| CAROUSEL Tonight | |
| Posted by: sergius 12:06 am EDT 04/05/18 | |
|
|
|
| One of the great achievements of the American musical theatre, CAROUSEL, was practically avant garde when it was first produced. Today, it can't be that surprising even with an African-American actor cast as Billy Bigelow. Whether this stands as a prominent example of the colorblind casting that has, finally, become more routine or as an attempt to further otherize Bigelow in relation to a community of which he is only a transient member seems immaterial. What matters most is that CAROUSEL have all the sweep and expansiveness of the American character. This production only partly succeeds in this regard. By and large, it's beautifully sung. Not everyone is working comfortably in their vocal range but, as demanding as the score is--most especially for Billy--this isn't opera and so, for me anyway, this matters less. But this is arguable and there will likely be a range of opinions regarding the performances here. Not so arguable are the decidedly shoddy scenic elements. They're not only outstandingly poor, they're antiquated. And the choreography, of which there is a great deal, is often congested and over articulate. Only the "Blow High, Blow Low" sequence fully succeeds. But, by virtue of its stunning, revolutionary craft, even a drab and crowded CAROUSEL is a wonder. It's the performances here that make it so. | |
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: Liza with a $: Minnelli auctioning off lots of memorabilia - Robt 11:02 am EDT 04/05/18 |
| Next: | re: CAROUSEL Tonight - pagates 12:40 pm EDT 04/05/18 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.032612 seconds.