‘Carousel’ Production Disappointing Overall
“Carousel” Monday, March 30, Spokane Opera House
The touring production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut “Carousel” that played the Opera House Monday night had a few elements to admire.
It started out promising enough during the lovely “Carousel Waltz,” when the stage was converted to a midway right before our eyes, with the help of four wooden horses and a turntable. There were also a few musical high points, notably the well-carried-off “Soliloquy” by Brian E. Long as Billy Bigelow.
Overall, however, I’ve seen better “Carousels.” A local version at The Met last summer, with a fraction of the budget (and a fraction of the ticket price) was more enjoyable.
The music was the main problem in this B-level Troika Organization production. It’s not that the singers were bad - if anything they were too well-trained to suit the material.
This is a musical, not an opera. Two singers in particular, Sarah Anne Lewis as Carrie and Kara Powers as Nettie, sang their songs with huge vibratos and rounded vowels, as if they were in “Aida.” This worked fine for some of the more grandiose numbers, such as “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” but was just a bit ridiculous for “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over.” In that particular number, I felt as if these two singers were engaged in an ear-shattering bout of dueling vibratos.
Songs like this should emphasize comedy and personality. One reason that the American musical comedy became a beloved art form is that it is not opera. We do not go to musicals to be shrieked at.
Adding to the problem was the orchestration, which sounded canned for the simple reason that it was. There were a handful of live musicians in the pit, but the majority of the orchestral sounds were either recorded or synthesized. Many musicals resort to this these days, but in this case it sounded particularly obvious.
My other complaint is with the set, which was required to do double-duty and even triple-duty. Everything took place on the same docklike set (with different backdrops flown in), which resulted in such absurdities as Billy and Jigger leaving the clambake, which took place on the dock, to commit a robbery, which also took place on the dock. By the third hour, I got tired of looking at the same rope netting in every scene.
And sometimes the set was just cheap. In the “heaven” scene, the rope netting is supposed to be sprinkled with stars, but it looked more as if some Christmas lights were just strung in a big O.
The saving grace of this production was a fine performance by Long as Billy. Long gave a Springsteen-like cool to this bad-boy carnival barker. His voice was perfectly suited to the material, not nearly as formal-sounding as others in the cast, and his acting was affecting.
Cassandra McConnell was also strong as Julie Jordan. She, too, has a powerful, classically trained voice, yet her singing stayed in character.
My annoyance with this production may also have something to do with the fact that I find “Carousel” to be, in general, depressing and mawkish. Few musicals have such a contrived and corny ending. If all it takes to get to heaven is to sing a few bars of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” it’s hardly worth being there at all.
, DataTimes