Carousel

Choreographer: Katie Louise Fry

I have to say from the outset that clearly Carousel remains a popular show with the public, judging from the size of the audience for this performance and from how well the show sold all week and that’s the most important thing in these times of austerity and falling audience figures in amateur theatre.
The orchestra under the expert guidance of Paul Nicholls were spot on and at a perfectly consistent volume for the whole show. This made the job of the sound guys so much easier and the balance of sound was excellent. A fairly simple but well put together set by Dave ‘Wally’ Walton further complimented the show as did the simple but effective lighting, I especially liked the moon projection & colour changes on the rear cyc and use of intelligent lights in the death scenes. Scene changes were quick and kept the pace of the show on track, so well done to Chris Scholey & his crew.
The opening scene was lively and full of colour; costumes were perfect for the period and complimented the fantasy nature of some scenes in the show. If anything I felt the opening scene was a little too long before we started to see the story unfold, but it was well thought through and executed by the large ensemble.
So to the players; Becky Worthy as Julie Jordan delivered a good performance with a very nice accent and believable line delivery – I thought the vocal on some of the songs was a little light in places but overall was well delivered. Lynne Terry put in a solid performance as Carrie Pipperidge with just the right amount of innocent charm. The incomparable Kath Watkins as Nettie Fowler delivered a flawless performance and impressive rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Alan Flanagan and Kris Wlodarczyk as Bascombe and Jigger Craigin respectively were both more than up to the task and a solid performance by Sue Fry as Mrs Mullin. Edward Munday’s portrayal of Enoch Snow was a delight to watch, his facial expression was superb and a lovely singing voice to boot. Finally Nick Gunn took on the momentous task of creating the character of Billy Bigelow. I was very impressed with this young actor and his ability to remain completely in character. The songs were very well delivered particularly ‘If I Loved You’ with Becky. The only comment I would add is that I would have liked to have seen a greater transition from the cocky and arrogant Bigelow we meet at the carousel, to the man he eventually becomes at the end of the show, otherwise an excellent performance.
The rest of the named characters were all believable and performed well and the chorus complimented the story well with nice and even part singing, particularly the male chorus, well done guys (I don’t often get to say this!). I did feel that there were sometimes slightly too many people on what is quite a small stage in certain scenes, but I don’t think this was detrimental to the overall performance, just made it hard to watch.
The fantasy scene with Louise and the Snow children was very well choreographed and very well interpreted by the kids, well done!
I think David, Tony & choreographer Katie Fry should be very proud of this show and judging from the volume of the audience response, particularly at the finale, the public clearly thought so too.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.