Something about Carousel’s storyline is like sand running through your fingers. As hard as you try, you really can’t get a firm grasp of it. The basic outline isn’t complicated. A girl meets a guy. They marry. But unlike a lot of musicals, things don’t end as expected.
Richard Rodgers composed the music and Oscar Hammerstein ll wrote the book and lyrics for Carousel way back in 1945, two years after they enraptured Broadway and the theater world with Oklahoma!. Their later work was a far cry from Oklahoma!’s gushing rush of combustible optimism. Based on the 1909 Hungarian play, Liliom, by Ferenc Molnár; the central character is an ill-fated carnival barker whose life and choices have been analyzed by legions of theater critics over the decades. Was his destiny determined by his own psychology or the intractability of his place in society? The same question persists today.
Music Theater Works current production of Carousel in Skokie’s North Shore Center for the Performing Arts doesn’t commit. Under the able direction of Sasha Gerritson, this revival of what Time magazine called one of the greatest musicals of the twentieth century sticks to a traditional rendering of this definitive work. There are no overt clues as to why Billy Bigelow, here played quite admirably by Conor Jordan, is so heedlessly impetuous.
Set in coastal Maine in the early 1900s, when women’s dresses were so long they dusted the floor and the industrial revolution was just getting comfortably ensconced, we get more of a sense why Julie (Maliha Sayed) may have been discontent, than Billy. Working as a disaffected cog doing mindless repetitious work in a clothing mill, and living under the rigid moral strictures of the day; she was bored, lonely, repressed and young. That she and her friend, Carrie (Ella Gatlin), would both be smitten by the same handsome young man, one who had just lost his job for his brashness, was mere coincidence. Human nature running its quirky course. For Billy, women came easy. When he met Julie and Carrie, he didn’t care which stayed to keep him company. Practical and pragmatic, Carrie found the ramifications of staying too steep. It could jeopardize her reputation. She could lose her job. Something though told Julie to take the chance, defy the rules and find out where this gamble, this risky opportunity, might lead. Her job became the first very immediate casualty. That choice also introduced Hammerstein’s masterwork, If You Loved Me. Beautifully performed by Jordan and Sayed, the song gave Julie’s decision revelatory context. And its “if” would go on to haunt the play.
Shane Cinal’s evocative scenic design and Rachel Sypniewski’s pitch perfect costumes never let you forget you’re in another time and place. One that can be quaint and cruel. No matter the time, a household with no income heaves in stress. Although it occurs off-stage, Billy’s frustration causes him to hit his new bride simply for being right. Later, hesitantly, she confides she’s pregnant. Rather than becoming angry or sinking into despondency, he’s overjoyed and launches into Soliloquy; the sonic ode to the joy of having a son. It’s treatment determines the true nature of the character and here the passion Jordan exudes exposes both Billy’s vulnerability and his capacity for tenderness. When he realizes he may have a daughter, his resolve to be a model father doesn’t falter; despite the remoteness of his realizing such a dream.
His friend Jigger (Will Leonard) preys on the new demands Billy faces. Smarter, more callous, cunningly ruthless and fully conscious of the divide between those who have and those who don’t, and why; Jigger’s scheme to make quick money won’t have good consequences. Leonard’s excellent in the role; making Billy’s guilelessness a little less perplexing. When their attempted robbery goes awry, defiant pride causes Billy to refuse to be captured. Instead, he chooses to take his own life.
Death only temporarily removes Billy from the world. And life for those he left behind continues. Julie had a daughter, Louise (Susannah Harvey). She’s 15 and, like her father, is willful and defiant. She’s also marked by her circumstances. Poor, with a father known to have died a thief, she’s an outcast and taunted because of her status.
Given permission in his purgatory to see the life she’s leading, Billy recognizes himself and his own childhood in his daughter’s; making him lament watching his child repeating his journey. Generously given an opportunity to intervene, he gets the chance to make an impact on his daughter’s life. What he does will also determine his fate in the afterlife. The answer to what happens has intrigued audiences for a generation and continues to challenge us.
What often isn’t questioned is how much Julie’s changed over those 15 years. Purpose replaced innocence; doubt’s been set aside for strength. It’s in the play’s second half that Sayed as Julie begins radiating a quiet ennobling resilience.
Her friend Carrie’s story running alongside her own provides Carousel’s levity and balance. She marries her man, too. But Enoch’s (Will Koski) as stable as the Federal Reserve and imminently bankable. Once again proving consequences can simply be a matter of choices.
Andrew Waters choreography took full advantage of Richard Rogers marvelous music; providing bright flashes of clever imagination and welcome sweeps of verve.
Given the play’s longevity, it’s been staged consistently for nearly 80 years, more and more theater goers are becoming less aware of Carousel’s stature and importance to contemporary theater. This production acts as a very workable primer and sparkles with praiseworthy performances. One still wonders what an inspired update would mean for its resonance in the current century.
Carousel
Music Theater Works
Through October 18th, 2024
Venue: North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie
9501 Skokie Blvd.
Skokie, IL 60077
Tickets and information: https://www.musictheaterworks.com/2024-season/carousel/