Carousel is a musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) that was 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 show included the hit musical numbers If I Loved You, June Is Bustin' Out All Over, and You'll Never Walk Alone. Carousel was innovative for its time, being one of the first musicals to contain a tragic plot.
The musical has enjoyed award-winning revivals (particularly the 1994 revival at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre) and has been adapted as a Cinemascope 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.
Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which was based on Ferenc Molnar's Liliom. The movie stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King.
In this remake of the 1956 film, Hugh Jackman plays a carnival barker named Billy Bigelow. His temper puts him in a bad situation of a botched robbery and ultimately leads to his death. Stuck in purgatory, he is given a single day to return to earth and fix his left over problems, one of them being a teenager with the same attitude he had. Written by Jeremy
What you are about to witness is a fear seed from the sleepless nights of children. In a moonlit room, the shadows on the faces of toys can reflect the macabre. Adulthood shatters the notion that inamate objects can attain life when you are not looking. But what if...one night you wake to the piercing tune of a carousel. Written by Anonymous
Billy Bigelow asks for permission to be sent down "from above" for one day to try and make amends for mistakes he made in life. Billy worked at the carnival as a carousel barker, which is where he met Julie. The carousel owner, Mrs. Mullin, fired him because of jealousy, and he and Julie got married. Billy got into bad habits when he couldn't find a job and they were forced to live with Julie's cousin Nettie after Julie was fired from her factory job for staying out late with Billy. When Julie told him she was pregnant, he felt compelled to somehow find a way to support his family, but the only option seemed to be falling back into crime with his old pal Jigger. Written by Ed Sutton
