CAROUSEL Broadway Revival Officially Set for Spring 2018

[broadwayboy223]

Someone mentioned Renee has come close to doing musicals on Broadway before. What shows?

[HeleneIsASlut]

Ashley Park would be stunning in this! 

[ILOHTFAHA (Aida Man)]

Call_me_jorge said: "I would love to see Geoff Packard as Enoch. 

 

"

I would love to see Claybourne Elder play the role of Enoch Snow!!!

[Call_me_jorge]

Him too! It would be cool to see Ashley and him on stage together again. 

[BJR]

All these posts mentioning CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY as if it's Jack O'Brien's only credit are bizarre. The man is a solid director with decades of hits, from musicals (HAIRSPRAY), opera (PORGY AND BESS, Jake Heggie's new opera GREAT SCOTT), to epic plays (COAST OF UTOPIA, THE INVENTION OF LOVE). His most recent show is simply that, his most recent one - but not emblematic of all he can do.

[JAS]

Broadwayboy asked Someone mentioned Renee has come close to doing musicals on Broadway before. What shows?

I don't know what Renee Fleming has come close to doing, but she DID Living On  Love on Broadway already, with Jerry O'Connell and Douglas Sills, so she has one role under her belt!

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Unfortunately, comparing her character in Living on Love to Nettie Fowler is a bit like comparing a craisin to a freshly-picked peach...

I get what Dianamorales said about getting the "classic" singers back on Broadway, but I wish it weren't always about the sopranos. There are so many wonderful "legit mezzo" roles from this era...Princess Winifred, Lois/Bianca, even my eponymous Ado Annie Carnes...that always seem to fall second banana. Not all of them need to belt a high G in a rock voice!

[jayinchelsea]

Sure that Henry and Mueller will be fine, but have been hoping that someone would do CAROUSEL with Pasquale and Osnes, who were amazing in the Lyric Opera production. And if that had not been totally misdirected by the awful Rob Ashford, we would have gotten this much sooner. Here is the clip from youtube of the "bench scene" from Chicago, and watching it makes me wish for Steven and Laura to do these roles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXXNQqKP-zk

[jimmycurry01]

beltingbaritone said: "This cast is fantastic, but was anyone else hoping that the Lyric Opera's production with Laura Osnes and Steven Pasquale would get a Broadway run? I know, my head is in the clouds, and there wasn't any chance even before this was announced, but when I read the title of this thread, that's where my heart went.

 

"

No! That was a rather boring production. It was fine for an opera company's production of a musical, but would not have played well on Broadway. 

[Soaring29]

JAS said: "Hmmmm......."Billy is young" because most people recall the Hytner concept of Billy (played by Michael Hayden) in 1994, but that's NOT specified ANYWHERE in Hammerstein's libretto. It worked beautifully in the context of Hytner's stunning production, but Hayden's reedy tenor was very much an issue back in 1994, despite his incredible performance.

Nettie Fowler's casting does NOT a successful Carousel make, and I'm puzzled by Fleming's casting. I bow to no one in my admiration of her talent, but she is a creamy voiced, ethereal and rather placid soprano cast in the contralto role of a practical, Earth Mother New Englander.

Carousel is my favorite musical, and I'm excited about seeing it again, but this cast (as well as Jack O'Brien) has me worried.

 

She grew up on the East Coast, NY specifically...   And Nettie is NOT a contralto role- It's a mezzo soprano role that can be sung by either mezzos or sopranos.  Fleming's full lyric soprano voice is more then suitable for the role, a perfect fit if you ask me.  She's the most operatic role in the show, which is why it's pretty much always cast with a singer who has an operatic background. 

 

 

 

[helvizz]

ILOHTFAHA (Aida Man) said: "I love the idea of Ashley Park as Carrie Pipperidge but I also would LOVE to see Emily Padgett in the role. I am more intrigued by the idea of Emily singing "When I Marry Mr. Snow". But Ashley Park as Carrie makes more sense with the direction they might be going with this production. 

 

"

Hasnt someone accidentally spilled the beans about Sweet Charity transferring? If that is indeed the case, I think Emily will stick with the production.

[blaxx]

tmbyru said: "I don't know how I feel about this... I love the cast they announced and it gives me hope for the show, but I recently saw the Arena Stage revival and thought it was horrible. I actually left at intermission because I was so unentertained. Boring and bland. God I hope they go BIG instead of Arena's basic production. 

What?!  In the first act he beats up the wife and in the second the daughter, how did you miss that?

And don't try to tell me any of that is wrong, it was the 40's and back then misogynists went to heaven.  

