Though it may not be apparent that spring is upon this New England town, June, and more importantly, fresh talent, is unquestionably “busting out all over” in Plymouth State College’s spring production of Carousel.
Compared to last years production of She Loves Me, Carousel indubitably makes the grade for its scenic, costuming, and lighting visuals, as well as for its direction. There is nothing so pleasing than viewing a cast as large and as new as this one using every ample opportunity to demand the audience pay attention, even until its near two and a half hour finish.
Sophomore Matt Posner plays Billy Bigelow, a coy and charming carnival barker come to the coastal Maine town with a traveling troop. A near-perfect cast for the role, Posner carries Billy’s arrogance on his shoulders and his heart on his sleeve, leaving the spinning carousel for a whirlwind romance with the young Mill-worker, Julie Jordan.
Seen in both The Crucible and She Loves Me, Posner has grown notably performance-wise and vocally, displaying an intense range of emotions and tonal quality. In one of his more powerful numbers, “Soliloquy,” Posner lends an invitation into Billy’s morally confused and hostile psyche. If it wasn’t enough to watch Billy battle the demons and better angels in his life, Posner pulls the audience in with such fervent passion that it proves difficult to resist following him into the downward spiral of his actions.
Sophomore Katherine Robinson plays opposite Posner as the timid but strong-willed Bascomb’s Mill worker, Julie Jordan. The doe-eyed Robinson captures not only Billy’s heart, but the audience as well with her ringing angelic soprano voice. Robinson, who played opposite Posner in The Crucible as John Proctor’s wife, is spirited and charming, playing Julie with incredible ease. From the laughter to the tears, Robinson makes every action more realistic than an audience would believe.
Posner’sand Robin-son’s on-stage chemistry is dazzling. From their awkward first kiss to the emotionally riveting scene of Billy’s death and beyond, sparks fly continually between the actors with affectionate glances and a playful hesitancy. Though Carousel is nowhere near a romantic play, Posner’s and Robinson’s intimate interaction keeps the audience questioning what fate may have in store for them.
For Director Kate Arecchi, fate has nothing to do with it. Carousel is all about human nature, down to its simplest form: darkness versus the light.
“I wanted to capture the metaphor of Carousel. As human beings, some things remain unchanged, but we try to reach for something better and deal with the consequences of our actions. On a carousel, there are those brass rings, and as you go for the ride, you reach for them. It’s about taking the chance and reaching upwards.”
Reaching for her own brass ring, Arecchi successfully distanced the naturally dark and murky qualities of Carousel from the camp style of the musicals’ previous theatrical productions. Focusing on the relationships of the characters, she worked diligently with her cast to find the core of each personality and to find which buttons to press to bring out that characters behavior. Even tying in music to the search, Arecchi produced that peaceful release needed after coming from a place of such turbulent conflict.
The true discord of Carousel’s human nature stems from Billy’s acquaintances. Sophomore Allyson Smith plays the seductive carnival owner Mrs. Mullen. Mixing in her own personal touches to Mrs. Mullen, Smith brings out the underworld glamour and distanced loneliness of the carnival life. Smith’s sultry voice and on-stage presence commands attention in every scene she’s featured. As Gwen in Springfest’s Triple Bluff, Smith’s disposition demanded attention then, and received it from an audience that will sure to be left breathless in this production by the time she saunters off-stage.
Expertly playing the conniving and sly Jigger Craigin is Freshman Ryan Sturgis. Jigger stalks through his featured scenes with cutthroat arrogance, even when his friend Billy becomes his vulnerable prey. Though previously seen in The Crucible, Sturgis was made for this role, carving himself a category all his own of acting credibility. With his alluring persuasion and charm, you can almost see him, perched upon Billy’s shoulder, trying to convince Billy to surrender to the darker side of his life.
Julie notwithstanding, Billy’s manipulative, demons, seem to draw him further, and with more realism, than any of the figurative better angels the light could offer. Sophomore Jillian Hutchinson plays Julie’s obtuse best friend, Carrie Pipperidge. Next to Robinson’s timid but self-confident Julie, Hutchinson is stiff and uneasy in her role with not even her voice to soften it. Even her break-up melodrama with fiancé Mr. Enoch Snow, though humorous, was a bit over the top.
Opposite her is Sophomore John Phipps as Snow, a fisherman with big familial and financial dreams. Phipps, previously cast in The Crucible and She Loves Me, generally conquers every role with a solid portrayal of his character, and Carousel is no different. But while he and Hutchinson fit the nervous newlywed profile, Phipps didn’t exactly hit the high notes of the happy couple.
The character that delivers the cast from those tumultuous lows into a period of indulgent highs is Nettie Fowler, played by Senior Lauren Keefe. Keefe plays the maternal figurehead aptly and delivers a sentimentally captivating “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” proving her to be the overpowering voice and the carrying positive force of the show.
While Carousel is full of emotional ups and downs, most of which are entertaining, the lull of the show lies in the ballet of Act II. Though symbolic in its imitation of the Prologue, the dancer’s sullen faces and lack of emotion drags the scene farther than it should have lasted. The most energetic and lively choreographed number of Carousel is “Blow High, Blow Low,” with Jigger, Billy, and the Ensemble, who are unmistakably enthusiastic about performing it, even when jumping onto wooden boxes.
A scenic heavy show, Designer Matt Kizer combined the dark industrial feel of the 1880’s to the lush, coastal features of Maine to produce a dramatic seascape. The use of deep iron browns, reds, oranges, and yellows set the visual tone for the animosity, while lush greens and bright blues, again, give that harmonic release in the final scene. Combined with Costume Designer Angela Pitrone’s 1880’s period clothing in warm summer colors, and Lighting Designer Jesse Riley’s horizons of red, pink, blue, and violet hues and moonlit evening textures, Carousel’s visual drama provided the symbolic transference of souls making mistakes and making amends.