girls by joining them in
song. The girls leave Julie, Carrie, and Enoch alone.
Carrie tries to converse with Julie and Enoch, but Julie's unhappiness
overcomes her: she bursts into tears in Enoch's arms. As she pulls
herself together, Billy arrives with Jigger. He is openly rude to Enoch
and then Julie, and he soon leaves along with Jigger, followed by a
distraught Julie. Left alone, Carrie and Enoch extol the virtues of a
life plan. Enoch reveals how he expects both to become rich selling
herring and to have a large family with Carrie ("When The Children Are
Asleep").
Meanwhile,
Billy, Jigger, and other whalers sing of life on the sea ("Blow High,
Blow Low"). The singing segues into a dance, with the local girls
flirting with the whalers. Jigger tries to recruit Billy to help with a
robbery, but Billy declines when Jigger tells him that the victim -
Julie's former boss Mr. Bascombe - might have to be killed. Mrs. Mullin
arrives and tries to tempt Billy back to the carousel (and to her), and
he reveals he is unhappy with Julie. Julie arrives. There is almost an
argument, but Mrs. Mullin leaves to go to the bank. Julie tells Billy of
her pregnancy and they go inside. Mrs. Mullin and Jigger return and
spar until Billy comes back out and tells Mrs. Mullin to leave.
Overwhelmed with happiness by the news,
and determined to provide financially for his future child, Billy decides to be Jigger's accomplice after all ("Soliloquy").
Act
1 ends with the whole town leaving for the clambake. Billy, who
previously shunned the idea of going to the clambake, now realizes it is
integral to his and Jigger's alibi: he decides to go too. Julie is
delighted.
Act II
The act begins with the town reminiscing about the huge meal that they
have just eaten ("This Was a Real Nice Clambake"). As everyone leaves to
help clear up before the treasure hunt, Jigger tries to seduce Carrie.
Unfortunately, Enoch walks in while Carrie is in a compromising
position. He declares that he is finished with her ("Geraniums In The
Winder"), as Jigger jeers ("Stonecutters Cut It On Stone"). The girls
try to comfort Carrie, saying all men are bad. When Carrie turns to
Julie for comfort, she reflects simply that all that matters is that
"he's your feller and you love him" ("What's The Use Of Wondrin'?").
Then Julie sees Billy trying to sneak away with Jigger and, while trying
to stop him, feels the knife hidden in his shirt. She begs him to give
it to her, but he refuses and leaves to commit the robbery. Julie
realizes that Billy is about to do something that may get him into
trouble.
Jigger
and Billy gamble, using cards. At stake are their shares of the
anticipated robbery spoils. Billy loses his share of the expected
proceeds: his participation is now pointless. Unbeknownst to Billy and
Jigger, Mr. Bascombe, the intended robbery victim, has already deposited
the money he was expected to be carrying. He instead carries a gun. The
robbery fails: Bascombe pulls his gun and starts shooting. Jigger
escapes unharmed, but the police corner Billy. Billy stabs himself with
his knife and dies; Julie arrives just in time for him to say his last
words to her.
Carrie
tells Julie that Billy's death is not necessarily a bad thing. Enoch
gets back together with Carrie and supports this view. Mrs. Mullin
arrives, much to the disgust of the townfolk, but Julie lets her view
the body. Mrs. Mullin does so, then runs off weeping. Everyone leaves
except Julie. Nettie arrives on the scene and comforts her ("You'll
Never Walk Alone").
Billy
arrives at heaven's gate. There, a pair of blunt-spoken angels explain
that, to enter, he must alleviate the distress he caused. Billy refuses
to see a simple magistrate in Heaven: he demands to be taken directly to
God to be judged ("The Highest Judge Of All"). The Starkeeper sends him
back to earth. Stealing a star on the way down, he returns fifteen
years after his suicide. His daughter, Louise, has grown up to be very
like Billy, the Starkeeper says. She is lonely and bitter, and mocked by
Mr. Snow's snobbish and wealthy children because her father was a thief
(instrumental: "Louise's Ballet").
