Carousel - ENO 2017

The one for Sunset was awful too, Glenn in that white jacket that looked like it came from M&S.

No kimono, no turban... shoddy. 

Even in the poser Katherine seems to be trying to edge in front of Alfie.

There's a Freudian slip if ever I saw it ;-)

Saw the matinee yesterday, and agree with sondheimhats. Great semi-staging, great chorus, great Gavin Spokes, great Daniel Hagen, better than expected Katherine Jenkins, all brought down by a sullen charisma-free misfire of a Billy Bigelow.

Spoilers follow. . .

Carousel is one of my favourite musicals. Sure, it's got problematic elements, not least of which is the concept of a "kiss with a fist," the dubious concept of the pain of violence evaporating through love and mysticism.

Yet Carousel has a primal power that resonates more profoundly than any other musical, if you tap into it. In essence, it mines the same vein of deep desires that religion does, in particular, Christianity. Like Jesus, Julie Jordan is not a mere person, which is why feminist analysis can't contain her. Like Jesus, Julie Jordan is a font of love; like Jesus, when abused, she "turns the other cheek," her love unconditional; like Jesus, she offers the ultimate: redemption. The idea that whoever we are, no matter how we were born, no matter what we've done, no matter what nature, no matter what nurture, we can have hope, that's what Jesus and Julie Jordan offer, that's the beautiful desperate fantasy that Rodgers and Hammerstein have coded into this musical, with Hammerstein's coupling of the broken conditional "if" of now, with the "golden chances" of hope in a fantasy future (where you can always free yourself from the Carousel of traps that life brutally delivers), while Rodgers butters Hammerstein's religious bread with the most seductive soaring emotional melodies ever written.

As a secular person, this musical is the closest I get to religion, with the first two 5 star productions I saw (in the late nineties at the Ahmanson, and in 2014 at the Arcola) leaving me helplessly and deliriously emotional. This new version did NOT hit the spot. . .

On the plus side, it's got a half-Hytner approach to the staging that really works. Where Hytner staged his Carousel Waltz in a pincer movement, with the horses riding on wheels below, as a gorgeous giant umbrella enfolded it from above, here the semi-staging necessitates the dropping of the umbrella, so Lonny Price instead expands his wheeled horses to such a large size that the Carousel is nonetheless stunning. Like "An American in Paris," the backdrop is primarily projections of impressionist paintings, albeit they are not quite as colourful and luscious as those in AAIP.

Also on the plus side, Gavin Spokes sparkles with comic whoops, giggles, genuine depth of feeling, bringing his effortless charm to transform the typically dull Mr. Snow into such a compelling and amusing stage presence, that I delighted every time he showed up. His "When the Children are asleep" and "Geraniums in the Winder" were highlights.

But an even bigger highlight, the biggest of the afternoon in fact, was Derek Hagen, as the amoral Jigger, leading the ensemble of "Blow High, Blow Low" with such vitality and passion that the audience cheered louder for him than for the principals. So thuggish and unrestrained was Hagen's bearing that it struck me he'd make a perfect Billy Bigelow!

The Billy Bigelow we actually got was stillborn. It's not that Alfie Boe can't sing, he absolutely can, and at times, he does, wonderfuly. But he can't project the qualities that make Billy Bigelow Billy Bigelow!

I remember Patrick Wilson playing Billy Bigelow years ago in Hytner's touring production, so animalistic, as quick to anger or to grin, terminally unpredictable, with such depth of feeling beneath, charm and charisma constantly swamped by bouts of "toxic masculinity," the hope of who he could be as evident as the hopelessness of who he was! The Perfect Billy Bigelow.

There is no hope in Alfie Boe's Billy. No animalism. No spark. No grins. No volatility. No charm. No charisma. No sign of a wonderful person within, crushed by circumstance. Instead, there is sullenness and hair. So much hair. It's like Price wanted to take a shortcut to characterisation, and grew hair from all sides of Boe's face. I suppose, like Samson, this should make Boe's Bigelow toxically masculine. It doesn't. It makes him hairy. And worse, director and actor mistake unsmiling sullenness for masculinity. Wrong again, that's just lack of animation, which promotes a lack of audience involvement. In fact, the most personality that Boe evinced all afternoon was when he flubbed a line, asking if his "daughter was a boy or a girl?" then correcting himself by quipping "baby, even?" He got a big laugh.

I do think the director has to take responsibility for some of the choices around Boe's Billy Bigelow, as I've seen Boe do great work, as Nanki Poo in The Mikado, in particular.

Another wrong-headed choice the director makes is to allow too much of Boe's and Jenkin's singing to be directed at the audience. Billy and Julie are falling in love during "If I Love You," with EACH OTHER not with US!

