Carousel

Story

Julie Jordan, a quiet, unassuming mill worker, falls in love with brash carousel barker, Billy Bigelow, after she and her friend, Carrie Pipperidge, visit the fair on an evening out. This is a girl meets boy, stormy love story with a twist that leads to an attempt at mending old wounds from beyond the grave when, after losing his life in an attempted robbery, Billy is allowed to come back to earth to do one good deed.

Why we chose it

Arguably Rodgers and Hammerstein finest, it is a landmark in musical theatre history: for its rich and complex score and great songs. Also its ground-breaking integration of score with plot, character and dance. Unusual for the time it contains themes of domestic violence and abuse, has an anti-hero and imperfect characters who make bad choices. Nonetheless it has a
hopeful, if not exactly happy, ending.

Where it came from

Based on Hungarian, Ferenc Molnár’s 1909 fantasy-drama Liliom a successful production of which was seen by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1940 when looking for an interesting story to follow up on the massive hit of their first show, Oklahoma! In 1945 they translated Molnár’s play location to New England and set it to music with songs such as "If I Loved You" and "You’ll Never Walk Alone" which captured the heart of a post-Second World War nation and beyond.

Where it went next

Carousel played Broadway’s Majestic Theatre for 890 performances, was the fifth longest-running show of the decade and was made into a successful film starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones in 1956. Its many stage revivals include the 1992 Nick Hytner’s RNT production starring Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman.

Associated stories

The climactic song,“You’ll Never Walk Alone” is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most recorded songs. Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Andy Williams are amongst the many who have covered the song. Thanks to the Jerry and the Pacemakers’ recording, it has also become the unofficial theme song at Liverpool Football Club.

Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a number of hugely successful musicals in the 1940s and 50s. Their first was Oklahoma in 1943. Others include The Sound of Music, South Pacific, The King and I and Me and Juliet.