Production of ‘Carousel’ comes ‘round full circle at Spokane Civic Theatre

It’s not uncommon for directors to have multiple experiences working with a particular show. Jean Hardie, who is directing “Carousel,” the musical, opening Spokane Civic Theatre’s 77th season, for example, choreographed the show when it was produced at Civic 40 years ago.

Before that, she choreographed a production while working in Montana. During that production, however, she had an experience many directors typically don’t have to deal with – the actor playing Carrie Pipperidge wasn’t able to make it back from a camping trip in time for a show, so Hardie went on in her place.

“With very little time to think about it,” she said. “I had been at all the rehearsals. I knew the part. They found me some costumes and I went on. That’s always something that stayed with me.”

She also recalls hearing her older brother, who wasn’t interested in musical theater, praise the 1958 film adaptation. It wasn’t just a happy love story, he noted; there are serious elements to the show.

That experience in mind, Hardie expressed her interest in directing “Carousel” and got the job. Her production of “Carousel” opens Friday and runs through Oct. 13.

“Carousel” features music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. The musical is based on Ferenc Molnar’s “Liliom,” adapted by Benjamin F. Glazer.

The show, set in 1873 Maine, opens with millworker Julie Jordan (Karlin Marie Kahler) catching the eye of barker Billy Bigelow (Robby French) at the local carousel. After Julie allows Billy to put his arm around her while on the ride, Mrs. Mullin (Desirae West), the widowed owner of the carousel, tells Julie she can never come back.

Soon after, both Billy and Julie lose their jobs. Billie because he mocked Mrs. Mullin, and Julie because she refused millowner Mr. Bascombe’s (Andy-Lee Collings) offer to escort her home before curfew when he passed the couple with a police officer (Trey Salinas). Now alone, the pair talk about what it would be like if they were in love, without actually saying those three words to each other.

Two months later, the two are married and living at Julie’s cousin Nettie’s (Heather Parker) spa. As Julie shares with her friend Carrie (Elizabeth Theriault) that, in a bout of frustration about being unemployed, Billy hit her, Carrie shares that she is now engaged to fisherman Enoch Snow (Nathan Hoyt), with the pair thinking about their future family. Billy then meets up with the girls along with Jigger Craigin (Jameson Elton), his no-good whaler friend. Billy is rude to Enoch and Carrie before leaving with Jigger and an upset Julie.

Later, Jigger tries to entice Billy into helping with a robbery. Billy is initially reluctant but when he learns Julie is pregnant, he accepts, realizing he will do whatever it takes to support his child. The consequences of Billy’s decision reverberate long after it’s made, as explored in the second act.

“Carousel” also stars Hailey Stroh (Louise Bigelow), Josh White (Enoch Snow Jr.), Ryan Wasson (Heavenly Friend) and Wesley Dietrick (Starkeeper/Dr. Seldon).

The ensemble and dancers are Eleanor Brown, Carolina Bufford, Jack Dines, Sydney Frost, Delaney Kahler, Mairead Kahler, Dahlia Kothare, David Mannino, Mary Ormsby, Bailey Raelund, Wren Rhodes, Lily Savage, Darby Shuster, Becky SothCQ, Asa Wadden, Mirsa Wells and Sydney Zinnecker.

The Snow children are Jude Hood, Harper Kahler, Shuster, Joshua Stroh, Maycie Stroh, Isabelle Williams and Emery Winkle.

“Carousel” is music directed by Henry McNulty and features musical staging by Kathie Doyle-Lipe and ballet choreography from Sarah Glesk.

As Hardie’s brother noted all those years ago, the love stories shown in “Carousel” aren’t your standard “Happily Ever Afters.” Billy, for example, isn’t a perfect Prince Charming.

“You can see that he would like to be a person that does the right thing; he just doesn’t have that in his vocabulary as a person,” Hardie said. “He’s obviously had a rough life and he is who he is. Julie somehow simply loves him.”

Both Billy and Julie also have a difficult time expressing their feelings, including their love for one another. Hardie said the lack of “I love yous” exchanged between the two, even in the song “If I Loved You,” makes for a unique relationship in a big musical.

But the idea of an “anti-love song that’s a beautiful love song,” as Hardie said, is something Rodgers and Hammerstein have featured in their works time and time again.

In “Show Boat,” for example, which Hammerstein wrote with Jerome Kern, the characters Gaylord Ravenal and Magnolia Hawks sing “Might as well make believe I love you / For to tell the truth, I do” in “Make Believe.” And in “Oklahoma!” – Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first musical together – Curly McLain and Laurie Williams sing “People Will Say We’re in Love,” telling the other person not to do anything that would make other people think they’re in love, even though they are.

On the other hand, Carrie and Enoch have no problem sharing their feelings about each other, singing about getting married and their future family.

“She and Julie are very much in contrast to each other,” Hardie said. “They’re best of friends, but Carrie says everything, and Julie says nothing.”

Through a fast-forward in time, the audience sees Julie alone with her daughter, angry because of how people speak about her father, and Carrie and Enoch, successful and with a house full of children. In examining both ends of that spectrum, Hardie said, Rodgers and Hammerstein show another theme of their work – not shying away from tough topics.

It’s that willingness to tackle those topics head on, Hardie said, that keeps “Carousel” feeling current despite the long-ago time period in which the musical is set.

“You can see that people are people, and it’s unfair to condemn Julie and say, ‘Well, she was such a victim and he was just an all-bad person,’ ” Hardie said. “I think that they show you the light and the shade in both Billy and Julie and a little bit even in Carrie and Enoch. It’s universal. People still struggle with these same issues, and we probably always will.”