Cultural Dessert

'Carousel' by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II

 13 August 2020

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Carousel’ was once hailed by Time Magazine as “the best musical of the 20th Century”. Having never seen the show I was intrigued to have the chance to watch the live recording of The New York Philharmonic’s semi-staged production of ‘Carousel’ recorded at The Lincoln Center in New York in 2013, which currently available to watch on YouTube. The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Rob Fisher, is literally centre-stage with the action taking place in front of, and around, the orchestra. This is a production, directed by Glenn Weiss, which concentrates on the singing, with stunning performances by a cast including Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Jason Danieley and Jessie Mueller. ‘Carousel’ is not much of a story, frankly. The plot is fairly thin, and uncomfortably dated in some ways (written in 1945) but the semi-staged performance allows you to gloss over some of these failings. It feels more like an orchestral concert, which enables you to concentrate on the music – and there are some great songs, including The Carousel Waltz, If I Loved You, June Is Bustin' Out All Over and You'll Never Walk Alone. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of dancing (though this may have been a victim of the very limited stage space) but there was one rather brilliant ballet number featuring New York City Ballet dancers Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck. Overall I wasn’t convinced that ‘Carousel’ is the best musical of the 20th Century but this production is worth watching for the outstanding singing and some wonderful tunes. ‘Carousel’ is available to watch for free until 8 September at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxRMlv-mwxM 

Labels: Film, Musicals, Theatre

posted by Robin Simpson @ 9:36 am