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Regional Reviews: Chicago Carousel With the high powered cast of Broadway veterans that director Rob Ashford has assembled for this Carousel—Steven Pasquale, Laura Osnes, Jenn Gambatese, Matthew Hydzik, Jerrod Emick, Charlotte d'Amboise and Tony Roberts—there's been speculation that Ashford may have Broadway aspirations for this production. He's been asked directly about that and hasn't admitted to any such hopes, but what he's accomplished here—though it could certainly play on Broadway—is something different and arguably even more surprising and impressive. He's made the case that Carousel should have a place in the world of opera.
This is the third of five planned annual productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein classics by Lyric, but the first to fit so well in this venue. They led off with Oklahoma! directed by Gary Griffin, an excellent production that seemed a faithful recreation of the original that reinforced its bona fides as a classic of musical theatre worthy of the attention and respect of an august institution like Lyric. Last year's The Sound of Music with Marc Bruni at the helm was an extravaganza that almost out-Broadway-ed Broadway, with superb production values that nearly recreated the look of the venerable film version on stage. (The King and I will follow next year, with South Pacific completing the series in 2017.) Ashford's Carousel, feels more at home here than those previous two. Part of this is the material. The tragic story of the working lovers Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan has the sort of stakes we associate with the stories of the great operas. Julie and Billy's emotions are big enough to fill a space like the 3,500 seta Civic Opera House. And though Carousel has much spoken dialogue—more than most musicals, let alone operas—Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote for Carousel several musicalized scenes (most notably the famous "bench scene" following the prologue), short songs ("Stonecutters Cut It on Stone"), and vocal segments that deviate from the duo's more common practice of writing complete songs. Then, of course, there's Billy's "Soliloquy," an operatic aria that surely matches any from traditional operas. Ashford uses a mix of Broadway and opera styles. There's an ensemble of 41 singers plus 10 solo dancers. The singers move deliberately in a manner more typical of opera than Broadway. Surprisingly from a director-choreographer like Ashford, there's not a lot of traditional musical theater choreography here—a little after a few choruses of "June Is Bustin' out All Over" and a bit more in "Blow High, Blow Low." The original dances by Agnes de Mille are credited and the movement is all in her style, particularly the musical's two ballet sequences. Playing to a 3,500-seat house must require a certain presentational style, and there's some of that in the book scenes as well as the choral and dance numbers. But even so, the scenes are played organically and truthfully. The storytelling and character development is crystal-clear. Osnes—even with little dialogue and only two full songs—gives us a Julie Jordan that is fragile and wounded even as she's independent. There's a sense of loneliness and vulnerability that may explain why she would be attracted to a man like Billy and stay with him despite his obvious shortcomings. Pasquale plays Billy with more confidence than bravado and feels completely believable and real. Though I would like to have seen him dial up his intensity late in the first act as his desperation rises upon learning that he and Julie will soon have responsibility for raising a child, his intensity raises appropriately in act two. Ashford has a great take on the secondary couple as well. Jenn Gambatese makes a funny Carrie, but one still grounded in reality. The handsome Matthew Hydzik plays her eventual husband Enoch Snow as earnest rather than pompous, making him more of a catch and less of a convenient compromise than we might otherwise view him. Seeing how Julie and Carrie, two working girls of similar station, end up in such different places by way of their choice of men makes Julie's fate all the more touching. The character of Mrs. Mullin, who sees Julie as a rival for Billy, has greater weight here as played by the attractive Charlotte d'Amboise. In the very first moments of the show, Ashford shows us Billy leaving Mrs. Mullin's trailer in the morning, so the nature of his relationship with her as a physical one is established. Ashford also reconfigures the action of the second act ballet to give the celebrated dancer Ms. d'Amboise a chance to show her skills. In this version, Louise (Abigail Simon) flirts with a carnival boy (Martin Harvey) who resembles Billy but is also involved with someone resembling Mrs. Mullin (d'Amboise). Equally threatening (comically so, as he attempts to seduce Carrie) is Jerrod Emick as Jigger Cragin, who also lends his strong baritone to "Blow High, Blow Low" and "Stonecutters Cut It on Stone." This production somehow reconciles Carousel's mixture of realism and fantasy—the hard-edged drama of a couple dealing with poverty and spousal abuse that also offers scenes of the dead Billy in heaven and returning to the living to help with daughter and redeem himself. Some of the credit for this goes to Tony Roberts' delightful performance as the Starkeeper. It may also be that the environment of an opera house and its presentational performance style within make the fantasy a little more acceptable. Another risk for Ashford that pays off is the contribution of Paolo Ventura, an artist and photographer making his theatrical debut as set designer. His settings have a water-color feel reminiscent of some of Edward Hopper's work. They include simple but effective pieces like buildings (Nettie's hotel, the wharf station) in front of painted backdrops suggesting the New England seaside. Also Hopper-esque are Catherine Zuber's costumes, evocative of the 1930s Depression era rather than the late 19th century specified by Hammerstein's script.
On paper, it may not sound like this should all work, but it does. A mostly musical theater cast bringing a dialogue-heavy musical to an opera house and making the case that it's as deserving a piece as any in the operatic repertoire. Ashford mixes presentationalism with realism, musical theater with opera and takes a chance on an artist with no theatrical resume to design the sets. It all comes together to make this 70-year old musical something new and very exciting by the standards of either Broadway or Opera. Carousel will play the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago through May 3, 2015. For ticket information visit www.lyricopera.org/carousel.
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