Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
The original production of Carousel reunited the creative team that had brought Oklahoma! to the Broadway stage in 1943. The show opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre on Apil 19, 1945 and proved to be a resounding success. The production ran for 890 performances and went on to win the New York Drama Critics Cirlce Award for ‘Best Musical’ of 1945. The 1956 film version of featured Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. The 1994 Broadway revival won its share of awards as well, boasting 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival.
In 2004, The Production Company presented Carousel, starring David Campbell (Shout, Guys and Dolls) in the lead role of Billy Bigelow, with Danielle Barnes as Julie Jordan, Carrie Barr as Carrie Pipperidge, Terence Donovan as the Narrator, Melissa Langton as Nettie Fowler, Adam Murphy as Jigger Craigin, Derek Taylor as Enoch Snow and Anne Wood as Mrs Mullin.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s own favourite musical, Carousel is set in a Maine coastal village, where the swaggering, carefree carny barker, Billy Bigelow, captivates and marries naïve millworker, Julie Jordan. After losing his job, Billy learns that Julie is pregnant and, desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family, he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent to heaven. Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day to meet the daughter he never knew.
Carousel is the most poetic of all Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musicals, the score includes popular songs such as “If I Loved You”, “June is Bustin’ Out All Over”, “Soliloquy” and the inspirational “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
Director: Gary Young
Musical Director: Guy Simpson
Choreographer: Andrew Hallsworth