Carousel (1956)

In Indonesia, Carousel is not as popular as The Sound of Music or The King and I. I happened to hear two of the songs from this musical, If I Loved You and You’ll Never Walk Alone and thought they were very beautiful. Later I bought the London Cast Recording (1993) and since then fell in love with the music. The best version of If I Loved You I ever heard is the one by Lesley Garrett with the BBC Concert Orchestra (not sure if this is available on video, but in the show she also sang Papageno duet with Michael Ball); and the best You’ll Never Walk Alone is by Michael Ball in his The Musicals (1996) album.


Two days ago I re-watched the video, the 1956 movie with Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. Billy Bigelow is a carousel barker in a carnival and one day he meets mill worker Julie Jordan and both falls in love to each other. Billy’s boss doesn’t like how Billy gives Julie a free ride and she fires Billy. Julie’s boss also doesn’t like how she stays out late with Billy. Both out of work and after marriage, they stay with Julie’s cousin. Billy now is often out of temper and hits Julie. Jigger, Billy’s friend, comes and asks Billy to join him in a robbery. At first Billy refuses, but after Julie tells him she is pregnant, he knows that he needs the money. The robbery, however, fails and Billy is dead. Billy goes to Heaven and is told that he could go back once if he wants to settle some unfinished thing. Billy sees from above that his daughter, now a 15 year old girl named Louise, is unhappy because other kids scold her for being a thief’s daughter (shown in a beautiful ballet sequence). Billy goes down, meets Louise, and gives her a star. He also sees her graduated and tells her to believe in herself. Dr. Selden gives a speech at the school that day and tells the graduates that they should not rely on their parents’ success or be held back by their mistakes.

Shirley Jones made a very good Julie Jordan, with her beautiful voice and her innocent look. Billy Bigelow is not a character I would like, though, with his roughness and unintelligence. He does love Julie very much, but doesn’t know how to express it and ends up hurting her. As for the music, I like better my London Cast Recording. Apart from If I Loved You and You’ll Never Walk Alone, this musical by Rodgers – Hammerstein also has beautiful numbers like the Carousel Waltz, You’re A Queer One Julie Jordan, Mister Snow, June is Bustin’ Out All Over, When The Children Are Asleep, Real Nice Clambake, … well, I guess I love all of the songs, except Soliloquy, which I think is not easy to sing. I think until now the version of Soliloquy I’ve heard isn’t satisfying, because the original notes are beautiful, like for the line “My boy Bill, I will see that he’s named after me. I will!” and “My little girl, pink and white as peaches and cream is she.” I think the music of Carousel is more beautiful than The Sound of Music.