Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry in Carousel at the Imperial Theatre, New York. Picture: Julieta Cervantes
Carousel continues at the Imperial Theatre, New York.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Despite sentiments that may well discomfort contemporary audiences, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel is indisputably classic musical theatre of the highest order. And this new revival of the 1945 masterwork, directed by Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Justin Peck, is, in a word, ravishing.
Like the work itself, the production has its problematic elements, but the score is so magnificently played and sung, with dance sequences that are simply so breathtaking, that all objections tend to be washed away – or at least diluted – in the tears of joy and appreciation that the show is likely to produce.
In case your memory needs refreshing, the book by Oscar Hammerstein II is based on the 1909 play Liliom by Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar. With the setting transferred from Budapest to America’s New England, specifically the state of Maine around the turn of the last century, the plot tells of the whirlwind romance and brief marriage between Julie Jordan, a plucky factory worker, and Billy Bigelow, a seductive carnival barker.
Their relationship costs them their jobs, and Billy takes his frustrations out on Julie, eventually striking her. When she becomes pregnant, Billy, with the hope of obtaining badly needed money, gives in to the urgings of his lowlife pal, Jigger, to commit a robbery. When the robbery goes bad, Billy, rather than face prison, kills himself.
The latter section of the script takes on a metaphysical tone. Billy is transported to “Up there”, where The Starkeeper – a deity-like figure – gives him one day back on earth to set things right. There Billy discovers that his child, Louise, because of his reputation, has grown into a lonely and rebellious teenager. When he tries to present her with a star he has pilfered, a scared Louise refuses it, and Billy, as he did with Julie, hits her. However, he finally is able to redeem himself by convincing Louise in somewhat subliminal fashion to believe in her own worth. This all takes place at the town’s high-school graduation ceremony, where Julie too, happily feels Billy’s presence and his redemption.
Despite some edits and tweaks, the salient point in Hammerstein’s storytelling remains that Julie is accepting of Billy’s abuse because she knows he loves her and she loves him.
As she sings near the start of Act II: “What’s the use of wond’rin/If he’s good or if he’s bad?/He’s your fella and you love him/That’s all there is to that.”
Director O’Brien seems less interested in exploring this conundrum for #MeToo-era audiences than in simply captivating us with the delights of the score (with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick and dance arrangements by David Chase) and catching us up in the glow of Hammerstein’s optimism that love forgives anything and conquers all. And O’Brien certainly succeeds in that.
He has assembled a cast that captures and even polishes up further all the lustre in Rodgers’ music, while bringing crystalline clarity to Hammerstein’s affecting lyrics. Jessie Mueller is an immediately appealing presence as Julie, demure and yet womanly, at least as womanly as late 19th Century New England will allow. Her singing makes wonderful use of her pliant upper register, underused in her previous Tony Award-nominated turn in Waitress and before that in her Tony-winning job in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Her ‘If I Loved You’ is sheer gorgeousness.
Sending the vocal grandeur through the roof is opera superstar Renée Fleming as Nettie Fowler, a prominent townswoman and Julie’s relative who takes her in after Billy’s death. Fleming leads ‘June Is Bustin’ Out All Over’ and ‘A Real Nice Clambake’ in buoyant style and then imbues the consoling ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with soaring eloquence.
The show’s secret weapon – or at least one of them – is Joshua Henry’s Billy Bigelow. Henry has garnered Tony nominations for his work in Violet and The Scottsboro Boys, but here he attains Broadway stardom with a powerhouse baritone that gives mesmerising life to his every number. And in ‘Soliloquy’ – the role’s pièce de resistance – he moves through a galvanising range of emotions to an ending that’s like a thunderbolt as he vows to make money for his forthcoming childhood. In O’Brien’s editing of the show, ‘Soliloquy’ concludes Act I on an absolutely triumphant note.
Oddly enough, when Henry isn’t singing, his Billy tends to be somewhat surly and curt. The sexy charm that pulls girls to ride the carousel isn’t terribly evident. Rather there’s a beaten quality to the man that only subsides toward the end when he is attempting to enter his daughter’s consciousness. On balance, though, it’s a dazzler of a performance.
Among the show’s other important pleasures is Lindsay Mendez, portraying Julie’s factory co-worker and best friend Carrie Pipperidge. Mendez endows the role with an endearingly comic charm. It’s the kind of performance that makes you want to smile, and her optimistic depiction of future married life with the enterprising fisherman, ‘Mister Snow’, is delicious ear candy.
She has the perfect Mister Snow in Alexander Gemignani, whose vibrant tenor and hints of humour, lend the uptight, business-like character more than a modicum of charm. During their first act duets, Carousel almost threatens to become The Carrie and Enoch Show.
Other important contributions come from Margaret Colin as Mrs. Mullin, the tough lady owner of the carousel, and John Douglas Thompson as The Starkeeper. Thompson is one of the leading classical actors on the New York stage and to beef up the role, O’Brien has The Starkeeper turning up in at various crucial points as a mute observer. It’s a touch that probably more confusing than telling.
Much more to the point is Peck’s magnificent choreography, lending visual beauty, grace and excitement to a series of extended balletic dance sequences. They include, among others, the simulation of the carousel by a moving circle of twirling couples at the show’s start to the bounding seamen as they render life as whalers in ‘Blow High, Blow Low’. The latter dance is led in spectacular fashion by the high-leaping Amar Ramasar as the villainous Jigger.
In the show’s climactic ballet in which we meet Louise, portrayed by Brittany Pollack, she and Andrei Chagas as Fairground Boy depict in ecstatic terms the fire and frivolity of youthful infatuation.
Just as the legendary choreographer Agnes DeMille left her imprint on the original production of Carousel, Peck, resident choreographer of New York City Ballet, does the same here in this, his first Broadway outing.
All of this transpires on Santo Loquasto’s picturesque scenic designs, with Brian MacDevitt’s lighting giving both the sets and Ann Roth’s period costumes extra dimension.
The mood of familiar but invigorating enchantment is immediately set as the 25-piece pit orchestra, conducted by Andy Einhorn, begins the prelude in all its shimmering glory, ‘The Carousel Waltz’. You can almost feel it in your bones: it’s going to be a terrific ride.
Ron Cohen
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