Minnesota Orchestra gives ‘Carousel’ a fine spin

Conductor Sarah Hicks (Courtesy photo: Greg Helgeson)

PUBLISHED: March 18, 2015 at 11:01 p.m.

Bye-bye, Bob Neu. If you’ve enjoyed any of the Minnesota Orchestra’s semi-staged presentations over the past two decades (like its popular Sommerfest opera finale), you can thank director Robert Neu. Whether for the Minnesota Orchestra or Skylark Opera, a Neu show always features tightly choreographed movement, cleverly concocted stage business and vivid characterizations throughout the cast. But Neu has left his post as the Minnesota Orchestra’s general manager for a position with the Colorado Symphony, so this weekend’s presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “Carousel” is the theatrical swan song of his Minnesota Orchestra tenure.

If that sounds a little sentimental, it’s appropriate, since musicals don’t get much more tear-tugging than “Carousel.” The tale of love and loss in a Maine fishing village has some of Richard Rodgers’ most moving music, including the beautiful ballad, “If I Loved You,” the tour de force “Soliloquy,” and one of the great lump-in-the-throat producers, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Thursday’s midday first performance at Orchestra Hall had a Neu production’s customary energy and ensemble of richly developed characters. It’s an entertaining staging that overcomes the musical’s shortcomings with some strong singing and a fine performance by conductor Sarah Hicks and the orchestra.

That said, “Carousel” is a problematic work. You may come away wondering what Time magazine was thinking in calling it “the best musical of the 20th century.” Its male lead is an abusive lout, its ingenue undeveloped and the story moves slowly, lingering too long in set pieces and inconsequential encounters. But it’s a rare pleasure to hear a really good orchestra playing the “Carousel Waltz” and supporting the singers splendidly.

Gabriel Preisser displays appropriately uncertain swagger and a gentle yet powerful voice as Billy Bigelow; while Sarah Lawrence makes his mill worker amour, Julie Jordan, as endearing as the slim script allows, her soprano smooth in its middle range but a little thin when the notes are high and held. Kersten Rodau and Paul R. Coate do marvelous things with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s music as the secondary couple.

Penelope Freeh creates impressive choreography and executes it gracefully as Louise, her second-act seaside ballet the most magical scene in an otherwise earthy musical about romance, poverty, violence and death. By the end, Rodgers’ music is so effective in its emotional button-pushing that even a cynic is advised to bring tissues.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at rhubbard@pioneerpress.com.

Capsule: Nothing semi- about this staging’s spirit.

Minnesota Orchestra’s ‘Carousel’ is all about the music

Minnesota State Fair carousel Nikki Tundel/MPR

When the lights went up at Orchestra Hall for intermission at yesterday’s matinee performance of Carousel, the woman sitting next to me sighed. “Things were so much simpler,” she said, “in the days of those old musicals.”

Well, yes — in a sense. There weren’t any smartphones, sure, but there was unemployment, there was sexual harassment, and there was death. When it came to things like domestic violence, today’s viewers of the 1945 musical might be inclined to think, a little more simplicity might not have been a bad idea. You know, just a bit of moral clarity around whether someone can hit you in a way that shows he really loves you.

Carousel is a landmark of American musical theater, a masterwork from the era when artists like Rogers and Hammerstein were demonstrating that Broadway musicals could have operatic scope and depth. As in an opera, Rogers’s orchestra is an independent voice in Carousel; songs stop, start, reverse, and recur, deployed not just as song-and-dance interludes but as flexible thematic material.

That depth of expression was required to make Carousel work at all: it’s a thorny tale centering on Billy Bigelow, an antihero who beats his wife (whether hitting her once counts as “beating” her is a matter of repeated debate) and who isn’t given many redeeming qualities to offset his many shortcomings.

Everything is ambiguous here: Billy quits his job as a seedy carnival barker to marry a nice young lady, but it may well be that he should have just kept it. He’s a victim of an act of violence that could have been portrayed as noble, but instead is regarded to be pathetic. His story arc involves a redemption, but it’s a redemption that’s given, not earned.

