At the core of “Carousel,” which has been revived with breathtaking emotional intensity at the Imperial Theatre, is a dark fatalism that trails the leading lovers like their own shadows. Although the major Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals are broadly considered, with good reason, to be shot through with romance and uplift, in this 1945 musical — their greatest, in my view — they explored the facets of love and of life that bring as much sadness and sorrow as pleasure and joy.
Review — Carousel — BN+ — Jessie Mueller — Joshua Henry — Renee Fleming — Santo Loquasto — Imperial Theatre — Rodgers & Hammerstein — Nicholas Hytner — Billy Bigelow — Julie Jordan — If I Loved You — Violet — The Scottsboro Boys — Soliloquy — What’s the Use of Wond’rin — The Highest Judge of All — Nettie Fowler — New York City Ballet — Justin Peck — Alexander Gemignani — Enoch Snow — Carrie Pipperidge — Lindsay Mendez — John Douglas Thompson — Andrei Chagas — Agnes de Mille — You’ll Never Walk Alone
