The tour of the Royal National Theatre production ofCarousel


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Maybe it's our colonial origins, but for some reason we Americans never seem to appreciate our own indigenous art forms as much as Europeans. It took the British musical invasion of the 1960s to remind us of the vitality of R&B. Jazz remains more popular abroad than it does here. And that most American of theatrical forms, the Broadway musical, has been dominated by the British and French for many years now.

I was reminded of this while enjoying the revival of the 1945 Rogers and Hammerstein classic Carousel which plays the Fox this week. The cast and crew may be American, but the production itself originated at the British Royal National Theatre in 1993, where it was co-produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-time collaborator, Cameron Macintosh. It's an intelligent and innovative production that is nevertheless completely true to the dark spirit of this remarkable show. What a shame that someone in this country couldn't produce it.

Carousel surprised many theatergoers when it made its Broadway premiere on April 19th, 1945. Rogers and Hammerstein's last show, Oklahoma, was still playing across the street, and the contrast must have been startling. Based on Molnar's downbeat melodrama Liliom from two decades earlier, Carousel's fantasy elements and bittersweet ending were quite a change from the realism and rousing finale of its predecessor. The show had a decent run - 890 performances - and was an immediate hit with the critics.

This production more than does justice to this moving, dramatic show. Bob Crowley's sets and costumes are striking. Interiors are deliberately non-realistic with odd angles and strange forced perspectives, while exteriors are stark and exaggerated. In combination with Nicholas Hytner's direction and Sir Kenneth MacMillan's choreography, the design work produces some triumphs of stagecraft.

The opening prologue - better known as "The Carousel Waltz" - is a good example. As the music begins - softly and discordantly - we see the local girls working feverishly in Bascombe's grim sweatshop. As the waltz builds, a huge clock behind them hits 6:00, and the scene shift with magical speed from the mill interior, to the outside gates, to the fairgrounds, and finally, when the music is at it's giddy best, to the carousel itself, which gradually takes over the entire stage. It's totally theatrical, completely appropriate, and the best use of a turntable I've ever seen.

The cast in this production is uniformly excellent. Despite his lightweight resume, Patrick Wilson captures the bravado and pain of Billy Bigelow, the doomed carnival barker, and he's in much better voice than Michael Hayden, who starred in the British version. Sarah Uriarte is a good match as Julie Jordan - winsome but strong, and as powerful a singer as Wilson. Sherry Boone and Sean Palmer are a delightful pair as Julie's friend Carrie and her fiancee, Enoch Snow. There's also fine work from Brett Rickaby as the immoral Jigger Craigin and Rebecca Eichenberger as Nettie. She gets two of the show's best songs - "June is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" - and makes the most of them.

The real star of Carousel, though, is the Rogers and Hammerstein score. "If I Loved You", for example, is probably one of the finest love duets ever written. The waltz "Prologue" is a memorable as always. And Bigelow's "Soliloquy" is one of the great dramatic showpieces of all time.

It's a long show, of course. Even with the deletion of "The Greatest Judge of All" from the second act, it clocks in at three hours. But it's worth every minute of those hours. Do yourself a favor and see this production of Carousel. It's at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis through Sunday [May 13th] and then continues on a national tour.


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