Carousel
Tue, 13 Aug 2002, 12:49 amWalter Plinge2 posts in thread
Carousel
Tue, 13 Aug 2002, 12:49 amWHAT: Carousel
WHEN: Thursday, August 8 (2002)
WHERE: Marloo Theatre (Darlington, WA)
A strange combination of ballet, soccer and parable, Marloo Theatre's latest production was certainly well put together. For the first 7 or 8 minutes we were treated to an old-fashioned fairground on stage. Complete with clowns, belly dancers, jugglers, unicyclists, carnival barkers and of course, a fully-functional carousel, the costumes, music, lights, set and overall production design were dazzling. Ten out of ten for spectacle.
On the other hand, the story left a bit to be desired. It concerns carnival barker Billy Bigalow (Joe Isaia) who falls for a beautiful local girl, Julie. The owner of the Carnival, Mrs Mullin (Raelene Cover) doesn't take kindly to this (because she's sweet on Billy herself) so she fires him. Unable to find work, Billy falls in with the wrong crowd, is talked into taking part in a robbery that goes horribly wrong, then kills himself rather than going to jail. In order to get into Heaven (even if it's only via the tradesman's entrance) he has one chance to go back to Earth to DO SOME GOOD. I don't quite understand how soccer figures into it, but they all stand around singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", led very nicely by Neroli Burton, after Billy croaks.
Upon closer consideration, it's not a very nice story at all: Local lad gets fired, can't find work, turns sullen and violent, hits his wife, starts hanging around with the local thug, is coerced into armed robbery, stuffs that up and takes the coward's way out rather than facing up to the responsibility of his actions. "I don't feel like going to jail or being there for my pregnant wife, so I think I'll top myself." Loser.
Well. Sorry to be harsh. If we simply accept the fact that, like most musicals, any semblance of a plot is merely a device to string some catchy tunes together, then Carousel works pretty well. We just have to remember that it was written in a different age, governed by different beliefs and precepts (many of them crap). For instance, Billy's daughter (grown into a teenager - time passes differently in heaven, even at the gates - it's complicated....) asks her mother, "Is it possible to be hit by someone - really hard - and for it not to hurt at all?" Mother simply smiles and reminisces.
What we take away from this, boys and girls, is that it's okay to hit someone as long as you really love them.
Sorry, sorry, it must be the month for plays about how badly our forebears behaved. As I said before, if you can ignore the cringeworthy plot, the show is a lot of fun. Joe Isaia makes the perfect Billy, even though Billy may well be the stupidest man on the face of the planet: When addressing the beautiful Julie and Carrie in the forest, he says, "One of you will have to go home - what could I possibly do with two of you?" (Shall I leave this one to Schulze?)
Carrie (Julie's best friend) was played to the hilt by the lovely Kylie Isaia, who had most of the best lines and an amusing repertoire of stunned expressions. Catherine Lowenhoff played Julie, and spent most of her time being sad. Good characterisation, strong presence, remarkably and convincingly independent for a girl of the 1870s, with a lovely, powerful voice, Catherine placed this production on solid ground.
The three leads were great. I know nothing about music or singing, but they seemed to carry the tunes very well and had no trouble being heard over the backing music. Some of the other singers had trouble competing against the music - particularly the male chorus which was weaker than the female chorus (but that almost goes without saying in musicals, doesn't it?)
I liked Keith Wale as a ratty Russell Crowe lookalike - perfect as the villain who leads dumb-old-Billy astray. David Isaacson did an excellent job as one of the angels, and a more perfect piece of casting could not have been conceived with Buddy Clark as the other angel. He may be diminutive, but that stage belongs to HIM.
