From What I Hear, Girls, This Was The Most Gorgeous Offering Of The Current Theater Season!!!!!!!!!

                               No, darlings, I did not get in to see the NY Philharmonic's "Carousel," so, like so many of my girls out there, I will just have to wait, with baited breath, for April 26, when PBS will broadcast it nationally.  There is no other musical like "Carousel," as few shows I know have the ability to simultaneously lift your spirits, and tear you apart emotionally, like this one does.  I can never get through a listening of "If I Loved You," without tearing up, when Billy gets to, "Soon you'd leave me/Off you would go, in the mist of day."  Such brilliant lyric writing, and so heartbreaking!  It is almost too much to stand.  And how about the last part of "When The Children Are Asleep," with Carrie's and Enoch' voices blending from "When today is a long time ago....?" oh, my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And don't even get me started with "You'll Never Walk Alone."  Fortunately, I have never been called upon to sing it, because I know, sure as anything, that once I got to, "At the end of the storm, is a golden sky/And the sweet, silver song of a lark," I would lose it, as I have every time I have sat through a performance of "Carousel," a show that manages to get under my skin, and for which I have a personal relation--I  did my Master's Thesis on the show, back in 1982.

                             Julie Jordan has been described by some as having the soul of a poet.  I would agree, and I think for those whom "Carousel" most keenly works its magic also have poetic souls as well.  Which, by definition is both a blessing and a curse--poetic souls tend to feel things more keenly, so when they feel love it is exulting, but when they experience pain, it is often more crushing than for the average person.

                                 Which is why, much as I adore "Carousel", I don't dare listen to it too often.  From those sinister opening notes, you know that, despite the romance, this is going to be a "dark musical," and that darkness is often highlighted by Rodgers' exquisite music.  So I know that come, April 26, when I watch the Philharmonic "Carousel" with Jesse Mueller as Carrie, and Jason Danieley as the hottest looking Enoch Snow ever to be cast in that role, to say nothing of Kelli 0'Hara's Julie, and Nathan Gunn's Billy, I will experience a simultaneous sense of excitement and terror, but will be too enraptured to turn it off.

                                    "Carousel" is one of those shows (like "Follies," another "dark musical") that stands almost as a litmus test for Theater Queens.  Those who take that ride do so at the risk, like the young Louise Bigelow, of being uncontrollably swept away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        Which is why it is such a work of genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!