CAROUSEL (2018) Previews — Page 6

I thought the RNT production was the greatest revival of a musical so I was bound to be disappointed, but I found Justin Peck's work just endlessly repetitive. There was no story telling to his dance and because there was so much unnecessary dance added, it greatly lessened the impact of the ballet. And why was Louise smiling the whole time? She was about as troubled as a wrinkled sundress.

bk said: "As always, hilarity ensues. "It's amazing, doesn't need any changes." "I hope the creators don't think it's finished and that they'll change things." I love Fleming" "I don't like Fleming" "dance numbers are great" "dance numbers are nothing special" and on and on and on, and all at the first preview. Mr. O'Brien seems to be past his expiry date - his Sound of Music was horrible. I'd see this just to see it, but if they're changing lines and scenes to be PC I have zero interest in that bull crap. Do the show as written, period. Or do another show."



It can't be worse than the last musical he directed, can it?

They are cutting lines and songs? HELL NO If you're going to do Carousel then you should do it AS WRITTEN. Yes it's problematic, but what people seem to forget is that its a story of redemption and forgiveness. Oy

I grew up watching the movie and memorizing the National Theatre cast recording (and later, the Broadway Recording of that production). I've long felt Carousel is R&H's jewel of a score - although their career boats many incredible scores, none reach the complexity and phycological depths of Carousel - all the while being immediately accessible. I sat in my seat before the show and thought "How can I NOT love this? With this cast, it's bound to be incredible." Well... yes and no.

The best thing to be said for this production is how it treats its score. The score is lovingly played by that full orchestra and the cast sings the hell out of it. It's a testament to Miss Mendez that there was no trace of Audra in my head when she sang "(When I Marry) Mister Snow". Every note that was sung, as well as the Waltz Suite and Ballet, were beyond gorgeous. This will make a stunning cast recording - the kind of cast recording people will listen to and look back on and think "How wasn't this the DEFINITIVE revival?"

And there the show goes downhill. O'Brien's staging is lackluster and muddled. The opening waltz seems both over and under-choreographed. I found the carousel "reveal" (it can hardly be called that) to be the antithesis of any falling chandelier - so beware, those seeking spectacle. His staging of heaven at the start of the show and in the second act I found distracting and not as clever as it thinks it is. As I said before, I think the appearance of the Starkeeper in the first act is beyond atrocious - Hammerstein was a moralist, so please don't moralize on top of him! But the staging after the Waltz in act one stayed mostly out of the way, which, with O'Brien, is for the best. I found the dance sequences mostly ravishing, excepting "Blow High, Blow Low" - is the song normally that long with 5-ish minutes of dance with it? And up until that point, I was thinking just how tight Hammerstein's book is! ("Give It to 'em Good, Carrie" is cut)

The second act is where things go awry. The absence of "Geraniums In the Winder" and "Stonecutters Cut It On Stone" leave a gaping hole and make the transition from comedy to drama rather large. Also, the transition to "What's the Use of Wond'rin'?" is awkward. Without the funny moments of that sequence, the violence of Jigger and Billy isn't as horrifying. Billy's death was awkwardly staged and unclear. I think he chose to kill himself, but I'm still not sure. It needs to be framed better. The Ballet is stunning, but why is Billy's return to Earth so rushed and badly staged. I felt like he said two sentences and then hit her - also a moment badly staged. Also, the final scene felt almost tacked on, and didn't seem to resolve anything. Undercooked for sure. Also, the Starkeeper's return at the end made me think of Angels In America, and not in a good way.

I found Margaret Colin's Mrs. Mullin touch and go - her initial scene was underplayed in a Chekhovian manner (not the Mrs. Mullin I know), while her later scene convincing Billy to return was pitch perfect until her return. Her exit laughing was... laughable. And her final appearance over Billy's body was given prime attention, but nothing about Colin's performance justified her tears (more intense than Mueller's Julie, by the way).

In Lindsay Mendez we truly have a star. She can just do anything. I never thought I would like her in the role of Carrie - her voice always sounds just so contemporary. But her Helen should have prepared me for the depths of her brilliance. Her voice sounds classically trained and her upper register, if perhaps a mezzo passing as a soprano, thrilled me. She played every laugh perfectly with her signature wry wit as well as made me genuinely care about Carrie and Enoch. In fact, she makes us sad to leave them in the second act. Gemignani is fine, but there's not much there, especially without "Geraniums In the Winder".

Jessie Mueller really has an almost impossible task. The role of Julie is so much smaller than it appears to be that she really has to wring a lot out of every letter she has. Mueller doesn't. Predictably, her best scene is "If I Loved You", which is the only time she and Henry seem to have anything remotely like chemistry. After that, she mostly flounders until the second act, where she delivers a note-perfect "What's the Use of Wond'rin'?" I really liked her delivery of her monologue to Billy dying, but after that scene she kinda disappears.

Pollack's Louise is a brilliant dancer but her acting scenes leave much to be desired. Enough said.

Miss Fleming is a glory to behold. Loved her as Nettie, and her glorious instrument. I will remember her yelling "Rum!" to close the first act for a long time. Her phrasing is often difficult to decipher, as it often is with opera singers. Due to bad staging, I got flashes of "Julie's Busting Out All Over" as Sondheim says during the aforementioned number.