Katrina Merritt danced for ages in a lovely self-choreographed ballet, playing Billy and Julie's grown-up daughter, Louise. The gorgeous Lisa Skrypichayko stood out from the chorus with an hilarious solo about wifely duties. I was also very impressed with two young chorus members playing sweepers (there's that soccer analogy again) in a funny scene where they pretend not to be listening to Julie's lament. One of the girls looks a bit like Sophie Ellis Bextor, while the other (I think her name is Brittany) has a gorgeous mop of red hair and looks a little like Amanda Chesterton - except she was playing a girl. Absolutely stunning stage presence - she commanded the stage whenever she was on.
As I said before, a stunning spectacle of a show - the time, effort (and money!) really showed. Pity about the plot, but that's down to Rodgers & Hammerstein. Act 1 was maybe five minutes too long (I just started to feel it towards the end) and Act 2 seemed to finish a bit abruptly, but again, that's the script. Congratulations to all involved, especially the director, the delightful Christine Lowenhoff (whom I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't recognise at first due to her new hairstyle and not being in her Nun's habit). If you have a paranoid phobia about clowns (I've never been the same since "Poltergeist"), it's probably best you stay away. Otherwise, you might just scrape up a ticket for the final week.
JB
WHEN: Thursday, August 8 (2002)
WHERE: Marloo Theatre (Darlington, WA)
A strange combination of ballet, soccer and parable, Marloo Theatre's latest production was certainly well put together. For the first 7 or 8 minutes we were treated to an old-fashioned fairground on stage. Complete with clowns, belly dancers, jugglers, unicyclists, carnival barkers and of course, a fully-functional carousel, the costumes, music, lights, set and overall production design were dazzling. Ten out of ten for spectacle.
On the other hand, the story left a bit to be desired. It concerns carnival barker Billy Bigalow (Joe Isaia) who falls for a beautiful local girl, Julie. The owner of the Carnival, Mrs Mullin (Raelene Cover) doesn't take kindly to this (because she's sweet on Billy herself) so she fires him. Unable to find work, Billy falls in with the wrong crowd, is talked into taking part in a robbery that goes horribly wrong, then kills himself rather than going to jail. In order to get into Heaven (even if it's only via the tradesman's entrance) he has one chance to go back to Earth to DO SOME GOOD. I don't quite understand how soccer figures into it, but they all stand around singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", led very nicely by Neroli Burton, after Billy croaks.
Upon closer consideration, it's not a very nice story at all: Local lad gets fired, can't find work, turns sullen and violent, hits his wife, starts hanging around with the local thug, is coerced into armed robbery, stuffs that up and takes the coward's way out rather than facing up to the responsibility of his actions. "I don't feel like going to jail or being there for my pregnant wife, so I think I'll top myself." Loser.
Well. Sorry to be harsh. If we simply accept the fact that, like most musicals, any semblance of a plot is merely a device to string some catchy tunes together, then Carousel works pretty well. We just have to remember that it was written in a different age, governed by different beliefs and precepts (many of them crap). For instance, Billy's daughter (grown into a teenager - time passes differently in heaven, even at the gates - it's complicated....) asks her mother, "Is it possible to be hit by someone - really hard - and for it not to hurt at all?" Mother simply smiles and reminisces.
What we take away from this, boys and girls, is that it's okay to hit someone as long as you really love them.
Sorry, sorry, it must be the month for plays about how badly our forebears behaved. As I said before, if you can ignore the cringeworthy plot, the show is a lot of fun. Joe Isaia makes the perfect Billy, even though Billy may well be the stupidest man on the face of the planet: When addressing the beautiful Julie and Carrie in the forest, he says, "One of you will have to go home - what could I possibly do with two of you?" (Shall I leave this one to Schulze?)
Carrie (Julie's best friend) was played to the hilt by the lovely Kylie Isaia, who had most of the best lines and an amusing repertoire of stunned expressions. Catherine Lowenhoff played Julie, and spent most of her time being sad. Good characterisation, strong presence, remarkably and convincingly independent for a girl of the 1870s, with a lovely, powerful voice, Catherine placed this production on solid ground.
