As with his recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, John Wilson similarly subjects the team’s follow-up musical Carousel to inclusive textual rectitude. Here Wilson aims to replicate what theater patrons experienced at its 1945 Broadway premier down to each song, each incidental music cue and utility exit, and every instance of underscoring, all served up in Don Walker’s original orchestrations. More importantly, the vivid ensemble playing and brilliant casting give this familiar work a welcome sense of timbral freshness and dramatic urgency.
Start with the opening Carousel Waltz, where Wilson’s soaring tempi and the orchestra’s shimmering transparency come alive with character and give you the feeling of being present at the creation. It’s tantamount to how Toscanini vivified the giddy street scene at the start of La Boheme Act Two in his 1946 broadcast performance. Wilson’s fantastic singers yield no quarter to the favorites of Carousel lore. For example, I thought I could never get the Julie Jordan of Shirley Jones or Barbara Cook out of my brain until I heard Mikaela Bennett’s sweet yet resilient portrayal here. Likewise, as Billy Bigelow, Nathaniel Hackmann’s suave baritone timbre and secure tenor-like top notes build upon Gordon MacRae’s classic portrayal. Perhaps he approaches the central Soliloquy more like an art song than a dramatic aria, especially in the concluding “My Little Girl” section that still remains Frank Sinatra’s private property.
As Carrie Pipperidge, Sierra Boggess manages to play up the role’s function as a comic foil without lapsing into caricature. And as Nettie Fowler, Francesca Chiejina intones “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with a simplicity and nobility that, at long last, erased painful memories of Jerry Lewis on the verge of tears, croaking it out at the end of his annual telethons. May this stunningly engineered Carousel go round and round forever!