 

[Soaring29]

I just watched the movie again- It's a heartbreaking story of course with controversial views in it, not perfect at all, but  with strong talent and beautiful performances by Gordon Macrae and Shirley Jones. 

Hope Mueller does well with the role of Julie.  

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

I don't know if I'd call Billy a misogynist, but he's definitely someone with no emotional impulse control, which is also why he ends up 

 

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committing suicide in the first place.

I'm not a fan of Shirley Jones as Julie. I think she was much better suited to Marian in The Music Man.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Interesting to note that (afaik) Audra McDonald played Julie in a concert version of the show opposite Hugh Jackman some years after she'd won the Tony for playing Carrie. Now Mueller is swapping that feat. I recently re-watched portions of the concert with O'Hara and Gunn, and I think Mueller was inspired as Carrie. I'll be very interested to see what she does with Julie. 

[Call_me_jorge]

I mean, it's basically only political stuff. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

theaterguy, I didn't see anything from him on Twitter about Carousel? Just a smorgasbord of resistance stuff.

[orlikethecolorpurple]

There is one tweet about Carousel in response to someone asking if he had seen the NY Times article.

Political activism is not akin to mental instability. Shut up.

[theaterguy11]

Political activism is one thing. Unhinged conspiracy theory and calling for bloody civil wars is quite another. It just seems like the man is unwell to me. It's clear he is unhappy about Carousel. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Link a tweet where he says he wants a civil war. 

[kade.ivy]

Now that we've had some time pass, I still find myself incredibly excited for this show! It has such potential, and I know it will be sung beautifully with the announced stars!

I've been thinking about possible theaters for this production, and the pickings seem somewhat slim, assuming it will be a fairly large production. I, too, assumed that it would take the Broadway until King Kong's announcement for next fall. Now, on the Shubert side of things, it looks like the best possibilities are mid-size houses like the Belaso or the Cort. The Shubert would be perfect if Bette doesn't extend and Dolly doesn't find a new star... The Nederlanders are also without a large house to offer, now that the Marquis and Palace have announced new tenants. 

 

Thoughts? Possibilities I'm missing?

[GeorgeandDot]

Idk about a theatre, but whoever suggested Ashley Park as Carrie is brilliant.  I hope they cast her.

I still wish that we had gotten Brian Stokes Mitchell as Billy in the past, but Joshua Henry is always brilliant and I'm sure that he will be fantastic.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

BJR said: "All these posts mentioning CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY as if it's Jack O'Brien's only credit are bizarre. The man is a solid director with decades of hits, from musicals (HAIRSPRAY), opera (PORGY AND BESS, Jake Heggie's new opera GREAT SCOTT), to epic plays (COAST OF UTOPIA, THE INVENTION OF LOVE). His most recent show is simply that, his most recent one - but not emblematic of all he can do."

Though his track record has been very inconsistent as of late. Since The Coast of Utopia, he's had productions that received solid notices (The Nance, It's Only a Play, The Front Page), mixed notices (Catch Me If You Can), and bad notices (Impressionism, Dead Accounts, Macbeth, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory).

[EM55]

kade.ivy said: "Now that we've had some time pass, I still find myself incredibly excited for this show! It has such potential, and I know it will be sung beautifully with the announced stars!

I've been thinking about possible theaters for this production, and the pickings seem somewhat slim, assuming it will be a fairly large production. I, too, assumed that it would take the Broadway until King Kong's announcement for next fall. Now, on the Shubert side of things, it looks like the best possibilities are mid-size houses like the Belaso or the Cort. The Shubert would be perfect if Bette doesn't extend and Dolly doesn't find a new star... The Nederlanders are also without a large house to offer, now that the Marquis and Palace have announced new tenants. 

 

Thoughts? Possibilities I'm missing?

 

"

Also excited for this. How about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory closes in winter, and they take the Lunt Fontanne, and Borle plays Enoch Snow?

 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Theatres that are currently dark or will be tenantless, come spring 2018: American Airlines, Booth, Cort, Golden, Hudson, Studio 54, Walter Kerr.

Theatres that will questionably be vacant by spring 2018: August Wilson, Brooks Atkinson, Hirschfeld, Jacobs, Longacre, Lunt-Fontanne, Lyceum, Nederlander, Neil Simon, Shubert.

[kade.ivy]

Thanks for the list, BC! I didn't realize that 1984 was a limited run. The Hudson might be great for this production! I also didn't put together that Farinelli is running through 3/25 and Carousel is set to open 3/23.