Stiff stuff, despite being presented among joyful songs like “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” and hopeful hymns like the classic “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Carousel has all the ingredients of a feel-good family saga, but Rogers and Hammerstein were cooking with the heat of hellfire.

The semi-staged production now being presented by the Minnesota Orchestra under the confident baton of Sarah Hicks —there are three more performances, and tonight’s will be broadcast live by Classical MPR starting at 8:00 p.m. — does the orchestra the service of lifting them out of the pit. The audience gets the treat of hearing and seeing the players at center stage, where the details of Rogers’s brilliant score come to life.

The downside of this arrangement is that it throws off the balance between the orchestra and the singers, who wear body mics to make up the difference. Yesterday, there was wide variability in how effectively this was done, but hopefully the sound problems were just a matter of ironing some kinks out before the weekend performances.

Preisser’s Billy is introspective and gruff; he effectively conveys the character’s inner torture, though he’s such a forbidding figure that I had to stretch my imagination to find a spark of romance between him and his bride Julie (a charming Sarah Lawrence, who summons great emotion in the final scene). Preisser has a huge voice, and he’s utterly commanding in his epic “Soliloquy,” one of the most distinctive numbers in Carousel. Rodau and Coate are fine actors as well as singers, and present a winning counterpoint to the weighty woes of the star-crossed leads.

This semi-staged production, directed by Robert Neu, is staged enough that there’s quite a bit of dance; the choreographer Penelope Freeh shows up onstage herself in the character of young Louise, dancing a duet (with Matthew Keefe) that nicely balances classical precision with Broadway flair.

In a work as complex and challenging as Carousel, no single production can pretend to be definitive. While other productions might bring out more of the dramatic subtleties of this material, the Minnesota Orchestra’s version puts the music first, making a strong case for the underappreciated skills of Rodgers as not just a melodist but a master of orchestral arrangement. You have to hear this music to believe it, and Hicks and her band make certain you do.

by Jay Gabler

Digital Producer, MPR

Minnesota Orchestra performance of ‘Carousel’ is mixed

Rich portrayals and score overshadowed by dated story, too-loud orchestra.

By William Randall Beard

Special to the Star Tribune

MARCH 19, 2015 — 7:55PM

I understand why Minnesota Orchestra chose Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” to inaugurate its new annual series of musical theater performances. Of all the classical musicals, this has one of the richest scores.

Gone are the familiar 16-bar tunes in favor of songs with complicated sections of melodies. There are also plenty of opportunities for the orchestra to shine, including “The Carousel Waltz” and a ballet in Act II.

But it’s difficult to sit through the book, which is overly long and melodramatic, and ultimately misogynistic in its Neanderthal justification of spousal abuse, suggesting that sometimes a slap can feel like a kiss.

That said, director Robert Neu stages a strong production — not semi-staged, as the orchestra usually presents such works, but a fully staged rendition that serves the play and the audience well.

The cast of talented singing actors delivered a spirited performance.

Gabriel Preisser makes an ideal Billy Bigelow. He is sexy and passionate, but rough and brutish as well.

He also has a mellifluous baritone that makes the most of his extended “Soliloquy.” Paul R. Coate was the other strong vocalist, bringing a robust tenor, and perfectly capturing the stuffed shirt Mr. Snow.

As the female leads, Sarah Lawrence as Julie Jordan and Kersten Rodau as Carrie Pipperidge, were nicely contrasted as the romantic lead and the second banana. Lawrence’s warm soprano successfully negotiated the ballads, “If I Loved You” and “What’s the Use of Wonderin,’ ” while Rodau added a nice bit of comedy.

Kathleen Humphrey sang with an excessive vibrato, but her rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was deeply moving.

Ironically, the biggest problem was the orchestra itself. Conductor Sarah Hicks allowed the orchestra to play so loudly that it became a distraction — the focus of the performance rather than an accompaniment. As a result, the singers had to be miked so loudly that the voices came off sounding artificial.

The ballet was dramatically inert, dragging out the second act. Even Penelope Freeh’s choreography, and her fine performance, could not inspire much interest.

Despite these criticisms, the inspiring ending brought tears. For those who can accept the show’s limitations, this can be a satisfying performance.