BWW Reviews: Reprise Bows with a Shimmering CAROUSEL

Carousel/music by Richard Rodgers/book & lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II/directed by Michael Michetti/choreographed by Lee Martino/Reprise Theatre Company @ Freud Playhouse, UCLA/through February 7.

As I was leaving the Freud Wednesday I heard a patron remark "Good show, but pretty traditional!" I have only one comment for that. So what? Any Rodgers & Hammerstein musical is among the very best there is in musical theatre history. Tradition is AOK. And that applies most definitely to Reprise's current fine revival of Carousel.

A fresh perspective? Not really! If you want that, go see Camelot at the Pasadena Playhouse. What director Michael Michetti has achieved is a production, faithful to R & H with a tad more realism than in previous interpretations. The music and story speak volumes. As I sat and watched the lengthy love at first sight "If I Loved You" scene in Act I between Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow, I marveled at  how divinely written it is. The dialogue: "If you loved me, but you don't!""If I loved you, but I don't!" The pauses in between are so full. Underneath, there is a passionate love seething, one that transcends time and place. Contradictions make for interesting relationships, but I also noted this time that Julie Jordan is not really that innocent and unsure of herself. Alexandra Silber, reprising her West End portrayal  brings out Julie's differences, putting her on a par with Bigelow. When Mr. Bascomb approaches and offers a chance to save her, she refuses. She knows what she wants. She is a misfit quite like Billy; so, the two are really right and wrong for each other simultaneously. And there's the rub. Destiny strikes at the onset.

This is a glorious musical, much like an opera...and a ballet, and also sandwiched within is a story about living and dying, that is universal and deeply nurtured. Silber is a very real Julie and Robert Patteri equally so as Billy. His "Soliloquy" is not delivered so much as a dynamic musical number but more as an extension of the written monologue, in which he is trying desperately to come to terms with his future prospects. A truly great performance! Jane Noseworthy as Carrie Pipperidge is perhaps one of the prettier Carries that I've seen, with a lovely voice and quaint sense of humor. And speaking of humor, Andy Taylor is superb as Enoch Snow, Carrie's stiff yet likeable husband-to-be. Also wonderful are Victoria Strong as Nettie, Tracy Lore as Mrs. Mullin, James Leo Ryan as Jigger and M. Emmet Walsh as the Narrator/Starkeeper. Kimberly Mikesell as Louise and John Todd as the Carnival Boy, who dances with her in Act II's gorgeous "Ballet", with sensational choreography from Lee Martino, are richly deserving of note as well.

This is Reprise Theatre Company's first production of this new season and a terribly worthy one at that. Like the carousel with its shimmering lights, it fills the darkness with a glimmer of hope.

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