The three leads were great. I know nothing about music or singing, but they seemed to carry the tunes very well and had no trouble being heard over the backing music. Some of the other singers had trouble competing against the music - particularly the male chorus which was weaker than the female chorus (but that almost goes without saying in musicals, doesn't it?)
I liked Keith Wale as a ratty Russell Crowe lookalike - perfect as the villain who leads dumb-old-Billy astray. David Isaacson did an excellent job as one of the angels, and a more perfect piece of casting could not have been conceived with Buddy Clark as the other angel. He may be diminutive, but that stage belongs to HIM.
Katrina Merritt danced for ages in a lovely self-choreographed ballet, playing Billy and Julie's grown-up daughter, Louise. The gorgeous Lisa Skrypichayko stood out from the chorus with an hilarious solo about wifely duties. I was also very impressed with two young chorus members playing sweepers (there's that soccer analogy again) in a funny scene where they pretend not to be listening to Julie's lament. One of the girls looks a bit like Sophie Ellis Bextor, while the other (I think her name is Brittany) has a gorgeous mop of red hair and looks a little like Amanda Chesterton - except she was playing a girl. Absolutely stunning stage presence - she commanded the stage whenever she was on.
As I said before, a stunning spectacle of a show - the time, effort (and money!) really showed. Pity about the plot, but that's down to Rodgers & Hammerstein. Act 1 was maybe five minutes too long (I just started to feel it towards the end) and Act 2 seemed to finish a bit abruptly, but again, that's the script. Congratulations to all involved, especially the director, the delightful Christine Lowenhoff (whom I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't recognise at first due to her new hairstyle and not being in her Nun's habit). If you have a paranoid phobia about clowns (I've never been the same since "Poltergeist"), it's probably best you stay away. Otherwise, you might just scrape up a ticket for the final week.
JB
Walter PlingeTue, 13 Aug 2002, 12:49 am
WHAT: Carousel
WHEN: Thursday, August 8 (2002)
WHERE: Marloo Theatre (Darlington, WA)
A strange combination of ballet, soccer and parable, Marloo Theatre's latest production was certainly well put together. For the first 7 or 8 minutes we were treated to an old-fashioned fairground on stage. Complete with clowns, belly dancers, jugglers, unicyclists, carnival barkers and of course, a fully-functional carousel, the costumes, music, lights, set and overall production design were dazzling. Ten out of ten for spectacle.
On the other hand, the story left a bit to be desired. It concerns carnival barker Billy Bigalow (Joe Isaia) who falls for a beautiful local girl, Julie. The owner of the Carnival, Mrs Mullin (Raelene Cover) doesn't take kindly to this (because she's sweet on Billy herself) so she fires him. Unable to find work, Billy falls in with the wrong crowd, is talked into taking part in a robbery that goes horribly wrong, then kills himself rather than going to jail. In order to get into Heaven (even if it's only via the tradesman's entrance) he has one chance to go back to Earth to DO SOME GOOD. I don't quite understand how soccer figures into it, but they all stand around singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", led very nicely by Neroli Burton, after Billy croaks.
Upon closer consideration, it's not a very nice story at all: Local lad gets fired, can't find work, turns sullen and violent, hits his wife, starts hanging around with the local thug, is coerced into armed robbery, stuffs that up and takes the coward's way out rather than facing up to the responsibility of his actions. "I don't feel like going to jail or being there for my pregnant wife, so I think I'll top myself." Loser.
Well. Sorry to be harsh. If we simply accept the fact that, like most musicals, any semblance of a plot is merely a device to string some catchy tunes together, then Carousel works pretty well. We just have to remember that it was written in a different age, governed by different beliefs and precepts (many of them crap). For instance, Billy's daughter (grown into a teenager - time passes differently in heaven, even at the gates - it's complicated....) asks her mother, "Is it possible to be hit by someone - really hard - and for it not to hurt at all?" Mother simply smiles and reminisces.
What we take away from this, boys and girls, is that it's okay to hit someone as long as you really love them.
