Carousel **** TNT
I can’t remember much about seeing reruns of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 50’s film version repeated on TV — except a lasting childhood image of hunky fairground barker Billy Bigelow almost bursting out of his striped T-shirt. That torso must have made an impression on director Lindsay Posner for, years later, here’s Jeremiah James playing him on stage, with rippling banded biceps and a glorious singing voice I could listen to all night.
You’ll Never Walk Alone may have been appropriated by the football crowd, but this is where it originated, delivered with operatic flourish by Lesley Garrett’s feisty, slightly over-fussy aunt Nettie as she comforts her bereaved niece, Alexandra Silber’s touchingly naïve mill worker Julie Jordan.
For a wartime musical (it premiered in 1945) set in 1870’s New England, there’s some pretty heavy stuff going on — wife beating (apparently it doesn’t hurt if it’s done with love?), women as child-bearing machines or business like harridans, unemployment. But the melodies, including the poignantly cautious duet If I Loved You, are unforgettable, and with Adam Cooper’s vibrant choreography and William Dudley’s projected design, this romanticised story of an ill-fated love still has the power to shamelessly stir the emotions.
I can’t remember much about seeing reruns of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 50’s film version repeated on TV — except a lasting childhood image of hunky fairground barker Billy Bigelow almost bursting out of his striped T-shirt. That torso must have made an impression on director Lindsay Posner for, years later, here’s Jeremiah James playing him on stage, with rippling banded biceps and a glorious singing voice I could listen to all night.
You’ll Never Walk Alone may have been appropriated by the football crowd, but this is where it originated, delivered with operatic flourish by Lesley Garrett’s feisty, slightly over-fussy aunt Nettie as she comforts her bereaved niece, Alexandra Silber’s touchingly naïve mill worker Julie Jordan.
For a wartime musical (it premiered in 1945) set in 1870’s New England, there’s some pretty heavy stuff going on — wife beating (apparently it doesn’t hurt if it’s done with love?), women as child-bearing machines or business like harridans, unemployment. But the melodies, including the poignantly cautious duet If I Loved You, are unforgettable, and with Adam Cooper’s vibrant choreography and William Dudley’s projected design, this romanticised story of an ill-fated love still has the power to shamelessly stir the emotions.
Savoy, Strand , WC2 Phone: - 0870 164 8787 Currently booking till 25th July Tickets £61-£31
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