Regional

Carousel

 (Ahmanson Theatre, L.A.; 1,611 seats; $65 top)

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

Columbia Artists Management, Center Theatre Group, Jujamcyn Theater Prods. and Theatre Under the Stars in association with the Troika Organization and Pace Theatrical Group by arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh present the Royal National Theatre production of a musical with book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers, based on the play "Liliom" by Ferenc Molnar as adapted by Benjamin F. Glazer; director, Nicholas Hytner; choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan; orchestrations, William David Brown.
 
Cast: Patrick Wilson (Billy Bigelow), Sarah Uriarte (Julie Jordan), Sherry D. Boone (Carrie Pipperidge), Rebecca Eichenberger (Nettie Fowler), Sean Palmer (Enoch Snow), Kate Buddeke (Mrs. Mullin), Brett Rickaby (Jigger Craigin), Dana Stackpole (Louise); Joseph Ricci, William Metzo, Keri Lee, Craig Ricks, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Marty Benn , Jeffrey Elsass, Christopher Freeman, David MacGillivray, Rommy Sandhu, Joseph Woelfel, Eric Christian, Ilene Bergelson, Kristinelle Coronado, B.J. Crockett, Jasminn Ricketts, Leslie Anne Cardona, Duane Boutte, Katie Hugo, George Merrick, Rhea Roderick, Thursday Farrar, Holly Kinnaird, Wesley Webster, Donna Rubin.
 

Nicholas Hytner's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Carousel" arrives in Los Angeles after ecstatically received runs in London and New York, and the artfulness of this touring version proves Hytner's staging to be as enduring as it is beautiful. Musical authorities have long accorded the show's score primacy of place in the R&H canon, but revivals have been uncommon; the accomplishment of Hytner, designer Bob Crowley and choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (who died shortly before completing work on the show) is that they've created a ravishing spectacle without slighting the fatalistic undertow that gives the story such power.

t's easy to see why the show will never be the crowd-pleasing confection that gives other Rodgers & Hammerstein shows their sometimes wearying ubiquitousness.

While more beloved R&H shows brim with sweetness --"The Sound of Music" makes even Nazis seem lightweight -- in "Carousel" love itself, that most steadfast provider of happy endings, seems more a blight than a boon, and loss is everywhere.

The "Prologue" is the masterstroke of set and costume designer Crowley. Against a field of luminescent blue that provides the backdrop for all of his elegantly economical sets, the girls of Bascombe's Mill escape at the stroke of the gray workday's end into the lurid, candy-coloredworld of the carnival, where mill worker Julie Jordan (Sarah Uriarte) collides with carousel barker Billy Bigelow (Patrick Wilson).

A chain of unhappy circumstance is unleashed when an uneasy, desperately strong love blossoms between them in the course of a song --"If I Loved You," surely among the saddest love duets ever written -- that foretells the mournful course of their union.

Wilson and Uriarte are fine singers, and Wilson also has a feel for Billy's complex temperament, the bedrock of goodness beneath his shame and defiance at his own haplessness. Wilson's "Soliloquy" is sung as capably as it is acted, certainly a rarity. There's less to Uriarte's Julie, and an occasional mannered breathiness is disappointing.

As Carrie Pipperidge, Julie's best friend, whose happy and pragmatic union to Mr. Snow (Sean Palmer) is in contrast to Julie's marriage, Sherry D. Boone comes close to stealing the show, just as Audra McDonald did on Broadway in her Tony-winning turn.

Spunky and natural, and a forceful but flexible soprano, Boone's Carrie represents the life force that counterbalances Billy's unhappy fate.

It's Julie's cousin Nettie (Rebecca Eichenberger) who tells Julie to go on living in her darkest hour, but Carrie shows her how to do it. (Eichenberger does fine by the show's best-known song, the haunting "You'll Never Walk Alone," but she, along with a few other principals, displays a tendency to sing toward the footlights that breaks the show's natural spell, and is wholly unnecessary given the heavy miking.)

The simplicity of the staging accents the show's most startling aspect -- the contemporary feel of its book, adapted from Ferenc Molnar's play "Liliom."

While other musicals from the golden age of Broadway rely heavily on the easy emotion of nostalgia for their appeal, "Carousel's" themes have an almost uncanny relevance. The psychological toll that aimlessness and unemployment can have on a man's feelings of self-worth; the wounds nursed by a child growing up without a father; the love that can understand -- and excuse -- physical abuse -- these are surely more resonant for audiences today than when the show premiered in 1945.

It's this seriousness that sends this "Carousel" spinning into an orbit once removed from the standard musical comedy. Yes, Crowley's Tony-winning sets are a wonder worthy of this extravaganza-besotted theatrical age (the appearance of the title contraption duly earns its own applause); MacMillan's choreography is as lively as any on Broadway or the road, and considerably more graceful, particularly the "Ballet," danced exquisitely by Dana Stackpole and Joseph Woelfel; and there are enough catchy tunes to please even less discerning ears.

But more important, Hytner and company are so delicately attuned to the show's sad song of love, loss and redemption that they invest it with new stature; it's a magnificent achievement.

Musical director, Kevin Farrell; sets and costumes, Bob Crowley; lighting, Paul Pyant; sound, Steve Canyon Kennedy; choreography staged by Jane Elliott; fight director, David Leong; associate director, Fred Hanson; stage manager, Michael J. Passaro; general manager, 101 Prods. Ltd.; casting, Johnson-Liff Associates. Opened, reviewed July 10, 1996; runs through Aug. 25. Running time: 3 hours.