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.
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