CAROUSEL TICKETS – LIVE AVAILABILITY

The latest London show to open is yet another revival of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical; ‘Carousel’, starring everyone’s favourite soprano Leslie Garrett. It boasts some very familiar songs, including ‘June is Bustin’ Out All Over’, ‘If I Loved You’ and the football fanatic’s much beloved ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. It’s also one of a few major musicals to have been made into a movie back in 1956.

Time Magazine once named ‘Carousel’ as the best musical of the twentieth century. It’s amazing to think that this show, which Rodgers and Hammerstein reportedly said was closest to their heart, opened in Broadway in 1945, and is now a top London show sixty three years later.

However some critics have been a little harsh about this particular production. Michael Billington of the Guardian gives it three stars but commented:

“Personally, I’ve always thought it a flawed masterwork; and so it proves once again in Lindsay Posner’s well-sung revival which holds one’s attention until the death of the hero, Billy Bigelow, after which the show ascends into the empyrean and the realms of pseudo-art … For most of the show, one is in heaven. Only when the musical, literally, goes skywards after Billy’s demise do things fall apart… And, even if Lesley Garrett’s Nettie sometimes lapses into a generalised heartiness, she delivers ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with rapt tenderness”.

Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph seemed to enjoy himself rather more and gave the show four stars:

“Most of the principals may not be famous names, but they bring real sincerity and freshness to their roles. Better yet, the cramped stage means that the show often seems to explode with vitality. In that great song of renewal and seething sexuality, ‘June is Bustin’ Out All Over’, Adam Cooper’s choreography sets the stage alight with high-kicks, dangerous lifts and a testosterone-charged athleticism that is thrilling….By the end of the show, with many in the audience audibly sniffing back the tears, it is clear that justice has been done to one of the greatest of all musicals”.