Our major production for 2009 is Carousel. Check out the poster and a video of part of a rehearsal! We'd love to show you some of the show, but we aren't permitted to.
Carousel is noteworthy as composer Rodgers' and librettist Hammerstein's personal favourite of all their works. "Beautifully written" wrote Rodgers in his autobiography, "it affects me deeply every time I see it performed".
Carousel was first performed on 19 April 1945 at the Majestic Theatre, Broadway, New York. Rodgers and Hammerstein used the Benjamin Glazer text of Liliom as their basis for Carousel.
In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century, the swaggering, carefree carnival barker, Billy Bigelow, played in this production by Gerard Schneider, captivates and marries the naive millworker, Julie Jordan, played by Esther Counsel. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant and, desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family, he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent "up there."
Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day fifteen years later, and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely, friendless teenager, her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instils in both the child and her mother a sense of hope and dignity is a dramatic testimony to the power of love.
They broke new ground in musical theatre storytelling with their extended music-and-dialog scenes, such as the haunting Soliloquy in which Billy imagines his future child.
Oscar Hammerstein II wrote in the New York Times, 1945: “The poignancy of the story, I was certain, would not suffer from gaiety of background. It would enhance it.”
Carousel was an opportunity for Oscar Hammerstein II to explore societal attitudes and prejudices in a musical play. The main social themes are social class, hypocrisy and conduct.
The story of two star-crossed lovers, Carousel is set to one of the most ravishing and celebrated scores of all time, including The Carousel Waltz, If I Loved You, June is Bustin' Out All Over and You'll Never Walk Alone.
A more detailed synopsis is available.
| Producer | — | Ian Lowe |
| Musical Director | — | Ian Lowe |
| Director | — | Lynne Counsel |
| Director | — | Graham Ford |
| Choreographer | — | Susan Tan |
| Pianist | — | Gerard Banner |
| Conductor | — | Mary Wright |
| Julie Jordan | — | Esther Counsel |
| Carrie Pipperidge | — | Michelle Crupi |
| Nettie Fowler | — | Judith O'Shea |
| Enoch Snow | — | Othon Charalambous |
| Billy Bigelow | — | Gerard Schneider |
| Jigger Craigin | — | Alan Flint |
| Mrs Mullin | — | Loris McLean |
| Mr Bascombe | — | Brad Buckingham |
| Starkeeper/Dr Seldon | — | Malcolm Wilton |
| Captain | — | Kevin Maynes |
| Policeman 1 | — | Noel Rawson |
| Policeman 2 | — | Gary Short |
| Heavenly Friend | — | Lucas Richter |
| Enoch Snow Jnr | — | Jonathan Parsons |
| Louise Bigelow | — | Cristin Adams |
| Dancers | — | Aisha Samat |
| Ashleigh Trimmer | ||
| Ben Geddes | ||
| Catherine Wilton | ||
| Charlotte Demers | ||
| Christine Antoniou | ||
| Cristin Adams | ||
| Georgina Perkins | ||
| Janelle Halil | ||
| Jenny Bignall | ||
| Jessica Allen | ||
| Jessica Shinnick | ||
| Kate Bailey | ||
| Kate Telgenkamp | ||
| Kendra Vann | ||
| Liam Samat | ||
| Rebekah Perkins | ||
| Tanya Loucas | ||
| Chorus | Adrienne Sylvester | |
| Alba Campobasso | ||
| Anne Sharkey | ||
| Annette Eggum | ||
| Briana Flint | ||
| Carmen Chechuti | ||
| Carol Rawson | ||
| Christine Antoniou | ||
| David Armstrong | ||
| Fiona Waters | ||
| Gayle Short | ||
| Genine Cowell | ||
| Helen Watt | ||
| Jeanette Flint | ||
| Jennifer Wilson | ||
| John Graves | ||
| Juliet Elizabeth | ||
| Kevin Pye | ||
| Lyndal Ihle | ||
| Marlene Di Battista | ||
| Matthew Grundy | ||
| Norma Turnbull-Smith | ||
| Rosa Antoniou | ||
| Sandra Louws | ||
| Sue Adderly | ||
| Tatiana Polizzi | ||
| Trevor Hince |
Our performance of Carousel is supported by ArtsHub.