MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long
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Dark ride on this Carousel
WILL STONE sees a curiously downbeat production of a Broadway musical classic
LIGHT RELIEF: John Pfumojena and Christina Modestou as Enoch Snow and Carrie Pipperidge
[Johan Persson] 
PAUL DONOVAN recommends three new books that explore the human relationship with nature
Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller
WILL STONE takes a ticket to indie disco heaven, but misses the rarely performed tunes
Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band
TOM PIERSCIONEK recommends a remarkable series of interviews with those few and brave Israeli citizens who refuse to do military service
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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