Incredible Fascination with the 1994 Production of Carousel (And general Carousel love thread)- Page 2

Posted: 1/18/09 at 9:32pm

Wow--I didn't remember that Patrick Wilson was in the tour till now--so I checked my program and sure enough I saw him. I remember him being good (I thought everyone was) but that's it....

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/18/09 at 9:39pm

I saw the 1994 production in London. I had just got off the plane, dumped my carry-on and rushed to the National to catch the last performance of the London run.
I was standing in the back when the curtain went up and it was one of the strangest feelings I ever had. I had been in CAROUSEL as a kid as Enoch Snow Jr, and I had seen many productions over the years, so I knew how the show started, at the Carousel.
But when the curtain went up there was a large clock in the background and a long working loom with the shop girls at their stations.

I literally thought for one second I was in the wrong theatre.
The loom disappeared as the whistle went off and the girls put on their jackets went through a huge gate. The Carousel horses started coming on in their own free will and started circling and became the ride as the roof came down. It actually took my breath away and I knew I was in for a treat. All the sets and the perspective of them were amazing.



Updated On: 1/18/09 at 09:39 PM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/18/09 at 10:09pm

The design of the 93/94 version is the wild card. There will be other CAROUSELS but not with that same design. The "bench scene" is done without a bench..just Billy and Julue with a big full moon in the sky. Later in Act Two when Billy goes to Heaven the perspective is reversed and there is a big Earth in the sky.

[sidwich]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 2:27am

I saw this production both at the RNT and at Lincoln Center, both times with the original casts.

To me, the stars of both far and away were the production design and Kenneth MacMillan's choreography. I recall the opening as the earlier poster did with the "Carousel Waltz" opening with the mill girls at their looms, progressing to them leaving the factory, the assemblage of the carnival and the climax of the carousel being lowered. It was truly stunning.

The other highlight for me was the MacMillan choreography for the ballet. As gorgeous as the original De Mille choreography is (and Jacques d'Amboise is lovely in the film recreation), the performance of the ballet I saw in London is really one of the highlights of my years of theatre-going. The combination of the music and the dancer Sir Ken had worked with before he passed was really perfect. With all due respect to Jonathan Sharp, the performance I saw of this at Lincoln Center really did not compare.

I remember not being terribly impressed with the casts in either London or New York with a couple of exceptions (like Audra). Hayden's performing just seemed small to me, not towering in the way I think of Billy. I don't remember being really moved by the performances, but rather blown away by the visuals with this production. (As an aside, I think the British posters reflect this. I have the posters from the London production, and the original RNT poster is Earth in the distance, and the Shaftsbury theatre poster is Carnival Boy and Louise at the Carousel).

[monestere]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 4:35am

Rodgers and Hammerstein's score for CAROUSEL is musically their finest hour, the closest thing to grand opera the duo ever wrote. Billy Bigelow was originally written for a legitimate singer who can project his voice in a large theater without any amplification. John Raitt could do this, so could Gordon MacRae, Alfred Drake and Howard Keel. The fact that we have no singers of that caliber performing in musical theater today puts the musical stage at a severe disadvantage as it did in the 1994 revival of CAROUSEL. While Michael Hayden is certainly a good actor, you can plainly hear on the cast recording that he does not have the vocal chops for Billy. It was even worse in live performance. All the amplification in the world can’t make you vocally right for a role if you lack the vocal prowess needed to perform the music. The fact is even a second-rate operatic singer today could sing CAROUSEL without breaking a sweat. Exceptional opera singers like baritones Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson and Bari-tenor James Anest are capable of singing and acting Billy Bigelow beautifully. But today’s musical theater, where the sound designer is more important than the talent on stage, has no use for such singers.

I agree with Frontrowcentre2 that the 1956 film sound track has remained for 50 years the finest recording of CAROUSEL ever. Separated from the lackluster film for which it was recorded, the 1956 sound track reaches heights of vocal and orchestral brilliance that would be impossible to equal, much less surpass today. Gordon MacRae may not have been a great actor but his performance of the “Soliloquy” sets the standard by which all future performances should be judged and his beautiful, poignant reprise of “If I Loved You” never fails to elicit tears. I also agree that the earlier Angel CD of the sound track as released originally on LP is a better listen than the so called “expanded edition”, which sloppily lifts the extra segments off the final film mix complete with terribly distracting dialogue and foley intrusions.