And the director also has to take responsibility for some of Katherine Jenkin's choices. For example, she raises her finger on the "if" of "If I love you" as if she were a tease who may withhold her love. No! The emphasis in Julie's phrase, "somehow I can see just exactly how I'd be if I loved you," is not on the "if," it is on the "loved." The "if" is there to emphasise that Julie doubts she even deserves love, the tragedy that the love she so desires to give and receive may remain an unachieved fantasy, it is not there for her to wag her finger like a scolding matron. My opinion, lol.

Generally, however, Jenkins is good. I've seen the youtube clips that suggested she may struggle with the songs, and she doesn't. She thrives. In fact, with the caveat that sometimes she focuses so much on singing that she neglects performance, I thought her singing beautiful. And her performance is natural and convincing, by and large, though her range is limited. At one point she needs to cry, which requires more emotion than she can manage, so she turns away from the audience to cry with her back to us, but when she subsequently greets Boe's Billy, she fumbles her emotional transition as there is no sign in her beaming countenance that she has ever been crying at all. Still, for a first time actress, she does astonishingly well.

As to the bows, Boe and Jenkins came down TOGETHER, stood together, and then Boe and Jenkins each took a separate bow, but with the other standing right next to them. This means the the bows have been modified after the scandal in a teacup about bowing order in the first show. For me, the real scandal is that Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't come rushing down from heaven for the final bow. They are the true stars!

Overall, Rodgers' and Hammerstein's musical is so good, that coupled with good staging and lovely ensemble choruses, sparky players like Gavin Spokes and Derek Hagen, it overcomes it's cardboard Grizzly Adams of a Billy Bigelow. However, as an antidote to this productions' deficiencies, I have united Patrick Wilson's Billy Bigelow (from the Hytner touring production) and Gemma Sutton's saintly luminous Julie Jordan (from the recent Arcola show) to perform together in my dreams.

3 and a half stars

A great review (as usual) Steve - thanks.

Indeed, Steve, a brilliant analysis. It would be wonderful to have a Billy Bigelow with a glorious voice who could do full justice to the songs while being a powerful and sympathetic actor, but if it's an either/or situation I would always opt for the strong actor. I saw the Hytner production in New York with Michael Hayden as Billy and I well remember the criticism that was heaped upon him for, basically, not being John Raitt. He lacked that rich baritone sound that everyone seemed to feel was the essence of the role.

In fact he sang the role just fine - listen to him on the cast recording - but, much more importantly, he created a lost and vulnerable character, desperate to earn Julie's love and be worthy of her yet lacking the essential confidence in himself - resorting instead to violence. The vocal stars were in other roles in that production - Audra McDonald was Carrie! - but the show worked so brilliantly because of Hayden's performance.

If we, the audience, don't see in Billy what Julie sees, then Carousel makes no sense.

Is Jenkins carrying an iPad with the script on it?

That wig is hilllaarrrriouusss!!!

I'm really looking forward to this on Saturday. Not the biggest fan of either of them if I'm honest, but nothing against them. It's Carousel as a show that I just adore, it's one of my favourites. I always say the two productions I wish I'd been alive to see were the NAtional's Carousel and Betty Buckley as Norma Desmond in London.
Looks a lot more than semi-staged though!

Sondheimhats, I agree about all the hopes, dreams and mistakes of mankind. Lovely description.

I think they only describe it as "semi-staged" because there are no helicopters (like in Miss Saigon) or spaceships (like in "I Can't Sing") or other massive set constructions, so I agree. After all, AAIP also uses projections as a backdrop, and like that, this features lots of choreography and dance. I expect the description lingers from the producers' initial cost-saving philosophy adopted in their previous two productions that did at the Coliseum, Sweeney Todd and Sunset Boulevard, but that they have grown increasingly ambitious since then.

I agree completely, Mallardo. Acting is everything to make this really work. Otherwise it feels like a concert performance. I also regularly listen to the recording of the Broadway cast you saw, and I love it!

Was there tonight ( press night) The orchestra was great, all the supporting people were just fine, the choreography terrific ( especially the second act ballet) and visually it was Lonny Price's usual smart staging. But the two leads were bad. They have no connection with one another and the "bench" scene one of the best scenes ever written for a musical was dull. Neither of them can act well in the first place but this was rather agonizing. However, the most appalling thing was Mr Boe 's bow which he milked for what seemed like forever. If you've never seen Carousel it's worth it for the scale of the production. But if you have seen it, well you can give this one a miss.

I saw pictures of it and it looks tacky as hell. Billy's wig is atrocious, and Julie looked like she stepped out of a M&S ad from the '80s. I also don't think I want to see a Carousel without an actual Carousel.