Sorry, sorry, it must be the month for plays about how badly our forebears behaved. As I said before, if you can ignore the cringeworthy plot, the show is a lot of fun. Joe Isaia makes the perfect Billy, even though Billy may well be the stupidest man on the face of the planet: When addressing the beautiful Julie and Carrie in the forest, he says, "One of you will have to go home - what could I possibly do with two of you?" (Shall I leave this one to Schulze?)
Carrie (Julie's best friend) was played to the hilt by the lovely Kylie Isaia, who had most of the best lines and an amusing repertoire of stunned expressions. Catherine Lowenhoff played Julie, and spent most of her time being sad. Good characterisation, strong presence, remarkably and convincingly independent for a girl of the 1870s, with a lovely, powerful voice, Catherine placed this production on solid ground.
The three leads were great. I know nothing about music or singing, but they seemed to carry the tunes very well and had no trouble being heard over the backing music. Some of the other singers had trouble competing against the music - particularly the male chorus which was weaker than the female chorus (but that almost goes without saying in musicals, doesn't it?)
I liked Keith Wale as a ratty Russell Crowe lookalike - perfect as the villain who leads dumb-old-Billy astray. David Isaacson did an excellent job as one of the angels, and a more perfect piece of casting could not have been conceived with Buddy Clark as the other angel. He may be diminutive, but that stage belongs to HIM.
Katrina Merritt danced for ages in a lovely self-choreographed ballet, playing Billy and Julie's grown-up daughter, Louise. The gorgeous Lisa Skrypichayko stood out from the chorus with an hilarious solo about wifely duties. I was also very impressed with two young chorus members playing sweepers (there's that soccer analogy again) in a funny scene where they pretend not to be listening to Julie's lament. One of the girls looks a bit like Sophie Ellis Bextor, while the other (I think her name is Brittany) has a gorgeous mop of red hair and looks a little like Amanda Chesterton - except she was playing a girl. Absolutely stunning stage presence - she commanded the stage whenever she was on.
As I said before, a stunning spectacle of a show - the time, effort (and money!) really showed. Pity about the plot, but that's down to Rodgers & Hammerstein. Act 1 was maybe five minutes too long (I just started to feel it towards the end) and Act 2 seemed to finish a bit abruptly, but again, that's the script. Congratulations to all involved, especially the director, the delightful Christine Lowenhoff (whom I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't recognise at first due to her new hairstyle and not being in her Nun's habit). If you have a paranoid phobia about clowns (I've never been the same since "Poltergeist"), it's probably best you stay away. Otherwise, you might just scrape up a ticket for the final week.
JB
WHEN: Thursday, August 8 (2002)
WHERE: Marloo Theatre (Darlington, WA)
A strange combination of ballet, soccer and parable, Marloo Theatre's latest production was certainly well put together. For the first 7 or 8 minutes we were treated to an old-fashioned fairground on stage. Complete with clowns, belly dancers, jugglers, unicyclists, carnival barkers and of course, a fully-functional carousel, the costumes, music, lights, set and overall production design were dazzling. Ten out of ten for spectacle.
On the other hand, the story left a bit to be desired. It concerns carnival barker Billy Bigalow (Joe Isaia) who falls for a beautiful local girl, Julie. The owner of the Carnival, Mrs Mullin (Raelene Cover) doesn't take kindly to this (because she's sweet on Billy herself) so she fires him. Unable to find work, Billy falls in with the wrong crowd, is talked into taking part in a robbery that goes horribly wrong, then kills himself rather than going to jail. In order to get into Heaven (even if it's only via the tradesman's entrance) he has one chance to go back to Earth to DO SOME GOOD. I don't quite understand how soccer figures into it, but they all stand around singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", led very nicely by Neroli Burton, after Billy croaks.
