I went out a limb and decided to make a return visit to Carousel this weekend. The first time I saw this was the third preview back in March of this year, and I absolutely hated it then. While what I saw this afternoon was far from perfect and still plagued by some extremely poor directorial choices from Jack O’Brien, I have to admit that I enjoyed it more the second time.
The performances were so much more polished. The chemistry between Joshua Henry and Jessie Mueller was so much better and stronger than it was when I saw it before (it was basically nonexistent then). It was also nice to have a Nettie that didn’t look lost at sea onstage, and being able to understand her was nice. Lindsay Mendez is an absolute star.
The Starkeeper was nowhere near as distracting as he was before which was a huge plus. There were still some scenes where he was positioned right between Billy and Jigger while they were talking which was annoying, but this didn’t happen as often as I remember it happening earlier. Also, thank god they cut the ridiculous angel wings in the final moments of the finale!
The cuts to the dialogue and score are still unforgivable, and always will be as far as I’m concerned. Certain scenes are still terribly played and suffer from Jack O’Brien’s terrible directing. Billy’s death and the porch scene which are two of the most important scenes in the show are rushed beyond belief and feel glossed over.
I’m definitely glad I gave this a second chance as certain aspects of the show have improved. The vocals, orchestrations, and choreography are top notch, and I play the new cast album frequently, but I still can’t help but thinking how much better this revival could have been in the hands of a director who knew what they were doing.
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