That leaves Joshua Henry to carry the show. He sings beautifully and gives a soul-shattering "Soliloquy". If he drifts into melodrama sometimes, the libretto sometimes approaches it as well. However, from his death onward, the acting is rough. Without a truly herculean actor, the role, and the show, fail. That's a big reason why the end of the show fell flat to me.

All in all, an interesting performance. I look forward to seeing how they use their preview period. Since "Geraniums" and "Stonecutters" are still in the program, I hope they will be reinstated. It would also be nice to have a full Entr'acte, not just strains of "June Is Bustin' Out All Over." I'm interested to see how the production evolves - especially the acting and chemistry.

Updated On: 3/1/18 at 11:57 PM

There are so many shows that warrant messing around with the text.

Carousel is not one of them.

I'm very disappointed to hear that they're finicking around with the core of this masterpiece. And it's no longer surprising that they've allotted a full month and a half for previews if they're starting out with cut songs and an edited porch scene.

While all of these reviews might be 100% valid, I would remind everyone that this was the FIRST PREVIEW.

I paid full price for early April and I'm not going to lie - these negative notices have made me a little concerned about having done that.

hope it improves.

Here's one of my main issues with this staging. I don't believe in colorblind casting. Casting is context. Everyone walks in with baggage about what they are seeing on stage, due to the structure this country was built on. So what I was interested in seeing in this production was how they dealt with how Billy and Jigger are POC actors who serve to enact the primary violence in this play. Mostly, this production ignored it. Some lines fit in very well with Billy being a Black man, but because the book doesn't delve deep into abuse, we can't infer anything about why he does this to Julie, except that "she's right" in arguments.

On a certain level, it was interesting to the production as an examination of the power structure of Colonialism, with only Enoch being truly able to thrive in the community. Carrie and Julie must marry for security, and Billy and Jigger resort the theft and violence to gain money and power. But because this is a musical play, we can't really follow this without really digging into the show. And this production hasn't even done this. Basically, it shows the only POC characters as the perpetrators of abuse and harassment - one of whom is not supposed to even be likable. Why cast these actors unless you want to explore what it means for these people to take on these roles? It feels irresponsible and unthought-out.

I was there also. I'm sorry to say it was a huge disappointment. Jack O'Brien's production just doesn't work. The design, direction, choreography, and performances all seem to be entirely in their own worlds.

The one bright spot was Joshua Henry, who at least brought some fire and excitement to the stage. His "Soliloquy" was easily the highlight, and without him the last 20 minutes of Act Two would have been a complete bust.

The choreography was a mixed bag. The opening had some stunning moments and I was excited to see it build... but things were all downhill from there.

They definitely tried to spell out JUSTIN PECK IS CHOREOGRAPHING THIS by adding unnecessary dance segments to songs like "Blow High Blow Low". It seemed especially strange to make Joshua Henry participate in this highly athletic number right before he has to sing one of the most challenging songs in musical theatre history... but boy did he deliver it.

It's easy to applaud and cheer for big, showy, athletic choreography - but after "Soliloquy" we cheered for musical theater storytelling and performance at it's finest.

The design was nothing special. Carousel is such a "concept" show, and there was really no solid concept. It looked...cheap.

Jessie Mueller is lovely - but she's Jessie Mueller and this production had her completely fading into the background.

Everyone will be debating the choreography - it fools the audience because it is certainly impressive to watch great dancers pull off showy modern dance... but the dance doesn't succeed in storytelling.

What a disappointment.

daniellesf said: "I was there also. I'm sorry to say it was a huge disappointment. Jack O'Brien's production just doesn't work.

What expectations did you have for a Jack O'Brien directed Carousel?

Never seen one of his musicals and left the theater hoping one day he would direct an electric staging of Carousel.

Updated On: 3/1/18 at 12:24 AM

I was in the next to last row of the balcony, against the wall -- not a great seat -- but I loved the performance and watched what looked like the entire balcony and orchestra section leap out of their seats at curtain, wildly cheering, so many many people loved what they saw. It wasn't a perfect performance, but there were many highlights (I think Alex G's solo in the first act was thrilling). Yes, Renee was a bit hesitant at the start, but by the end her gorgeous voice floated over all. I also saw the revival with Audra MacDonald, which was very different from this, but don't know the show as thoroughly as many of the posters here (though it was one of the few Broadway cast albums our family owned, so I listened to it hundreds of times as a kid).

I can't wait to see it again -- I love the process of how shows change during previews (saw "Shuffle Along three times during previews -- major changes, and ironically I liked the first preview the best, which was overly long and overstuffed). It's difficult to judge a production after one public performance. The first preview of "South Pacific" was not perfect, but look how that show pulled it together. They've got at least two weeks of previews before it's set, so a lot can happen.

I'd like answers to two questions, if possible:

Am I understanding correctly that Mr. O'Brien is using the movie version's framing device with the Starkeeper? If so, that is a horrible idea.

And forgive me, but everyone is going on about JUSTIN PECK and how it's JUSTIN PECK choreography as if that's supposed to mean something. I'm afraid I don't know who this person is. And if it's a lot flipping and athletics, that's not choreography, that's a choreographer begging for applause and attention because he has no concept of what dance is actually supposed to do in a musical.

EDIT: I looked him up - NY Ballet person - I get it. First musical. You would think coming from ballet he would understand storytelling in dance, but not from what I'm reading here. He simply looks like a young, trendy nerd to me, at least from his photographs. :)

Updated On: 3/1/18 at 12:53 AM