Carousel

The second Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration, Carousel, opened on Broadway in 1945, followed by a West End Opening in 1950 and is still popular amongst theatre goers to this day.

Many societies use the opening Carousel Waltz as an overture, house curtains closed, and giving the audience time to settle- not so with Morecambe Amateur`s production, showing a real understanding of the history of the show, where no overture was actually written for it. Steve Chesters treated us to a montage of carni-folk, each with their own story to tell- whether it be the children excited to be at the fair or the barkers rustling up custom, the ensemble took on their parts, giving some great characterisation , leading us then into the main story.

Alice Helm and Paul Knowles took on the leading roles of the lovers, Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow. Alice`s Julie was a delight to watch, and heavenly to listen to, taking on every facet of the role, her duet with Billy was one of the highlights.

Paul took on the difficult role of Billy, the proud, violent, antihero barker. Paul demonstrated Billy`s aggression and arrogance with aplomb, and should be applauded for it, but the deep south accent made it difficult to understand what he was saying a lot of the time. I didn`t find the relationship convincing enough, and struggled to see why Julie and Billy were so infatuated with each other- they both worked tirelessly to make it work, but for me, it didn`t quite click.

Ashleigh Hartin as Carrie Pipperidge and James Shields as Mr Snow gave charming performances, working really well together, and well matched both vocally and in their comic timing. James` take on Enoch was a little more imposing than other Enoch`s I have seen, and took me a little time to settle into, as normally the character is played as having quite a quite self-effacing demeanour. Their “When the children are asleep” was captivating, and Ashleigh showed her understanding of comic timing in her explanation of a New York show, and when being taught self defence by Jigger.

Jigger Craigin, Billy`s “friend” and ne`er do well sailor, was played by Ray Jenkinson. For me, Jigger is one of those roles that has an underlying menace about it, a disquieting presence which unsettles the audience as much as the characters he interacts with onstage-basically a sinister character with the occasional comic line, not the other way round. Whilst I didn`t think it fitting to play it this way, if this was the Director`s vision of the role, then Ray carried off with complete conviction.

Gail Bowskill did a splendid job of playing Mrs Mullin, the jealous ex-boss of Billy, squeezing every ounce from the role.

Mandie Doherty showed the kind, loving side of Nettie Fowler- great stage presence, topped off with moving rendition of “You`ll never walk alone”.

Alongside the principal characters were a host of supporting cast members, including Ian Newman, Tony Hindle and Phil Huddart as the Heavenly Friend, Starkeeper and Captain respectively.

Chorus members were kept on their toes with plenty of great numbers to get their teeth into, with movement to match, seamlessly moving from scene to scene, using both chorus and stage crew to take us there. This seems to be a staple of a Steve Chester`s production, and I for one am glad of it, as there`s nothing worse than an audience sitting waiting for a scene change to happen, any of the crossovers were integral to the plot and worked well.

Staging, lighting and sound were good and complimentary, as you now come to expect from a trip to Lancaster Grand

Orchestra, principals and chorus sounded great under the more than capable baton of Musical Director, Joanna Jeffreys.

Director and Choreographer Steve Chesters had obviously worked the cast hard, and should be immensely proud of this production and everything he achieved with it. The ballet sequence between Louise and the Carnival Boy (Edie Gilgun-May and Brandon Hunter) was, quite simply exquisite.

Thank you Morecambe Amateurs, for your hospitality and an enjoyable evening.

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