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Carousel
Presented by: Diamond Valley Singers
Venue: Warrandyte High School Theatre
Reviewer: Gavin Dean
Date Reviewed: Friday 3rd July 2009
After their smash hit OKLAHOMA! Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote
Carousel. Adapted from Ferenc Molnar's 1909 play Liliom,
transplanting the Budapest setting of Molnar's play to a New England
fishing village. The original production opened on Broadway on
April 19, 1945, and ran for 890 performances. The musical has
enjoyed award-winning revivals (particularly the 1994 revival at the
Vivian Beaumont Theatre) and has been adapted as a Cinemascope 55
film in 1956 and as a made-for-television special on videotape in
1967. It is particularly well-regarded among musicals by the theatre
community, and Richard Rodgers, in his autobiography Musical Stages,
said it was his favorite musical. Time magazine named it the best
musical of the 20th century.
Diamond Valley Singers is a very interesting company. After talking
to a few of its members, I discovered that none of the ensemble
members are auditioned for the show. Only principle roles are
auditioned for. If you are a member of Diamond valley singers you
automatically get into the show! The show opened with a half
carousel set down stage left and trees on the stage, neither which
left the stage for the entire show. We are introduced to Billy
Bigalow, a carousel barked, played by Gerard Schneider. Schneider
commanded the stage whenever he was on it and had a very strong
voice that is needed for the part of Billy.
Esther Counsel at only 19 years of age portrayed Julie Jorden,
Billy's love interest. Esther has a beautiful voice and their duet
of If I Loved You was one of the shows highlights. Counsel lacked
the maturity to successfully convince me that she was a beaten wife
left with a child when her husband committed suicide. Counsel
defiantly has a successful track ahead of her.
Othon Charalambous, gave us a rather nervous Enoch Snow. I liked
this interpretation of a difficult character, and his pure tenor
voice was a delight to listen to. The stand out of the show was
Michelle Crupi as Carrie Pipperidge, Crupi played the role with
finesse. With an amazing voice, great comic timing Crupi worked the
stage with ease and a delight to watch. Minor roles were Nettie
Fowler played by Judith O'Shea, David Bascombe played by Brad
Cunningham, Jigger Craigen played by Alan Flint and Mrs. Mullins
played by Loris McLean.
I
was unconvinced by their portrayals. O'Shea gave us a lovely
rendition of you'll never walk alone. Ian Lowe, Musical Director
gave us a full and rich sound from the ensemble and some beautiful
harmonies. The cast were backed by the 31 strong piece Eltham
Orchestra. I'm not sure if it was opening night jitters or a lack of
rehearsal time, but the Orchestra were all over the shop for Act
One.
Act
two was a lot tighter. In a show that has so much underscoring,
coming in and out of song you need to have a very tight sound. The
cast had to work very hard at keeping time and at keeping their
place in the score. Marie -Louise Wright conducted the Orchestra.
Susan Tan was the choreographer and bought in her own students for a
specialized piece in June Is Busting Out All Over. The entire cast
was on stage for this number and with the ballet school they
numbered nearly 50. Although most of the choreography was unoriginal
and for the most part had the ensemble standing in a semi circle all
doing the same movements, The Ballet in Act two where Billy gets to
see his daughter at age 15 was a highlight.
Cristen Adams, who played the older Louise and Ben Geddes did an
outstanding job in the Ballet. Susan had the ballet girls come our
dressed as like the horses on the Carousel which was very effective.
Coupled with the snow children the youngest played by the extremely
cute Georgina Perkins, the scene was by far the best in the show.
Directors Lynne Counsel and Graham Ford could have turned this show
into something great. Having the first 20 minutes set downstage near
the doors where the audience comes in was not the best of ideas.
From where I was sitting it looked like Julie sang If I Loved You
with an exit sign over her head. Using the cast to take sets off
with them would have saved scene change time as well. Lighting
design by Michael Blake was simple but effective. The sound was
overall very even thanks to Dianne Richter and Robyn Mulder. Diamond
Valley Singers is a true community theatre company where it gives
everyone a go. Everyone looked to be having a great time. Well done.
Gavin has been involved in theatre for the past 26 years, reining
from Geelong where he played such roles as Jud Fry in Oklahoma! Juan
Peron in Evita, he moved to Melbourne over 10 years ago and has
performed in "Into the Woods as the Baker, Jeffrey in Godspell and
Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Having performed in over 30
productions, Gavin went onto direct Hot Mikado for Nightowl
Productions for which he received a Guild Judges award. Gavin has
also directed several productions for Loyola Musical Society and has
just finished performing in MLOC's Production of Beauty and the
Beast featuring as Cogsworth the clock.
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