Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II are, without doubt, one of the greatest partnerships in the history of musical theatre. Rodgers and Hammerstein redefined the genre with their much-loved and ground-breaking classics such as Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The King and I, The Sound of Music and, of course, Carousel.
Carousel premiered on Broadway in 1945. The story is set in a seaside town in Maine, and tells the love story of Billy Bigelow, a handsome but troubled carousel barker, and Julie Jordan, a young and innocent mill worker. The musical includes classic hits such as ‘If I Loved You’, ‘Soliloquy’ and the anthemic ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
It’s been twenty years since the last professional production of Carousel was presented in Melbourne (by The Production Company), and it’s likely that many people have not seen Carousel live, even though they’ll undoubtedly recognise the music.
Producer Enda Markey was busy with Being Eliza, the incredible story of Anna O’Byrne’s journey to becoming Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady, when the rights to Carousel became available.
“We were looking for another project, so it kind of seemed to be the perfect match.”
Markey has assembled an incredible cast for this concert presentation of Carousel, with two of Australia’s finest leading ladies at the helm: Anna O’Byrne and Marina Prior as Julie Jordan and Nettie Fowler.
Enda Markey describes Carousel as an almost perfect musical.
“It’s the combination of an incredible book, an incredible storyline, vivid and real characters, and music. It’s a score that’s unmatchable. It could have been written for today.”
Bringing this incredible musical score to life is musical director Guy Simpson. Petra Kalive is the Director, while lighting design is by Gavan Swift and sound design is by Tom Brickhill. Choreography is by Philip Connaughton.
“There’s a very famous ballet in the second act, and we’ve got two wonderful dancers, Jasmine Durham and Ben Obst,” added Markey.
Carousel followed Rodger and Hammerstein’s hugely successful and ground-breaking Oklahoma! Carousel was revolutionary for the time, being one of the first musicals to contain a tragic plot about an antihero. In an era where the concept of a book musical was still quite new, Carousel presented some difficult topics.
“There’s no denying that there are some tricky conversations to be had around Carousel,” admits Markey, but because the topic of domestic violence is so pertinent in today’s society, he feels it’s important for people to see Carousel and start conversations about the issue.
There’s an entire generation of audience goers who have not seen a professionally staged production of Carousel in Melbourne, and this concert presentation will no doubt bring a new audience experiencing Carousel for the first time. But there will also be those who have loved it for some time. When the production was first announced Enda Markey received an email from someone who had seen Carousel in Melbourne in the 1960s on the very first date with the man who is now her husband. Still married, they’re coming to see Carousel again, this time in a concert presentation.
I asked Markey what audiences can expect from Carousel as a concert presentation.
“My goal was that it was a classy, sophisticated evening with the orchestra on stage and these incredible actors telling this incredible story with this incredible music. It’s very, very lightly staged. There will be microphones visible and apart from the ballet, there’s very little movement – which is drawing attention to the conversation,” explained Markey.
Enda Markey wants audiences to enjoy Carousel, but also provoke conversations.
“It is an enjoyable piece. This piece was written in 1945. It’s got a domestic violence storyline in it. We want people to understand where we’ve come and to consider how far we’ve still got to go.”
There’s been considerable discussion on social media in recent months about whether or not films or theatrical shows should come with specific trigger warnings. I asked Enda Markey whether or not he thought theatre should come with warnings.
“Oh, this is a really good question,” he replied.
“I think audiences are smart. They know what they’re going to see. I would call them content warning, because obviously we don’t want to put somebody in a position where they’re at risk or that they feel unsafe. But at the same time, audiences are intelligent enough to make decisions for themselves about the content that they consume.”
However, despite the confronting content, Carousel also contains one of the most beautiful songs in the musical theatre canon: ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Sung in huge stadiums by thousands of English football fans, many people these days don’t even realise the song actually originated from a musical.
Enda Markey laughed, “No, absolutely they don’t!”
“People know these songs. They’re part of our lives, they’ve been part of our lives for decades, but we don’t necessarily know where they came from. I think that’s the kind of joy of it, especially a show that’s not seen very often. It’s important to know where these songs come from.”
For that reason, Carousel will appeal to a wide audience. Certainly, there will be fans of Carousel who loved either the original Australian production or the 1956 film version. However, there is also strong interest from a younger generation of musical theatre lovers who have never had the opportunity to see this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.
“If you’ve never seen the show there’s something in it for you. You learn about songs that you may have heard in auditions or at college and you see this book musical that’s unlike any other. They really don’t write them like this anymore.”
My conversation with Enda Markey moved again to the challenge of dealing with mental health issues and domestic violence, not just in a musical, but in today’s world. The annual Are You Okay Day? Is coming up this month and as a society we’re getting better at talking about these topics, but there’s still much more work to be done.
“We acknowledge that talking about it is the best way. If it just starts a conversation from people who may not have seen their own situation, or just a general conversation among people on the way home from the theatre I think it’s done a good thing. But at the same time, we’re not doing it for that. We’re doing it to be entertaining and to give people a really nice time at the theatre with this piece of theatre that’s seen once in a generation.”
Indeed, good theatre can both challenge and entertain, and Carousel will certainly do both.
Carousel in Concert will play at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne’s East End Theatre District for three performances only on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th September.
For more information and tickets: https://carouselconcert.com/
Photo credit: Sally Flegg