Enoch
and his children stop by Julie's house to pick up Carrie on the way to
the graduation, and Enoch's son (Enoch Jr.) waits behind to talk to
Louise. Louise reveals that she plans to run away from home with a
carnival troupe she met, but when Enoch Jr. proposes, she decides to
stay. He reveals, however, that his father would not think Louise an
appropriate match. Insulted, Louise orders him to leave and bursts into
tears.
Billy,
able to make himself visible or invisible at will, reveals himself to
Louise; he pretends to be a friend of her father. Trying to cheer her
up, he offers her a small gift — the star he stole from Heaven. She
refuses it and, frustrated, he slaps her. As he makes himself invisible,
Louise tells Julie what has happened. She reveals that the slap
miraculously felt like a kiss, not a blow. Without allowing her to
actually see him, Billy finally confesses his love to Julie (reprise:
"If I Loved You"). Having thus made amends, he invisibly attends
Louise's high-school graduation. The whole town shuns her and refuses to
applaud her. Dr. Seldon, who strangely resembles the Starkeeper, tells
the graduating class not to rely on their parents' success (advice
directed at Enoch Jr.) or be held back by their parents' mistakes
(directed at Louise). Seldon then leads everyone in a final chorus
(reprise: "You'll Never Walk Alone"). Billy, still invisible, whispers
to Louise, telling her to have confidence in herself. His silent words
enter her mind and, inspired, she – along with Julie – joins the
singing. This good deed redeems Billy, who wins entry into Heaven.
SONGS
Act I
Prologue - Waltz Suite: "Carousel" (Chorus)
Mister Snow (Carrie)
If I Loved You (Billy/Julie)
June Is Bustin' Out All Over (Nettie with Chorus)
You're A Queer One Julie Jordan (Carrie)
Mister Snow (Reprise) (Julie & Carrie)
When The Children Are Asleep (Mr Snow and Carrie Scene) (Enoch & Carrie)
Blow High, Blow Low (Men's Chorus)
Soliloquy (Billy)
Finale Act I (Chorus)
Act II
A Real Nice Clambake (Chorus)
Geraniums In The Winder
Stonecutters Cut It On Stone/ What's The Use Of Wondrin' (Julie & Carrie)
You'll Never Walk Alone (Nettie)
The Highest Judge Of All (Chorus)
Ballet (Chorus)
My Little Girl (Reprise) (Billy)
The Carousel Waltz
CAST
Billy Bigelow - Vincent McCoyJulie Jordan - Caitlin KeelerCarrie Pipperidge - Amanda EventoffEnoch Snow - Nathan MandracchiaNettie Fowler - Priscilla SquiersJigger Craigin - Ted SchwartzMrs. Mullin - Mary ShuldmanLouise Bigelow- Olivia GirouxDavid Bascombe - Steve FullerStarkeeper/Doctor Seldon - Bill LamoureuxHeavenly Friend - Beth BriaEnoch Snow, Jr. - Brian BremerCarnival Boy - Matt Farina, Daniel Wencek (August 4 & 13)Snow Children -
Jack Armstrong, Thomas Armstrong, Olivia Cotter, Lindsay Cronin, Maya
Daley, Spencer Hauspurg, Aurora Joblon, Patty Kohn, Olivia Minor, Leah
Nashel, Rachel Salvador, Brian Salvador and Erin Vaughan
Ensemble -
Brianna Henley, Brooke Morris, Siobhan Ryan, Kate Valiska and Mike
Armstrong (Danbury); Deanna Lasco and Patrick Spaulding (New Fairfield);
Mike Lozier (New Milford); John Armstrong (Newtown); Trisha Carr
(Orange); Steve Shuldman (Ridgefield); Ron Blois (Sherman); Melissa
Greaves (Torrington); Kimberly Sanders (Waterbury); Janice Gabriel
(Brewster, NY), Lindsay Miller (Wappingers Falls, NY) and Marley Roche
(Patterson, NY)
