Theater Review—

Goodspeed’s ‘Carousel’ May Be The Best Ever

By Julie Stern

EAST HADDAM — When Rodgers and Hammerstein’s second show, Carousel, premiered in New York in April 1945, it was unique in a number of ways.

Unlike traditional “musical comedies,” this tale of the New England mill girl Julie Jordan and the carnival roughneck Billy Bigelow is essentially tragic. The “hero,” Billy, dies halfway through the play, on the same day he learns his wife is pregnant with their first child. This was meaningful in a time when the War in the Pacific was still raging, and the image of young men dying and leaving behind widows and fatherless children was something Americans were all too familiar with.

Secondly, in its portrait of the class differences that prevailed in the newly industrialized little fishing village, the work tackles the issues of social justice and prejudice that would characterize its creators’ other most popular works, including South Pacific and The King and I. While Julie’s friend Carrie and her husband Enoch Snow achieve the American dream of hard earned success with their “fleet of little boats,” Julie and Billy see the scenario of their happiness dashed.

Finally (and Carousel was composer Rodgers’ favorite score), it integrates the music into the story with an almost operatic intensity. The songs flow out of the dramatic moment, and express the characters’ yearnings, as much with the powerful melodies as with Hammerstein’s perfect lyrics: “If I Loved You” (…love wouldn’t come in an easy way…), “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” “What’s the Use of Wondering” (…if he’s good or if he’s bad…) and especially the unforgettable anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Now, nearly seventy years later, Carousel is considered one of the greatest — if not the greatest — American musical, produced regularly on amateur and professional stages alike. I’ve seen it numerous times in a variety of venues, but I have to say that the current Goodspeed Opera House version is the best one ever!

For anyone who doesn’t know the story, Julie, a spirited young factory weaver, falls in love with the itinerant carousel barker Billy, though the relationship will cost them both their jobs. Frustrated at being unemployed, and tied down by marriage, Billy is persuaded by the villainous Jigger Cragin to participate in a robbery. When the attempt fails, Billy kills himself rather than face a long prison sentence.

Outside the back door of Heaven, he is given one chance to redeem himself by going down to Earth for one day and doing a good deed. Somehow, he must reach out to his wife and daughter (now a rebellious teenager) and give them some kind of strength and courage that will make their lives endurable.

At Goodspeed, with its intimate, Victorian dollhouse setting, everything combines to make the execution of the show equal to the ideal of its conception. Rob Ruggiero’s direction, Michael Schweikardt’s scenic design, Michael O’Flaherty’s music, and Parker Esse’s choreography all bring an immediacy and intensity to the performance that keeps the audience spellbound, from the first notes of the Carousel waltz until the final moment when the lights come on and the actors take their bows.

But in the end the production belongs to the performers and they are spectacular, both in their voices as well as in their acting. As Billy, James Snyder gives his character a hard-edged toughness that makes it easy to see him as the kind of hoodlum parents want to protect their daughters from, but whom some daughters find irresistibly attractive.

As the independent minded Julie, Erin Davie projects a gentle stubbornness and strength that Downton Abbey fans could associate with the character of Anna, the housemaid. “You’re a queer one, Julie Jordan” her friend Carrie Pippenridge sings. “You are quieter and deeper than a well.”

Carrie is traditionally played as a comic foil, marrying the redoubtable fisherman Mr Snow and producing a horde of little Snows to match his entrepreneurial success, but Jenn Gambatese brings more dimension to the role, making Carrie a loyal and generous friend, as well as having another beautiful voice.

As Enoch, Jeff Kready is also more substantial than comic. He is bashfully inarticulate at times, and prone to goofy laughter, but he is also handsome and sturdily built, projecting determination and responsibility as well as ambition, making it easy to see why Carrie is so attracted to him. And Kready’s voice may well be the richest of all.

Another character beautifully portrayed is the villain, Jigger Craigin. Forever smirking, teasing and swilling whiskey as he plans mischief, Tally Sessions makes him humanly real, and unmistakably vicious.

Perhaps best of all is the work of the ensemble or chorus, the assortment of fishermen and mill girls who frequent the carnival and go on the fateful clambake-picnic that sets things in motion. The girls are all lovely, and the men are all virile and rugged, but what makes them so appealing is that they are still clearly defined. Teasing and flirting, showing off, squabbling and competing, they stand out as distinct individuals. And their dancing is breathtaking.

So, whether you’ve seen Carousel before in your lifetime or not, this is the show to go to. It may be hard to get tickets, and it’s a 90-minute drive to East Haddam from Newtown, but if you can do it, get there!

(Performances continue until September 29, an extension of the production’s original September 23 closing date due to its popularity.

See the Enjoy Calendar, in print and online, for performance, ticket and theater contact details.)