Carousel, presented by Reprise Theatre Company, opens Jan. 27; plays Tues.-Fri., 8 pm; Sat., 2 & 8 pm; Sun., 2 & 7 pm; through Feb. 7. Tickets: $70-$75. Freud Playhouse, Macgowan Hall, UCLA; 310.825.2101 or reprise.org.
March 31, 1943 began the modern era of musical theatre on Broadway when Rodgers and Hammerstein united the best assets of musical comedy, operetta and drama with their premiere of Oklahoma! that opened to unfilled theatre seats and doubting audiences. By the rousing finale audiences were on their feet and kept the musical a hit for 2,212 performances. The composer-lyricist-dramatist team continued developing the art form with a much darker story, boasting an early anti-hero in Carousel based on a story by Ferenc Molnar. Though it could not equal the success of Oklahoma! it has continued to be a favorite among artists and audiences for 65 years.
Michael Michetti
As part of its energetic growth since Jason Alexander took the reins, Reprise Theatre Company is offering this great American musical. At the helm is Michael Michetti, co-artistic director of The Theatre @ Boston Court and one of Southern California’s most sought after directors. Among Michetti’s multi-award winning credits is a double Ovation Award as director and co-producer (with Eileen T’Kaye) A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He jumped at the chance to direct Carousel, which he believes is one of the greatest musicals ever created. He explains, “The craft of the writing is astonishing and almost unmatched.”
Specifically he describes an early scene with the musical number “If I Loved You” in which anti-hero Billy Bigelow (Robert Patteri) and his elusive lady love Julie Jordan (Alexandra Silber) move from denying their feelings to deciding to marry - a far cry from typical musical comedy love scenes. Michetti continues, “Line for line the composition of that gorgeous scene doesn’t have a wasted word and somehow this long sweeping combination of dialogue and music takes you through an entire journey. It is a cliché in musical theatre about how unbelievable the falling in love moment is between lead characters. You usually devote about 45 seconds to it, then somehow have to make a commitment to the characters and their love relationship without having anything to base it on. The love relationship in Carousel is fully and richly explored.
“When they fall in love by the end of that scene it is earned and expected. You care enough about them that you are willing to go the journey with them. The score is astonishing. The book is remarkable. You could virtually remove the songs - you’d lose a lot but the book would play.”
This musical drama is extraordinary not just in the melding of music and story but in the depth of characters created. Though shows like Pal Joey have dealt with bad boys in the lead, Carousel takes the dark character to a higher level. He says, “It is obviously not the first musical with an anti-hero but is certainly an early example of a richly drawn central protagonist who is a man with great flaws. Somehow it is written in a way that we love him and want to go on this journey with him anyway. It is part of the reason the show still holds up. We’re accustomed now to see characters drawn with richer dimension and flaws - so a lot of the shows that don’t have that kind of dimension don’t hold up. All of the principal characters are richly drawn.”
Even the secondary leads are far more complicated than the normal comedy second bananas that normally fill that bill. “It is also interesting the character of Julie’s best friend Carrie (played by Jane Noseworthy) who comes out of the soubrette model is much richer, more intimate and layered than the average comic friend. It is one of those things through the decades, many community theatre or civic light opera productions sort of distill the characters to their most base form. It plays fine that way but if you choose to dig in and mine it for all of the lovely complexity of these characters, the text is there to support it.”
In addition to richly portrayed characters, Carousel explores difficult social issues. Michetti says, “One of the things I love and we will stress in this production is the New Englanders, particularly in this working class part of Maine, are not wealthy people; they are not privileged, they work in mills or docks or at the little inn.”
What could be silly songs in another context, “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “This Was a Real Nice Clambake,” are actually important events in this community. “The kinds of things they celebrate in their lives are the coming of June and having a clambake,” continues Michetti. “They have a life of austerity. A clambake is a celebration because they need that in their lives.”
Alexandra Silber and Robert Patteri
Reprise began with extremely simple, almost Readers Theatre style staging in front of an on-stage orchestra. Through the years productions have become much more elaborate and Michetti embraces the hybrid of concert and full performance. “It will be a complete staging and we are trying to conceive it within the means of the Reprise system,” he explains. “With a short rehearsal period, minimal scenic budget, orchestra on stage and minimal space you have a choice of doing too much and not doing it successfully or finding a way to conceive it so that you can fulfill the concept.
“A challenge of Carousel is that it is an enormous show. The original production had more than 60 people - far more bodies than we can afford. There are multiple settings which are usually articulated specifically for locations. There is no way we could afford to do all of that, nor was it creatively the best way to solve it. We are really paring the show back and doing it with a simple unit set and hands full of props to help us transform the stage into different locations.
“We’re making no apologies for people doubling - acknowledging the simple theatricality of it. But we do have some tricks up our sleeves in the way we can do some of the more visual spectacles - like the carousel and things the show wants yet still keep it simple and focused on the ultimately very intimate story. Huge amounts of the play are two or three person scenes that go on for long stretches. That’s all set against bigger spectacle and scenes and songs that explore the community around the central relationships. We’re hoping the paring down will allow us to focus even more on the intimacy of the central story.” Supporting Michetti are long-time Reprise collaborators, choreographer Lee Martino and musical director Darryl Archibald.
Outside of his commitment to Carousel, Michetti is highly involved at Boston Court where he is gearing up for the next season. “We’re doing a full season of world premieres this year, which is risky and exciting. I am doing a play called The 20th Century Way by Tom Jacobsen, based on a little known historical event in Long Beach in the early part of the 20th century.” The play follows two actors who juggle various roles to entrap homosexuals for “social vagrancy” in the public restrooms of 1914 Long Beach. Michetti describes it as “a wonderfully theatrical play.”
Michetti is thrilled he and his partners at Boston Court (including co-Artistic Director Jessica Kubzansky) are part of the tremendous arts growth in Pasadena. In addition to the long established Pasadena Playhouse, the Furious Theatre Company has become integral to the city’s theatrical scene. Now they open arms to their friends from A Noise Within who plan to bring their classical edge to the scene. Michetti has worked with several of these companies and is thrilled. “There is no conflict at all; the more the merrier.”
Feature image of Victoria Strong (center) and story image by John Ganun
Article by Tom Provenzano
