Jessie Mueller (Photo: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com)
Producers Scott Rudin and Roy Furman announced today that Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic musical Carousel, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Justin Peck, will play the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street) when it makes its return to Broadway next spring in one of the most deeply anticipated productions of the new season. Also announced are additional principal cast members Betsy Wolfe as Carrie Pipperidge, Alexander Gemignani as Enoch Snow, and Margaret Colin as Mrs. Mullins. Beginning preview performances on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, Carousel officially opens on Thursday, April 12. Tickets go on sale, via Telecharge.com, Saturday, September 9, at 10:00 AM (EST).
Ms. Wolfe, Mr. Gemignani, and Ms. Colin join the previously announced stars, Tony Award nominee Joshua Henry as Billy Bigelow, Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller as Julie Jordan, Renée Fleming, in her first-ever appearance in a Broadway musical as Nettie Fowler, as well as Amar Ramasar as Jigger, and Brittany Pollock as Louise.
The ensemble of Carousel features Colin Anderson, Yesenia Ayala, Nicholas Belton, Colin Bradbury, Andrei Chagas, Leigh-Ann Esty, Laura Feig, David Michael Garry, Garett Hawe, Rosena M. Hill Jackson, Amy Justman, Jess LeProtto, Skye Mattox, Adriana Pierce, David Prottas, Craig Salstein, Ahmad Simmons,Antoine L. Smith, Corey John Snide, Erica Spyres, Ryan Steele, Sam Strasfeld, Ricky Ubeda, Scarlett Walker,Jacob Keith Watson, and William Youmans. Additional cast members will be announced shortly.
Joshua Henry (lev radin / Shutterstock.com)
The creative team of this new production of Carousel includes four-time Tony Award winner Santo Loquasto (Scenic Design), Tony and Academy Award winner Ann Roth (Costume Design), nine-time Tony Award winner Jules Fisher and three-time Tony Award winner Peggy Eisenhauer (Lighting Design), Tony Award winner Scott Lehrer (Sound Design), Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and Academy Award winner Jonathan Tunick (Orchestrations), and Andy Einhorn(Musical Supervision and Direction).
Set in a small New England factory town, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s timeless musical Carousel describes the tragic romance between a troubled carnival barker and the young woman who gives up everything for him. Elevated to an epic scale with a sweeping musical score that features some of the most beloved numbers in the American songbook, and incandescent ballet sequences, this story of passion, loss, and redemption introduced Broadway to a new manner of musical drama — one that “set the standard for the 20th-century musical” (Time Magazine) and would captivate theatergoers for generations to come.
Carousel played its world premiere on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre on April 19, 1945, and received unanimous raves. Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times called Carousel “nothing less than a masterpiece.” John Chapman of the Daily News proclaimed it “the finest musical play I have ever seen.”
In 1999, Time Magazine named Carousel the best musical of the century, saying that Rodgers & Hammerstein “set the standard for the 20th-century musical, and this show features their most beautiful score and the most skillful and affecting example of their musical storytelling.”
