CAROUSEL, Pages Lane Theatre, 292 E. Pages Lane, Centerville; continues Mondays & Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through Nov. 23 (except Halloween night). Matinee 3 p.m. Nov. 16. Box office: 298-1302. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.
Rodgers & Ham-merstein's beloved musical, while it contains one of the team's most beautiful and moving scores, is also one of their darker pieces. Maybe the carousel itself - barely hinted at in scenery designer Leslie Hanson's impressionistic murals - is a reflection of the "what goes around comes around" theme. Arrogant and cocky carousel barker Billy Bigelow, killed in an ill-fated attempt to rob money from his young bride's ex-boss, is allowed by a Heavenly Starkeeper to return to Earth 15 years later for one day in order to attempt to set things right for his feisty daughter.
Directed by Ruth Gibbons Stoneman, this theater-in-the-round version is nicely staged and thoroughly entertaining.
Like most mainstage PLT productions, this show is double-cast.
The ensemble I caught on opening night had a few rough edges (a couple of the characters in smaller roles didn't have their lines down pat), but Andrew Noyes and Melinda McDermott were superb in the leading roles of cocky carousel barker Billy Bigelow and innocent young Julie Jordan. The two of them have some of the show's best songs - "If I Loved You" and Billy's moving "Soliloquy."
Other principal performers include Kimberly Cawley as Carrie Pipperidge, Julie's best friend; Joyce Elison as jealous carousel owner Mrs. Mullin, Chris Brown as Julie's compassionate cousin, Nettie Fowler; Hugh Hanson (who was also the production's musical director) as Enoch Snow; Ryan Allen as sinister Jigger Craigin; Melissa Kennaley as Louise Bigelow, the widowed Julie's 15-year-old daughter; Dale Yates doing triple duty as a whaling captain, the Starkeeper and kindly Dr. Seldon, and Molly Stoneman as the Heavenly Friend.
JanaLee Johansen and Melissa Kennaley's choreography added much to this tight little production, especially the two ballet sequences, featuring Melissa, her brother Matt and a third dancer, Chris Wallace.
Through such songs as "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordon," "Blow High, Blow Low," "Stonecutters Cut It on Stone," "(This Was) A Real Nice Clambake" and "What's the Use of Wond'rin'," Rodgers & Hammerstein hone in on social issues rarely addressed in musicals - working class vs. the rich, spouse abuse and religious snobbery.
The PLT production has a few minor problems. The role of Nettie Fowler comes off more as comedy relief than homespun and compassionate and it was particularly jarring to see Joyce Elison in the role of cunningly jealous Mrs. Mullin, who really hates Jigger and his influence on Billy . . . only to turn up happy as a clam, if you will, in the ensemble numbers - even joyously dancing with Jigger. Maybe the audience is supposed to assume that - in these sequences - she's just one of the girls from the village and NOT Mrs. Mullin.
Music included tape-recorded orchestrations for the "Carousel Waltz" and the show's ballet segments, with pianist Judy Knoles and percussionist Merrill Moore providing most of the backup accompaniment.