Happy Birthday CAROUSEL !!!!!

[Unmasked05]

Today in 1949 Carousel opened on Broadway...and today I want to know about the first time you saw Carousel and what you either loved or disliked about it.

[Pippin]

I didn't see it, but I ASM'ed it my freshman year at college. At first I hated it (and everything to do with R & H), but as the weeks went by, I started liking, then enjoying, then loving it. it remains now possibly my favorite of their shows. the broadway production was wonderful too (the lincoln center revival) so powerful.

[munkustrap178]

Saw the movie when I was a kid and hated it - I thought it was the most absolute boring show. Then, I picked up the revival recording and fell in love. Now, it's one of my favorite shows - and, I believe, one of the best and most beautiful shows ever written.

[Unmasked05]

Oh I wish I could have seen the Lincoln Center revival.

My first time seeing the show as a t a little theatre called ACTA and it was a GREAT show then I saw it again in a concert version with Rebecca Luker, George Dvorsky(sp?), and Kristi Tingle Higginbotham...and it was AMAZING.

[philcrosby]

CAROUSEL is one of those shows that has gotten a bad rep over the years because of a mediocre film version. It's a tough show, about very dysfunctional, abused and abusive people ... and yet its message is one of redemption and purpose. It has one of the most glorious scores ever written (as brilliant as the Lincoln Center revival was, the two leads couldn't do full justice to the music), and was Rodgers's favorite among all he had written.

[Pippin]

I remember working on the show. the lighting designer came to me in tech one day, and said that everytime he hears the section in Billy's Soliliquey sp? where he goes into "my little girl...pink and white as peaches and cream is she...." he always cried, becuase he was a new father of a little girl, so every time I hear that part, I always think of him and how that song must affect many fathers who have little girls.

[MargoChanning]

Today is the anniversary of the first REVIVAL of CAROUSEL in 1949, which was a quick two week return engagement (presumably after the national tour).

The show originally opened on April 19, 1945 and ran for two years.

[Thesbijean]

Margo, dunno why, that made me laugh.

I find this show to be kind of boring, and while I appreciate the show for all that it is, it is not one of my personal favorites, and the only way you will get me to see a production is if Audra is in it

[Pippin]

well damn it all!!! now my sentiment is wasted on a fake opening!! Margo, you are the bane of my existance!!!

[Unmasked05]

I'm sorry that I miss informed you guyz...sorry

Wow..I can't believe I did that.

[peach]

The first time I saw Carousel was watching the movie as a young'n. I found it dreadfully boring.

My next experience with Carousel was performing in it. The timing was right, the company was good, I had worked with the folks before. I was cast and performed that dang show many times.

I rather enjoyed being in it, but to be perfectly honest, I still find it a bore to watch (see my thoughts on this topic in the "unpopular opinions thread!").

But still, Happy Birthday Carousel!

[children&art]

first time i saw carousel it was the movie when i was a kid, wasn't too impressed.

but then seeing the lincoln center revival on tour i astounded at the emotional context dripping from every lyric. and the set design with all the circle references was gorgeous.

[best12bars]

My dad was a real "first nighter" during the golden age of Broadway. His first Broadway "opening" (at the age of 8 or 9) was Banjo Eyes with Eddie Cantor.

Because of my grandfather's (high profile) job at the time, he saw opening nights of everything on Broadway... and I mean EVERYTHING.

Oklahoma, Street Car, Glass Menagerie, West Side Story, Gypsy, you name it. He was there (from the early '40s to the mid '60s when our family moved from NYC). The true Golden Age.

...And when I asked him a few years ago what was his favorite show of all-time... or what made the most impact or impression on him EVER... he said, "Carousel."

I remember responding, "REALLY???" Then years later another friend of mine who was a successful Hollywood actress in the '40s and had the opportunity to attend any and every Broadway show she wanted to (and was a Broadway vet herself) ALSO told me that "Carousel" was the best show she ever saw on the Great White Way.

All I know is that it must have been something absolutely incredible to come out on top of their lists like this.

The movie has always bothered me. It was misguided from the very beginning with the added Star Keeper scene, killing the focus and the intent of the whole story in the first 5 minutes.

I did get to see the recent revival, and I was VERY impressed with it. There were moments during the show where I began to see glimpses of the magic that must have captivated audiences initially when it opened. The magic was in the emotion of the piece and the resounding "truth" that surfaced occasionally in several of its principle characters. This is the magic that you can't buy with enormous sets or special effects, or even clever staging. It's the magic of the heart. And it's the strongest of all.

All I can say is, "Happy Birthday, Carousel." I wish I'd-a been there to witness this birth.

EDIT: Okay, Happy Birthday REVIVAL of Carousel. Still wish I'd seen the original, though.

[children&art]

it's so different from all the other shows Rodgers & Hammerstein did, dontcha think? it's not schmaltzy like "Sound of Music" or "King and I", it's honest and very truthful.

and i don't think there is a better song than "When You Walk"

[jv92]

"Carousel" is my favorite Rodgers and Hammestein show. It's so moving, beautiful and well done. It's #3 in my top 5 favorite shows.

