Musical Theater Review: A dynamic Carousel showcases Rodgers and Hammerstein's best work.

Carousel

Music by Richard Rodgers

Words by Oscar Hammerstein II

Directed by Jack O’Brien

Choreography by Justin Peck

Starring Joshua Henry, Jessie Mueller, Lindsay Mendez, and Renée Fleming

Imperial Theater, Manhattan

August 8, 2018

This dynamic revival of Carousel (1945) did full justice to the complexity and richness of the show that Richard Rodgers called his best, even better than Oklahoma and South Pacific. In the first act we meet Billy Bigelow, a dark antihero type who seduces innocent girls at carnivals. He falls for and marries the innocent Julie Jordan, who has a bit of spunk and independence and ignores the social stigma of associating with such a shady man. Billy hits her, and this abuse eventually prevents him from entering heaven after he later kills himself during a failed attempt to rob a local businessman. He is given a chance to go back to earth to help and redeem himself with his wife and daughter, who is becoming wild like her father. He connects with daughter Laurie, but eventually hits her too, and the play ends in ambiguity as both women forgive him, and the community supports them (“You’ll Never Walk Alone”). Billy’s fate remains unclear. In the original Molnar play he goes off to hell…in this production his fate is uncertain. The daring thing about Carousel is its steady dose of ambiguity. Love is always conditional (“If I Loved You”), and life decisions are always compromises. On the surface there is the innocent title, happy dances and beautiful songs to make the conventional musical theater fan happy, yet there is always a darkness below the surface--a probing of human nature that is rare until the works of Stephen Sondheim decades later. The title is ironic. The carousel appears only at the very start, and is used there for the seduction of girls by antihero Billy Bigalow. In this production the irony is reinforced, when the carousel later reappears in tatters as the characters’ lives have declined into crime and death. Rodgers  took his music to a new level in this show. Yes, there are conventional peppy songs (“June is Bustin’ Out all Over”, “A Real Nice Clambake”), but many of the numbers are divided into short arioso-like sections, where there is melody, then sung recitative, then more melody, creating longer dramatic solo scenes like Billy’s Act I-ending “Soliloquy”, where he ruminates on what it will be like to have responsibility and father a son, then realizes that he may have a daughter, and has to change course. For this musical Rodgers considered creating a full-fledged opera without spoken dialogue, but instead wrote one of the most richly musical pieces in musical theater. It is not performed much, since the women’s apparent acceptance of being abused by Billy is pretty offensive to modern taste and many critics. But the composers were not just writing this issue off. Julie’s friend, when told that Billy has been abusive to her, asks “Did you hit him back?”. And Billy is denied entrance to heaven because of his abuse. For me, this, on top of the constant depiction of human frailty and the need to compromise to get through life, makes Carousel a very modern and rich depiction of relationships and just being a human being.

This production did full justice to the show. It begins with a real bang, as the famous pantomime during the normal overture was fully choreographed by the terrific NY City Ballet choreographer/dancer Justin Peck. This included a wondrous moment when during the Carousel Waltz, a partial carousel magically appears from above, and, rather than wooden horses, we see dancers simulating horses and riders. There’s real Broadway magic here. 

The normal warm-up first scene with friends Julie and Carrie talking about guys was supercharged by Tony award-winner Lindsay Mendez’ electric performance of “Mister Snow”. 

Mendez’ edgy characterful voice reminded me of a smaller scale Ethyl Merman, a real throwback to the era of instantly-identifiable voices. I wish she and some others had not been miked...they had old-style big voices. The producers’ casting was consistently on-target, as the three sopranos all had distinct voices: the edgy character of Mendez, the sweet purity of Jessie Mueller (Julie Jordan), and the operatic Renée Fleming (Nettie Fowler), taking a break from her opera career to sing “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” (a little thickly) and the iconic “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (gorgeously). The race-blind casting gave us a black Billy Bigelow in dynamic baritone Joshua Henry. This created no text awkwardness as can sometimes happen in older plays, and gave an even more uneasy dimension to the lead couple’s abusive and non-traditional relationship. His “Soliloquy” was fantastic dramatically and vocally. 

The sets and costumes were of the pretty and traditional 1920’s variety, and changes of sets and backdrops were fast, dynamic, and visible. The dance numbers were expanded by Justin Peck, competing with the original choreography of the legendary Agnes de Mille. I really liked his dances: the prelude was a whirlwind of activity that launched the show with aplomb. The normally trivial sailors dance “Blow High, Blow Low” was expanded into a full-scale acrobatic, testosterone driven male ballet with lots of creative leaping and quasi-male partnering. 

Louise’s ballet in Act II were she frolics on the beach, then is seduced (? raped) while viewed by the “dead” Billy from above was buoyant and light, beautifully danced by NY City Ballet soloist Brittany Pollack clad in a brilliant yellow dress. Another NYCB principal, Amar Ramasar, was appropriately evil as Jigger, and acted and sang decently on top of his high-flying dancing. Overall this was a well-cast and dynamic production that balanced the show’s neurosis with conventional Broadway flash very well, while not taking many interpretive risks to rethink the show.

According to some theater historians, the first two works of Rodgers and Hammerstein became legendary not just for their quality and innovative integration of words, music, and dance, but because of their fit with the mood of the times. Oklahoma (1943) was at heart a patriotic rouser that made Americans believe that the sacrifices of their children in WWII were worthwhile, and Carousel (1945) made grieving Americans feel that there was a way of still connecting with their dead children (i.e. Billy Bigelow’s return to earth to connect with his family). This production of Carousel convinced me that is the best, most modernist and most timeless of R&H’s collaborations, stimulating discussion and thought just as it did 70 years ago. I disagree with those who feel that its non-current approach to domestic violence make it unperformable short of major revision. Its ambiguities and provoking thoughts about the complexity of marriage and relationships are just as relevant now as then. When combined with a lush, dynamic score and some famous tunes, this makes for a substantial and enjoyable theater experience.