Upon closer consideration, it's not a very nice story at all: Local lad gets fired, can't find work, turns sullen and violent, hits his wife, starts hanging around with the local thug, is coerced into armed robbery, stuffs that up and takes the coward's way out rather than facing up to the responsibility of his actions. "I don't feel like going to jail or being there for my pregnant wife, so I think I'll top myself." Loser.
Well. Sorry to be harsh. If we simply accept the fact that, like most musicals, any semblance of a plot is merely a device to string some catchy tunes together, then Carousel works pretty well. We just have to remember that it was written in a different age, governed by different beliefs and precepts (many of them crap). For instance, Billy's daughter (grown into a teenager - time passes differently in heaven, even at the gates - it's complicated....) asks her mother, "Is it possible to be hit by someone - really hard - and for it not to hurt at all?" Mother simply smiles and reminisces.
What we take away from this, boys and girls, is that it's okay to hit someone as long as you really love them.
Sorry, sorry, it must be the month for plays about how badly our forebears behaved. As I said before, if you can ignore the cringeworthy plot, the show is a lot of fun. Joe Isaia makes the perfect Billy, even though Billy may well be the stupidest man on the face of the planet: When addressing the beautiful Julie and Carrie in the forest, he says, "One of you will have to go home - what could I possibly do with two of you?" (Shall I leave this one to Schulze?)
Carrie (Julie's best friend) was played to the hilt by the lovely Kylie Isaia, who had most of the best lines and an amusing repertoire of stunned expressions. Catherine Lowenhoff played Julie, and spent most of her time being sad. Good characterisation, strong presence, remarkably and convincingly independent for a girl of the 1870s, with a lovely, powerful voice, Catherine placed this production on solid ground.
The three leads were great. I know nothing about music or singing, but they seemed to carry the tunes very well and had no trouble being heard over the backing music. Some of the other singers had trouble competing against the music - particularly the male chorus which was weaker than the female chorus (but that almost goes without saying in musicals, doesn't it?)
I liked Keith Wale as a ratty Russell Crowe lookalike - perfect as the villain who leads dumb-old-Billy astray. David Isaacson did an excellent job as one of the angels, and a more perfect piece of casting could not have been conceived with Buddy Clark as the other angel. He may be diminutive, but that stage belongs to HIM.
Katrina Merritt danced for ages in a lovely self-choreographed ballet, playing Billy and Julie's grown-up daughter, Louise. The gorgeous Lisa Skrypichayko stood out from the chorus with an hilarious solo about wifely duties. I was also very impressed with two young chorus members playing sweepers (there's that soccer analogy again) in a funny scene where they pretend not to be listening to Julie's lament. One of the girls looks a bit like Sophie Ellis Bextor, while the other (I think her name is Brittany) has a gorgeous mop of red hair and looks a little like Amanda Chesterton - except she was playing a girl. Absolutely stunning stage presence - she commanded the stage whenever she was on.
As I said before, a stunning spectacle of a show - the time, effort (and money!) really showed. Pity about the plot, but that's down to Rodgers & Hammerstein. Act 1 was maybe five minutes too long (I just started to feel it towards the end) and Act 2 seemed to finish a bit abruptly, but again, that's the script. Congratulations to all involved, especially the director, the delightful Christine Lowenhoff (whom I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't recognise at first due to her new hairstyle and not being in her Nun's habit). If you have a paranoid phobia about clowns (I've never been the same since "Poltergeist"), it's probably best you stay away. Otherwise, you might just scrape up a ticket for the final week.
JB
Walter PlingeWed, 14 Aug 2002, 10:39 pm
Re: Carousel
Well at least SOMEONE is paying attention. In an effort to see if anyone actually reads these things I planted a deliberate mistake in my review, and I'm glad to see that one outraged person (at least) caught it. Katrina Merritt's ballet was not self-choreographed (although that didn't make it any less lovely). Katrina choreographed a different segment.
Life lesson #47: Never get a clown mad at you.
JB
Life lesson #47: Never get a clown mad at you.
JB