Is there a Ballet in Carousel?

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:30pm

Is there a "ballet" sequence in Carousel?

I am currently working on a paper and our textbook is EXTREMELY unclear.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:35pm

Oy!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:37pm

There's a lot of dance in CAROUSEL. In fact, it opens with a ballet, the "Carousel Waltz." In the second act, Louise, Billy and Julie's daughter, has a ballet, as well.

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:37pm

I know, I should know this!

I worked on Getting to Know....Oklahoma with the Rodgers and Hammersteins organization where we discussed Agnes DeMille's revolutionary use of ballet in Oklahoma, but I am unclear about Carousel :)

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:38pm

thank you very very much! :)

It is extremely appreciated :)

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:44pm

In the ballet in "Carousel" Billy see's his daughter for the very first time (and she is about 16-1 and he realizes that she is so much like himself.
Updated On: 5/10/09 at 12:44 PM

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 12:46pm

It has TWO!

The Carousel Waltz, at the beginning, as well as the Act II ballet where Billy sees his daughter for the first time!

A WHOLE LOT OF DANCE, as Yankeefan007 said!

Updated On: 5/10/09 at 12:46 PM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 1:42pm

Technically "The Carousel Waltz" sequence is not a ballet. The authors make that very clear in the stage directions in the published script. The music accompanies the action but there is no dance in the scene.

The second act beach ballet is usually what people mean when they refer to the ballet in CAROUSEL.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 3:59pm

If you see "Benjamin Button" they are doing the Act 2 Carousel Waltz there!

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 6:21pm

Well, the '93/'94 revival used dance in the Carousel Waltz, so it semi-counts. But in most productions, the Carousel Waltz is mere action, no real dancing.

[jo]

Posted: 5/10/09 at 8:28pm

I wonder how the ballet sequence with Louise will be treated in the movie remake of Carousel. In the version at Carnegie Hall, the ballet sequence was omitted maybe because of its staging as primarily a concert.


Btw, the ballet sequence was recreated representing the Carousel stage revival in London in the tribute to Cameron Mackintosh concert called "Hey, Mr. Producer". It was part of the filmed sequences and found on the DVD. Updated On: 5/10/09 at 08:28 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 7:13am

Um, the ballet was definitely performed at Carnegie, or at least it's music was.

And I would argue against calling the Carousel Waltz a dance piece. You wouldn't call a regular Overture a dance piece just because at some points a few people danced on stage, and the Waltz is really just an extended/glorified overture.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 10:56am

Get the script to the show. You cannot write a paper on a play/musical and not read it.

The 1956 film version (Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones) is an okay adaptation and the ballet is there although Agnes' choreography is adapted by someone else. Nonetheless the film can show you the placement of the ballet.

There are R+H acting editions, a separate hard copy edition from Knopf and also the script is in a volume called "Six Plays By Rodgers and Hammerstein". Alas, the last two are out of print.

The first is available for sale at the Drama Book Shop (Google and go from there)

The other two would be for sale on abebooks.com which is a used book site. The single volume by Knopf is not cheap. The "Six Plays by R+H" volume is one of those books that is worth having in your library. If is is available at a reasonable price, buy it. You will keep it the rest of your theatre life, and others will be envious of you.

[jo]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 11:41am

>>>The "Six Plays by R+H" volume is one of those books that is worth having in your library. If is is available at a reasonable price, buy it. You will keep it the rest of your theatre life, and others will be envious of you. <<<

I picked up a copy many decades ago when I was in school...and I am still referring to the book up to now. With the remake of the movie musical announced, it will be a good reference once again. I have also started reading the original source material, the English translation of Liliom by Molnar.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 11:57am

I have ALWAYS wanted those scripts! Thank you for listing those...I'm going to try to find them :)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/11/09 at 2:19pm

Carousel Waltz is really just an extended/glorified overture.

Well not really. It is billed as a Waltz Suite. Rodgers made it very clear it was not an overture. In fact the only time any of the waltz themes reappear in the score is in Louise's ballet.

In the original production, Rodgers placed an Overture at the start of Act II. It is seldom used now and has never been recorded.

The Carousel Waltz was not actually written for the show CAROUSEL. Rodgers had created it many years earlier and submitted to Paul Whiteman's orchestra as a concert piece. Whiteman never used it. So in 1945 when it was decided to open CAROUSEL without an overture but instead with the mimed sequence set at the amusement park, Rodgers retrieved the piece from his trunk and used it.

Updated On: 5/11/09 at 02:19 PM