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Decent Quality Since 1847

Media Alert

4/26/2013

2 Comments

 
On Live from Lincoln Center on PBS tonight, they are doing a production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel.  It has an impressive cast, particularly the two leads, Nathan Gunn and the especially-wonderful Kelli O'Hara.  Also in the cast are John Cullum, Kate Burton, and Shuler Hensley.

It airs at 9 PM in Los Angeles, and on the East Coast.

By the way, there's an interesting story about the relationship between Rodgers & Hammerstein and Frederic Molnar on whose play, Liliom, the musical version of Carousel is based.   

Molnar was invited to a rehearsal of the show during tryouts.  Needless-to-say, Rodgers and Hammerstein were wary about his reaction to how they adapted his play – all the more so since Puccini had wanted to adapt Liliom, but Molnar turned him down.  (His quote was, “I want Liliom to be remembered as a Molnar play, not a Puccini opera.)  But for whatever reason, he gave permission to Rodgers & Hammerstein.  But they were especially nervous since they changed the end (which was far more tragic in the Molnar play to something much more hopeful.  I think his play had something like the ghost of Billy Bigelow slapping the daughter, so that she’d understand how hard life is, but she feels it instead as a soft touch.  Far different from the hopeful, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Anyway, when the rehearsal was over, Molnar said that he was delighted by the adaptation, and thought it was wonderful, and then added, “And best of all, I like the new ending.”

2 Comments
Gordon Kent
4/26/2013 05:02:59 pm

Hi Bob....

I want to thank you for the alert on Carousel... We just finished watching it and it was wonderful. There are many people who love musicals but don't "get" Carousel or its appeal. It has always been one of my favorites. To me, the songs are beautiful and there is something very inspirational about it.

It's very complicated and possibly impossible to defend the idea that someone who loves you will slap you hard or try to hurt you. If I was forced to try, I'd say that Billy's frustration and shame at his own inability to provide for those he loves is no excuse -- but there are lots of Julie's in the world who somehow accept it -- even if they, too, know it's no excuse. Harnessing our emotions is one of our most difficult challenges as humans. Sadly, we are still, some of us, quite primitive, even today.


I don't have one favorite musical because my "favorite" changes as my mood changes and my emotions dive and soar. But it's hard for me to think of anything I find more soaring than the Carousel Waltz.

Carousel is not a show that gets revived very often and my wife and I had seen a production in Los Angeles many years ago -- somewhere around 1996. It had been lauded by many as wonderful and we couldn't wait to see it. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. It seemed to me to be terribly miscast and listless in performance and the sets would have been considered amateurish if they would only have been that good.

This production -- with really no sets at all -- more than made up for the previous disappointment. You could tell that the cast was really involved in the story and seeing it with such a full orchestra was a real thrill.

We saw Kelli O'Hara on Broadway in South Pacific a few years ago and she was wonderful. It was a delight to see her again -- although I have to admit I prefer her as a blonde! (A pretty petty complaint, I'll also admit!)

Anyways -- I would never have known it was going to be on if I didn't happen to check your site at just about the right moment.

Okay, I'd best stop now....

Thanks again...

Reply
Robert
4/27/2013 01:18:34 am

Gordon,

Thanks for your note. We aims to please. I like "Carousel", though I must admit I'm not a *huge* fan -- it's not so much the subject matter, which I admire them tackling, especially at the time, but that for my taste there's too little story. But that score is pretty darn special, and it's 80-90 percent of the show. Never having heard it in full before, I was struck when watching that the show is borderline an opera -- and it was interesting to hear the host Audra MacDonald say afterwards that Richard Rodgers considered it *his* opera. (Nice, too, that she repeated the story about Puccini that I posted here...!)

I'm a big Kelli O'Hara fan. And like Nathan Gunn, too. And they were both terrific. But the treat for me was to see Jessie Mueller. I actually had seen her just two years ago at the teensy (150-seat) -- though highly-regarded -- Writers Theater in my hometown of Glencoe, Illinois. It was a production of "She Loves Me" and she starred as 'Amalia,' She did a nice job in the first act, but then came alive in the second, and was an absolute, total joy. Sheldon Harnick, who wrote the lyrics, was in the audience that night, and when I spoke with him after (he's a friend), he agreed about her performance and how so-wonderful she was in the second act. Then, last year, she "graduated," went to Broadway and got a Tony nomination for "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." Not shabby. So, seeing her last night was a pleasure -- and it helps that she was great.

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    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

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    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.

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