Carousel, review: bold but disappointing attempt to modernise a problematic classic

How do you solve a problem like Carousel? Rodgers and Hammerstein’s golden score is unhappily shackled to a dodgy tale that makes a hero out of a wife-beater. While many revivals concentrate on the New England aesthetics and lush songs, tiptoeing around the violence, Timothy Sheader takes the opposite approach in his radical reimagining – with mixed results.

He relocates the action from 1870s Maine to a 20th-century English seaside town; the cast keep their varied natural accents. The story still focuses on the troubled union of carousel barker Billy Bigelow and mill worker Julie Jordan, but the idea is to remove all cosy distancing. A programme article from charity Refuge cites grim statistics about the rise of domestic abuse during the pandemic.

Regent’s Park has become the hot venue for interrogating classic musicals, and Sheader is reunited here with his Jesus Christ Superstar creative team. But this Carousel just keeps bumping up against the source material. The change in setting is unconvincing: why would a British Billy talk about “cops” and becoming President of the United States?

Likewise, it’s admirable that Sheader tries to centre the women. But while Billy has the psychologically rich Soliloquy, Julie’s equivalent song is a bleak acquiescence to a brutal marriage. She’s too thinly written to become the driving force. Most bizarrely, the revised ending undercuts Billy’s redemptive arc. Yes, it’s problematic in 2021 to let him off the hook entirely, but can’t a flawed human being find a moment of grace in forgiveness? This gloomy update isn’t drastic enough to transform the original; it merely muddles it.

Still, Carly Bawden is a coolly self-possessed Julie, Christina Modestou a comic force as Carrie, John Pfumojena brings zeal to Enoch’s grand plans, and Craig Armstrong, stepping in for a Covid-pinged castmate, is a menacing Jigger – the embodiment of toxic masculinity.

Joanna Riding, who played Julie in the landmark 1992 National Theatre revival, graduates to a plain-speaking Nettie. Her steely You’ll Never Walk Alone is a highlight. But too often, the band overwhelms the singers, especially Declan Bennett’s Billy, whose vocals are ragged and rough-edged.

Tom Deering’s new orchestrations, led by a brass band and electric guitar, match the production’s emphasis on working people, though some will mourn the loss of those lush strings. Tom Scutt’s striking design features a revolve, which aids crisp transitions and evokes the titular carousel.

But most effective is Drew McOnie’s visceral movement – grounded, organic, showing the physical strenuousness of labour and riotous moments of escape. The second-act ballet becomes a thrilling dance-drama, starkly lit by Aideen Malone, and with Natasha May-Thomas making a dynamic stage debut as the tormented Louise. The press night downpour only added to the ambience here, the dancers’ shoes squelching as they hurled themselves into McOnie’s expressive work. But otherwise, this reworked Carousel is something of a damp squib.

Until Sept 25. Tickets: 0333 400 3562; openairtheatre.com