Carousel Review

So saw the Broadway Revival of Rodger's & Hammerstein's Carousel last night at the Imperial Theater. (Sitting in those seats for 2 hours and 45 minutes reiterated why I will not be seeing Angels in America. The seats had less leg room than an airplane or an amusement park ride. I had to sit with my legs open and sat ramrod straight. There was no where for them to go. Also no room to put on or off sweater..). That said -- we scored amazing orchestra seats for $51. (In actuality the seats go for $232. But my friend managed to score cheap tickets. We were both amazed.)

It's an old theater, so the seats have no leg room and are made for tiny people and many of the people in the audience were tiny and twenty years older than me. (I'm 51.) But there were a lot of younger people too -- they were in the Mezzaine section.


This is one of Roders & Hammerstein's darker and more controversial musicals. It's not light like Sound of Music. The story is about a Carnival Barker who falls in love, marries a local gal, and then runs into some criminal trouble, commits suicide and gets a chance to return to earth and try to make things right for one person. Also, he hits his wife -- so there's a bit of domestic violence in there. Politically correct, it's not. And they chose to go with interracial casting for the first time...in well forever. Joshua Henry, an African-American Actor, plays the role of Billy Bigelow, the Carousel Barker, while Jesse Mueller, plays Julie Jordan, Margret Colin, the runner of the Carousel, and Renee Fleming the part of the older woman who befriends Julie. The musical is really Henry's or Bigelow's -- who we follow throughout, although he is the weakest character in the story.

Henry brings a stage charisma and voice to the role that rivals and blows Gordon McRae out of the water.

Here's Henry's show-stopping rendition of Soliquey -- when Billy learns he's about to be a father. Henry's performance of this number brought me to tears.
You have to listen to all of it though.

Here's another presentation of the musical performances with Renee Fleming, Lindsey Mendez, Joshua Henry, and Jesse Mueller.

The entire presentation though was well-done. Exceeded our expectations...we really weren't certain what we'd get. The Tony presentation was so-so. But this was so well done. With beautiful voices, and great dance numbers.

If you get the chance to see the revival, I highly recommend it.

Next up? We're trying to get similarly priced tickets for SpongeBob Square Pants. LOL!

2. In other news, I'm following my cousin and uncle's posts on FB about the raising and care of monarch butterflies. Also how to get around those pesky tachnid flies, which are actually necessary to get rid of other pests. My uncles was going to get them to organically get rid of other pests, but chose to go with praying mantis instead.

I do love my family.

Was telling my mother, who said she wasn't the best parent, did all these things wrong, and I said, well...after watching this week's Yellowstone, I actually feel pretty lucky.
Also, I wouldn't trade my parents for anyone's I've met or know. Seriously, every single friend or acquaintance had far worse parents...you guys look like saints in comparison.

Mother: That can't be true.

Me: Weirdly, it is. I'm insanely lucky.