I am painfully convinced that even if any of today’s film makers had the guts to try to film a new version of CAROUSEL, it would be beyond terrible because just as we no longer have the singers capable of doing the score justice on the musical stage, most of the hack directors and writers we have today would not know how to do it without messing it up. I am convinced that the end result would make the 1956 film seem like a masterpiece by comparison.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 5:17am

It was HANDS DOWN the most emotionally potent piece of theatre I have ever seen in my life.

I was literally tearing up BEFORE the show started. You just KNEW something special was about to happen! The theatre was saturated in a hue that I can only describe as "carousel blue," with a single hot crimson circle on the scrim to focus on.

The image of circles ran throughout... the time clock, the carousel, the heavens.. the earth. The Lyric "round in circles, I'd go" took on new metaphoric meaning. But mostly the ending of the show.. when emotionally we had come "full circle" and learn that life goes on... and no one's story ever truly ends. Potent is an understatement.

I don't know if that makes much sense... but I have never had an experience in the theatre where I was so instantly emotionally available.

It might theatre 101 to talk about catharsis.. but it so rarely happens ... even in live theatre. That production did it for me. It opened me up. I felt cleansed afterward: renewed in my faith in the beauty of the human experience.

I later saw the tour... but nothing could match the way the Broadway production so totally lifted my emotional guard and let loose a flood of feeling.

It is one thing to be entertained... but have a piece of art open you up is the magic that keeps me going to the theatre.

Updated On: 1/19/09 at 05:17 AM

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 5:52am

Big, Blonde, and Beautifully put

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 7:16am

Monestere: You have succinctly written about the #1 major problem with the musical theatre today--the soundman is more important than the onstage singer. Your thoughts on CAROUSEL are similarly right on target. They make me want to get the soundtrack of the movie. I own that movie and think I will watch it today.

Bigfatblonde: Your love letter to the 1994 production of CAROUSEL is beautifully written. I would add that the pit orchestra under Eric Stern added to the magic of that musical. As good as SOUTH PACIFIC is, it cannot touch the heights that CAROUSEL reached.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 8:54am

I'm so happy I purchased the London recording as it has the complete ballet. What a beautifully orchestrated and played number. Just listening to it, brought the ballet in this production to life. And listening to the Carousel Waltz reminded me of how brilliant that opening number was staged. I can still see the horses coming on from the wings and the top of the carousel coming down from the rafters and the audience response when it call came together - just wow!!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 11:06am

A few observations:

Audra gave the role of Carrie more depth. In past productions, I'd seen, Carrie was always played as a sweet airhead. In Act 1, Audra's Carrie was sweet, but in Act 2, after she's had a passel of kids, Audra played her more sharp, almost shrewish.

In this production, Heaven was portrayed as a very cold place. It was dark and the actors were dressed as Puritans.

I have to agree with Paljoey, it was about Audra and the scenery. I wasn't pleased with some of the casting.

Michael Hayden's acting wasn't so incredible that we could overlook his singing. "Soliloquy" is one of the most beautiful pieces of theater music and if the voice isn't there for those final dramatic moments of the song, it's not worth doing.

I felt that Shirley Verrett was too cold as Nellie. The role of Nellie brings warmth to the show and Verrett didn't have it.

I also think some of the staging was off. "Blow High, Blow Low" was started in a confined "seaside bar" set. I didn't think it was given enough of a chance to open up the song and use the stage as the song needs.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 11:41am

The only part of the revival I ever got to see was the first act finale during the national tour. I was so upset I never go to see the entire production.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 12:54pm

The entire staging for "Blow High, Blow Low" (and the scene that followed) was ridiculous. There was a lot I didn't like about that production. Maybe I'll post about it later.

