I hated Billy Bigelow and…that is why I loved Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel”!
What makes a musical the best ever? According to “Time Magazine”, it is powerful memorable songs, great acting, great voices, dancing, and a great story of characters, complicated ones, This production of "Carousel", by Music Theater Works, has ALMOST all of those.
Conon Jordon, playing Billy Bigelow, was amazing trying to straddle the fence as hotshot ladies’ man, an abusive man, and husband. In his after-life he realized how his behavior on earth affected his wife and daughter. Maliha Sayed, as Julie Jordan, was excellent as the sweet, innocent, and devoted sweetheart and wife of Billy. Will Koski, as Enoch Snow, won me over and once he started singing, I turned to butter. All three of them had just amazing voices.
I guess that I can forgive the sexism throughout, as this show is almost 80 years old and times were sure different then, or were they? The plot was borrowed from even 100 years before that. Charles Dickens’ famous “A Christmas Carol” had a similar redemptive spin. In this case, the main character had a major character arc as the result of his dreams. Scrooge was able to apply his positive change to his real life. Billy, unfortunately, as an afterlife spirit, could only repent but was able to witness how his wife and daughter, no thanks to him, turned themselves around and became happy and productive people.
The three major iconic songs, “If I Loved You”, “June is Besting Out Al Over”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as well as the recurring musical theme, and the fantastic musical accompaniment of Michael McBride, sealed the deal. I had to go home and watch the 1956 film version of “Carousel” with Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones to check out the differences and similarities. While I actually liked the acting and vocals of Music Theater Works’ production better, the movie version did something not done in this stage play, that added to the continuity of the story. It started with the spiritual afterlife scenes, progressed to the present-day story and then came back to the afterlife. Apart from this, Carousel is a winner and highly recommended. See it!
Music Theater Works production of “Carousel” is playing at the North Shore Center for The Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie through August 18th. Running time is two hours, 50 minutes, with an intermission. Performances are Wednesday at 2:00 pm; Thursday & Friday at 7:30 pm; Saturday at 2:00 & 7:30 pm; Sunday at 2:00 pm. Tickets range from $39-$106. FYI (847) 673-6300 or www.musictheaterworks.com
Next up for Music Theater Works: the award winning “Little Shop of Horrors” on October 24th, just in time for Halloween.