A carousel of love, desperation and redemption
Source: facebook.com Actors from the Lake City Playhouse’s production of “Carousel” pose on the Historic Playland Pier Carousel now restored and functioning near Memorial Field in Coeur d’Alene.
Musical theater icon Richard Rodgers once said “Carousel” was his personal favorite of all the shows he wrote with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein.
Lake City Playhouse’s production of “Carousel” runs Thursdays through Sundays through Aug. 6 at the theater, 1320 E. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene.
Director and choreographer, Trigger Weddle, brings the musical alive in conjunction with the grand re-opening of the Historic Playland Pier Carousel ride near Memorial Park.
“The classic musical canons still connect to today’s patrons. ‘Carousel’’s music is hauntingly beautiful with an equally matched story to tell,” Weddle said. “Dance was an integral part of telling this story so our audience is in for a treat: superb music and voices, intricate acting and fantastic choreography performed by some of our community’s finest.”
Set in a tight-knit fishing community on the New England coastline, “Carousel” revolves around the ill-fated love affair between charismatic Billy Bigelow, a traveling carnival man, and trusting Julie Jordan, a worker at the local mill. Having married against everyone’s advice only weeks after they first met, their budding relationship hits a rocky road as Billy struggles with his temper, the constraints of settling down and financial difficulties. It is only after learning that he is soon to become a father that Billy vows to change his ways and provide for his family. But he falls in with the wrong crowd and dies in the aftermath of a robbery gone horribly wrong.
Sent to purgatory for 15 years after his death, Billy is given one day to redeem his soul before he is permitted to enter the Heavenly Gates. Trying to perform a single good deed, he seeks out his daughter, now a rebellious teenager destined to follow in his troubled footsteps. Billy reaches out to her, but is it too little too late, or will it be enough to change both their lives forever?
“Carousel” features some of the best-loved songs in American musical theater: “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” and “If I Loved You.”
Time magazine calls this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic tale of love and redemption the “greatest musical of the 20th century.”
Show times: Thursday, Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m.
Tickets $24 to $30
Box office opens two hours prior to curtain.
Info: boxoffice@lakecityplayhouse.org, (208) 676-7529