[ThatBroadwayBitch]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 1:58pm

The 1994 Broadway production of Carousel was my first Broadway show. I was 8. It was thrilling and I still remember each nuance of Audra's performance exactly.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 2:41pm

I saw the tour with Patrick Wilson and Sarah Uriarte Berry. Even then, Patrick definitely made an impression on me. The real stars of the show though were the sets and the direction. My only exposure prior to seeing it on stage was the movie (which I hated). Making the play a little bit more darker contrasted by the puritanical society helped make it more of a standout.

Even with set revisions from the Broadway production pared down for the tour (mainly the proscenium), the production was still impressive. It is based on an empty indigo blue box which I believe related to some of the stricter cultures in New England at the time. The turntable was effectively used as well for the first act carousel and the second act clambake where boats sailed off to the distant island.

This show will remain as one of the top productions I have ever seen.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 5:55pm

Carousel will forever be my favorite R&H show. And while everyone thinks im crazy my favorite song in the show is Whats The Use of Wonderin. I think its a glorius song and lovely story in general. You'll notice the revival in 1994 had many huge names in it when they were not really anything at the time. Hopefully in another 10-15 years another great revival of this show will come our way.

[chrysler99]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 6:10pm

have to agree that the sets and staging of this production were phenomenal. just thinking of the fluid opening sequence (which just went on and on in wonderful fashion), I still get the chills.

this was definitely one of my top theater-going experiences.

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 10:30pm

Count me among those who fell and remain in love with the 1994 revival of CAROUSEL. This is the best work in the R&H canon. I wasn't thrilled with Sally Murphy's singing, but her fragile Julie was heartbreaking. Michael Hayden will never be a Nathan Gunn, but his boyishly sad and lonely Billy Bigelow was something to behold. And of course, this production launched the career of the wonder that was previously known as Audra ANN McDonald, who had just recently obtained her degree from Juilliard when she played Carrie.

It's one of those experiences that you really treasure and sets a standard by which all other future CAROUSEL productions will be judged, in my view.

As for the recordings, I prefer certain elements of the RNT CD over the Lincoln Center cast, particularly Joanna Riding's singing. I'd never heard WHAT'S THE USE OF WON'DRIN' almost belted like the way Riding sings it. Hayden also sounds better on the RNT recording. But McDonald is the better Carrie as was Eddie Korbich's Enoch than their RNT counterparts.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:22pm

I did some research and found out that Sir Kenneth MacMillan died before he even put the 2nd act ballet together. I believe his associates took portions of his work on other ballets and created a new piece from them. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read that, but that came up when I googled his name.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:27pm

I finally listened to the RNT recording, and I still prefer the Broadway one. If anything, the Prologue sound infinitely better on the Broadway recording than on the RNT recording. I also don't get the Joanna Riding love. Her vocals are definitely smoother than Murphy's, but I felt almost no emotion in her singing. It was as if she were singing for a cabaret. And I don't see the difference between Hayden's vocals in the RNT recording and the Broadway one. If anything, his acting improved in the latter with Murphy giving him more passion than Riding.

Also, in reference to my first post, I finally got to watch the Carousel video at Lincoln Center and....wow. It completely opened my eyes to not only the possibilities in the theatre, but with interpreting a text. There's so much that Nicholas Hytner and his cast found in that text that no one else had found before them, and for some reason, many people don't intend to follow their example.

The current production in London, for example, has chosen to approach the material in the old fashioned way it once was known. Billy is now a hunky operatic baritone who stands like a stick and acts like the former quarterback of the football team, Julie is a demure lady, Carrie is a screaming, annoying, prissy thing, and almost everyone else acts as if life, death and love were something to be shrugged off. No passion, no intensity. Just good ol' fashioned fun.

The Lincoln Center production, however, is a complete turn around. The first major difference being that Bob Crowley's sets were a work of art (the projections used for the current revival are a work of insanity). And there really isn't that much of it. Especially in the opening prologue. Hytner and Crowley never give us the carnival as a whole, as it is normally done. Rather, they give us a taste of it in the form of a theatrical slide show, with each new booth or attraction (including a freak show and a fun house) sliding on to the turntable as Julie and Carrie make the rounds of the carnival, eventually arriving at the carousel where she and Billy finally meet. Everything in that prologue just built in wonderful fashion, keeping the environment theatrical and magical while the acting on stage managed to be surprisingly realistic. All the while, Kenneth MacMillan's inspired choreography was seamlessly integrated throughout.

