MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Dark ride on this Carousel
WILL STONE sees a curiously downbeat production of a Broadway musical classic
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ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
Carousel
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London
TO MAKE it resonate with a modern audience, a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 musical was always going to be a tall order. So it proves with this production.
Based on the 1909 play Liliom, many people simply don’t care about the explorations of marriage, women having lots of children and masculine pride in Ferenc Molnar’s work anymore.
So when meek and mild millworker Julie Jordan (Carly Bawden) falls for brutish carousel barker Billy Bigelow (Declan Bennett) and their love for each other causes them both to lose their jobs, we’re looking through what seems the lens of ancient history.
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