{"id":67166,"date":"2018-04-12T20:25:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T00:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/times-up-not-so-fast-carousel-is-back-on-broadway-review\/"},"modified":"2018-04-12T20:25:29","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T00:25:29","slug":"times-up-not-so-fast-carousel-is-back-on-broadway-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/times-up-not-so-fast-carousel-is-back-on-broadway-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Time\u2019s Up? Not So Fast: \u2018Carousel\u2019 Is Back on Broadway: REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time\u2019s Up? Not So Fast: \u2018Carousel\u2019 Is Back on Broadway: REVIEW<\/b>
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The key to enjoying a carnival is knowing when to call<\/a> it quits. For Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s beloved tale about a ne\u2019er-do-well carney who hits his wife out of love (!), that day may have finally come. Rather than reckon with why even a canonical favorite might feel so uncomfortable right now, a new production of <\/span>Carousel<\/span><\/i> seems to simply hope we haven\u2019t yet realized that the stories we choose to tell actually matter. <\/span><\/p>\n

The latest revival, which opens tonight at the Imperial Theatre (the musical\u2019s fifth in New York since 1945), is very handsomely staged by director Jack O\u2019Brien and exquisitely sung by its stars Joshua Henry, Jessie Mueller, and opera diva Ren\u00e9e Fleming. But the feeling it inspires can perhaps best be expressed by the grit-teeth emoji.<\/span><\/p>\n

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First comes the wide smile, for Santo Loquasto\u2019s Hopper-inspired vision of coastal Maine, and Ann Roth\u2019s chic turn-of-the-century finery. For a knockout Lindsay Mendez, whose name isn\u2019t above the title this time but will be the next. For Justin Peck\u2019s rigorous, balletic choreography. For songs many fans will know and love, including \u201cIf I Loved You,\u201d \u201cJune Is Bustin\u2019 Out All Over,\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Walk Alone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That second act ballad draws Fleming\u2019s most resounding ovation as Nettie Fowler, comforting her younger cousin Julie Jordan (played by Mueller)<\/span>. Julie\u2019s just lamented over her husband Billy\u2019s deathbed, \u201cI know why you hit me. You were quick-tempered and unhappy.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Before we grimace too hard, let\u2019s back up.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Julie meets Billy Bigelow (played by Henry), a barker at the town carousel, during the overture when he puts his arm around her on the ride. In the next scene later that night, she\u2019s demure and he\u2019s gruff. She winds up missing curfew and getting fired from the mill where she works. He\u2019s likewise canned for consorting with a patron, and his boss Mrs. Mullin (a droll Margaret Colin) derides him as an \u201cupstart\u201d (to be fair, she also calls<\/a> Julie\u2019s sunny friend Carrie, played by Mendez, a \u201chussy,\u201d which she certainly is not). <\/span><\/p>\n

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Language like that carries a different cadence directed at a Black man<\/a> like Henry\u2019s Bigelow, as do Mrs. Mullin\u2019s insinuations of his sexual prowess. <\/span><\/p>\n

At least for the first act, it seems O\u2019Brien intends for audiences see a layer of racial politics overtop the musical\u2019s existing class divisions, particularly as the story is set just a few decades after emancipation. Billy\u2019s struggle to provide for Julie, and his reputation as a brute, seem colored here by cultural conceptions of Black masculinity. His friend Jigger (Amar Ramasar, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet) is likewise a person of color; when the two hatch a plan to rob Julie\u2019s former boss, their shared difference from the community is difficult to overlook. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But O\u2019Brien\u2019s untimely revival ultimately lacks the conviction to follow through with what at first seems like a bold, even insightful, interpretation of a problematic fave. When Billy looks in on his family from the afterlife (he kills himself when the robbery goes wrong), his now-teenage<\/a> daughter is white. Brittany Pollack, a virtuosic soloist also with New York City Ballet, brings a lithe, expressive innocence to the role. But Louise\u2019s ostracization from the town because of her late father\u2019s reputation doesn\u2019t track as it would were she played by a mixed-race actress. <\/span><\/p>\n

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In hedging back on colorblindness, the production drops what might have been its most compelling artistic choice, just as it cuts a line here or there to make <\/span>Carousel<\/span><\/i>\u2019s gender politics less cringe-worthy to modern ears. (Julie no longer confirms to Louise, \u201cIt\u2019s possible, dear \u2014 fer someone to hit you \u2014 hit hard \u2014 and not hurt at all,\u201d when Louise\u2019s father whacks his daughter from beyond the grave. Thank producers for small blessings?)<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien\u2019s romantic visual staging delights in the elements \u2014 water splashing when sailors jump in the harbor, blossoms dancing down from treetops, salt-of-the-earth characters striving to live<\/a> well. But this <\/span>Carousel<\/span><\/i> doesn\u2019t share the same air that we do \u2014 the only way to enjoy the ride may be to hold your breath.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
<\/a><\/em>(photos: julieta cervantes)<\/p>\n

The post Time\u2019s Up? Not So Fast: \u2018Carousel\u2019 Is Back on Broadway: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Time\u2019s Up? Not So Fast: \u2018Carousel\u2019 Is Back on Broadway: REVIEW<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n