The rest of the production proved to be just as passionate, magical, realistic and exhilarating as those first 8 minutes. Never before has "June is Bustin' Out All Over" been shown as such a carnal number with the men and women practically devouring each other as they sang. Both genders dancing up a storm so as to playfully, and sexually, compete with each other, until the music and choreography builds to the point where they can't express their emotions through dance and so...they jump. Stomp, rather. They stomp for joy. No. For release. It's the only way to show how they're feeling at that moment. It's incredible.

Hayden and Murphy, despite their not polished voices are absolutely heartbreaking and entirely real as Billy and Julie. And while their voices are, yes, not-polished, they are hardly the catastrophes many purists have stated. At least on the video, their vocals are actually more improved than on the cd. Hayden, especially. Hayden really gives the audience the perception that Billy is a true loser. A bum who can't accomplish anything and hates the fact that he's so helpless to support the woman he loves. Hayden projects this anger, sadness, and frustration with a raw sexuality and intense masculinity that is rarely seen on a Broadway stage. No wonder Murphy's Julie, who is incredibly self-possessed in the company of others (even going so far as to stand up to her boss), goes breathless in the presence of him.

And while on the topic of Murphy's Julie, I'd like to express specific acclaim. Sally Murphy successfully showed a character who started out the play as a girl who become a woman through circumstance and eventually became a weary mother. Her line readings go from confident to weak to incredibly vulnerable. Her monologue to Billy's corpse is shattering as she tries to compose herself even though she is devastated, shamed, and frightened of the future. Each line she says to the deceased Billy physically hurts her, and it hurts us too to see a woman go through so much pain.

If there is one word to describe the revival it wouldn't be perfect, it wouldn't be impressive, it wouldn't be magical. These words all seem to slick for this type of production. The word to describe it would be raw. There's raw emotion, raw intensity, raw passion, and raw magic. Dancing feels as natural as breathing and singing seems as evident as speaking. Everything flows in such a beautiful manner that you almost resent the production for not allowing you to fully savor a moment for longer. But the production, like life, won't allow you that satisfaction. You are with these characters until their story comes full circle, which it does. And it couldn't be more beautiful.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:32pm

wickedfan, how lucky you are to have seen the archive video at Lincoln Center Library.

I saw the Broadway production three times and James Barbour was Billy at the closing performance I was at. He gave a wonderfully acted and sung performance.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:38pm

Thanks, Dottie. It's an impressively well filmed video. I intend to go again in the fall. My professor for my history of musical theatre class already sent us an email telling us to think of a topic for our thesis paper for the semester. I'm choosing Oscar Hammerstein and thus, am going to watch Hal Prince's "Show Boat" and LCT's "Carousel" again, as well as "South Pacific."

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 3:44am

I thought you were only permitted to view each tape at Lincoln center library once.

CAROUSEL is a very tricky show to pull off and I suspect no single production will ever satisfy everyone. (Based on what I have seen, community theater companies should steer clear of it unless they truly have singers who can act it or actors who can sing it.)

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 5:34am

"I saw the Broadway production three times and James Barbour was Billy at the closing performance I was at. He gave a wonderfully acted and sung performance."

Thanks, Dottie. I was wondering when someone would mention James, since I know he was a replacement for this production. And, after hearing his Back to Broadway CD, he must have done a superb job singing all those songs onstage, as well...his accent was very good also.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 7:41am

If I remember correctly, at the time of the Carousel revival, PBS aired a Rodgers & Hammerstein special. James Barbour sang Soliloquy on that program.

[BWNUT]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 3:30pm

There was a group of us who saw the tour and everybody was just mesmerized and deeply moved by it. Everybody was just surprised by the unexpected depth that production achieved. The two scenes that will forever burn in my mind, heart and soul were the "If I Loved You" (oh, those petals and leaves slowly falling from a tree) and the ballet scenes. Never liked ballet but Carousel's was just dazzling (and Bourne's Swan Lake.)
Updated On: 5/19/09 at 03:30 PM