A wife-beater takes part in a bungled robbery and commits suicide,

leaving his pregnant wife to cope as best she can. He is given a chance

to redeem himself by returning to her for a day -- and does so.

Nicholas Hytner's production of Carousel is the first in London for 40

years and triumphantly confirms the score as the best written by Rodgers

and Hammerstein.

Throughout Hytner digs for emotional and social truth. He sets the

tone straight away with a scene in Bascombe's mill where heroine Julie

and her friend Carrie work; no wonder the resilient and appealing Julie

(Johanna Riding) is eager to escape with the charismatic if violent

carousel barker, sung with panache and tortured, touching sensibility by

an American newcomer, Michael Hayden. Janie Dee's Carrie is pert and

sparky. Mr Snow, her fiance, receives a splendidly rounded characteris-

ation from Clive Rowe. Patricia Routledge stops the show with both

June Is Bustin' Out All Over and You'll Never Walk Alone.

Further glories of this production are Bob Crowley's eye-catching

settings and Sir Kenneth MacMillan's choreo-

graphy.

The latter had finished all but a few minutes of the important dance

sequences before his untimely death. Previous musical chores were The

World of Paul Slickey and the film of Expresso Bongo but Carousel gave

him the best opportunity of all. His dances have the power and

electricity of his finest ballets.

Ten years ago the National Theatre had one of its biggest successes

with Guys and Dolls. This new production is one of the finest of any

musical I've seen and should at least equal it.