[TimWarp]

Sorry. Hated it. Still hate it. Don't like glorifying wife-beating ("he hit me, and it was like a kiss"--ugh). Don't like emotionally manipulative tricks that make me cry in the theatre. "If I Loved You" is a great song, though.

[Songsstresss]

ChildrenandArt, the name of the song is "You'll Never Walk Alone."
I was lucky enough to perform Julie Jordan at summer stock two years ago. Going into the summer, I knew pretty much nothing about the show and remember talking to the director before auditions and asking, "So, what's Julie's deal? Why does she love this guy?" etc... After I was cast and began rehearsals, I absolutely fell in love with the show and the characters. They are flawed as all heck but there are reasons and every actor who takes on a role like that has to find those reasons for themselves. Carousel is my favorite show I have ever done and I hope to be able to play Julie again someday. The bench scene, the "If I Loved You" reprise, and the very end when Julie joins the rest of the cast in singing the "You'll Never Walk Alone" reprise after Billy tells her he loves her are some of the greatest and most moving moments in Musical Theater, in my opinion. I just wish more theaters would do this show!

[lovinlife]

Love it!! Have never seen it on the stage but am always moved by the movie, and I think it;s one of the best scores ever!!

[jsg03jd]

I just love this show. I performed it back in my senior year in high school with a non-traditional cast right before the Lincoln Center revival, which also had a non-traditional cast, opened. Michael Hayden, Sally Murphy, Eddie Korbich and Shirley Verrett were indescribably amazing. Marcus Lovett and James Barbour, both of whom succeeded Hayden, were phenomenally sung Billy Bigelows. And, of course, this was the show in which I first saw Audra Ann McDonald perform. Audra has since dropped the "Ann" but she remains the consummate singer and actress. I even got to meet the principals when they signed the recording at a meet and greet at Tower Records.

CAROUSEL is rather dark for an R&H musical, but that's what makes it special. I love that Nick Hytner and co. added the line "No, no..." for Billy Bigelow when, as a ghost, he sees Julie telling Louise that it was possible for someone to hit you hard and it not hurt at all because you loved that someone.

Not too crazy about the movie, but Gordon MacRae's voice is fantastic.

[neomystyk29]

Happy kind of birthday to Carousel!

[BroadwayFreak]

ha awesome! im seeing that show this friday! the methodist church in our town is doing this show opening tomorrow! havent seen it yet but lookin 4ward to!

[best12bars]

"Carousel" does not glorify wife-beating. Good lord!

However... if you think that there aren't people in the world who will love someone strongly, despite being physically and/or emotionally abused by that person, you're not living the real world. This is such an honest confession for Julie that it's shocking. And it's meant to be. It was intended to cause an uncomfortable reaction and get people thinking and talking... even in the 1940s when most people weren't thinking and talking about this subject. That's the genious of R&H. This is a very "adult" show, with complex emotions and characters. It's not a simple show for simple folk with simple tunes, even though their writing style is deceptively straight-forward.

So, if all you get from Carousel is a messed up message that it "glorifies wife-beating," that's a real shame.

[justafan22]

I didn't get to see the stage show, but I cannot watch the movie without crying like a baby at "When you Walk". It IS dark, but the theme and score are just so beautiful. I really love this R & H show. (when I was in school---we played the music each year----it was that well loved---a million years ago, but still....)

[frontrowcentre2]

The reason that many older theatre fans revere CAROUSEL so much has a lot to do with it's place in musical theatre history in terms of the techniques it pioneered: using extended sequences of song/dialogue, a tragic love story, the opening "Carousel Waltz" which is not a ballet and NOT an Overture either. In many ways CAROUSEL is far more advanced a piece that OKLAHOMA!

It also opened at the end of WW II and think of how many in the audience had just recently lost loved ones. It must have been incredibly powerful then.

It is also a period piece (which I know doesn't sit well with younger audiences now since they can't relate to the time period) and Hammerstein's attempt to write a New England dialect sounds...well, weird.

Still it bugs me when people write that its "boring" or that it "glorfied wife beating." It is NOT boring - in fact if anything it is the most densely packed of all R & H shows in terms of subtext (that's the part you have to think about) and it doe NOT glorify wife beating.

Anyone who knows anythig about Oscar Hammerstein knows that he would never write a show that did that (any more than he would write a show promoting racism, but one idiotic former Board of education trustee led protests when the revival of SHOW BOAT premiered here in Toronto back in 1993!)

CAROUSEL is a piece of richly felt emotions and each new production finds ways to shed light on some of those darker subtexts.

I have seen some productions that made hash of it It has to be really well directed to work. But when it does work it is theatrical heaven.

The movie is well-sung but pooly acted. The movie soundtrack album with its lush orchestrations is a joy!

[jo]

Anybody see the concert version at Carnegie Hall - with Hugh Jackman, Audra McDonald, Norbert Leo Butz, Blythe Danner, Philip Bosco, etc.?