Carousel Reviews

Theresa Jane Leigh from London, England

A REFRESHING NEW TAKE ON A CLASSIC FAVOURITE

I was so looking forward to seeing this as has always been my absolute favourite, I went with an open mind and was not disappointed!, it's easy to expect to see what you know but this being an outdoor production and on such a unique stage was always going to be different, the singing was haunting and the dancing beautiful to watch, I know people expected to see the dancing horses of the carousel but if you just sat back and used your imagination you would get it, I loved every minute of this production from the first notes of the instruments to the last bow, well done to you all and thank you for the experience!.

Ernie from Buckinghamshire

IMAGINATIVE PRODUCTION

Enjoyed. Good cast but Julie’s voice not up to rest of cast. Final scene with Billy’s daughter - peculiar. The show always held my attention and no regrets in attending. Interesting set.

Ann Gwynn from London, England

CAROUSEL

A strangely dark production. All the leads were very good and it’s hard to go wrong with those terrific songs. For me, it was written in the 40s, so why try to bring twenty-first century attitudes to it? The big numbers, like ‘June is bustin’ out’ never quite got going nor gave me the spine tingle. But the open air theatre is always a joy and I loved the brass band bit.

Leanne from London, England

FLAWED BUT STILL FABULOUS

The first act was a joy, original but wonderful. However even a cast who acted well and sang beautifully couldn't save this production from a weirdly twisted and try too hard to be clever closing act. The magic of this musical is that you root for a very unlikable character however in this production, Billy shows no compassion for his wife or daughter, he has no redemption and so the ending has no heart. Poor Louise, who dances beautifully also has a one dimensional story with no sense of hope or joy as even her final dance partner, is also shown to want only one thing from her. The figure rolling in an ungainly manner down the stage repeatedly in the final song strikes a jarring note and is almost comical. What a shame as the acting, dancing and singing was wonderful.

Mark taha from London, England

MIXED FEELINGS

It is a great show. The singing was really good. However, the cast just didn't look right in many cases. The show was too PC - Billy was not.an abuser, just not able to relate to people, and should have been allowed to redeem himself by speaking to Louise at the graduation. And they wouldn't have had Geordie accents in New England!

Anna from London, England

SOME WONDERFUL MUSIC BUT THE END WAS AWFUL

I really got the setting with the minimalist wooden stage, the revolving Carousal of life and the score for the music, and at many points the singing was superb. The sea shanties were great and fitted totally with the transposition to England. But after Billie died this somehow fell apart. The graduation scene was irrelevant, especially in Covid times. Indeed the violation of his daughter somehow invalidated the last song ‘you’ll never walk alone’ as she clearly was walking alone, doomed to the patriarchy her mother lived through. and in any event the last song made me cringe, and I practically ran out to go home. But there were many moving moments. and I found the love of the protagonists, and the cynicism of their community believable.

David Johnson from West Sussex

SABOTAGE

Loved Act 1, the innovations, mood, styling and performances all fine and made for engagement. Billy's death seen touchingly portrayed, as well staged as I have seen, and the audience were rapt. From there you lost it. The re-write of the final section of the show was nothing short of criminal. If you can't deal with how the ending of "Carousel" is written, do not touch it. Quoting Sondheim, "Carousel is about life". Denying Billy's redemption will not cure domestic violence, just as ending Hamlet with smiles and jokes would not cure mental health. An ill-judged massacre of a beautiful script left a bereft Louise with no future, Julie devoid of any justification for her belief in Billy, and the latter, poor sap (why would Declan Bennett have accepted to do this?), cast emasculated into a dark auditorium before the end. What were the production team trying to do? Please leave the stage, this is not worthy.

Disappointed from London, England

DON'T BOTHER

Great cast, but why on earth stage such an unlikeable plot with characters that failed to interest me in the slightest. I've been going to the OAT for 30 years and thus is the first time I would not recommend it.

Tricia van Geens from London, England

CAROUSEL

I found the setting very grey and dull also the costumes lacked colour! The singing was beautiful but the whole set was dull

Sarah from London, England

DEPRESSING....

I have gone to and relished every musical in Regents Park for 20 years or more and this one delayed and so much anticipated. The story is dark and a little depressing but always enjoyed and found joy in the songs/staging.....this production - great and talented cast but hated production - the wierd move to somewhere in Lancashire? - so many and multiple accents no idea exactly - the dull colourless set and costumes and the woke replacement of male deity which then lost the final bringing together of redemption as written -= with final speech also made by the 'god' character - the result a dull, colourless and depressing event as witnessed by the lack of audience response usually loud and very appreciative - sorry we wanted to love it and come out with smiles on our faces....but you don't always get what you want!

Jane Priestley from London, England

CAROUSEL

Having watched a video of the director talking about this interpretation of Carousel, I was so looking forward to seeing the performance. Sad to say, neither I or my friend just didn't/couldn't engage with the characters and really just didn't care about them. The performers were great but something missing. It was a preview show. Our seats were great and the venue lovely even on a damp evening.

Michael. from London, England

BARELY ENOUGH APPLAUSE FOR A CURTAIN CALL

Setting aside the woke nonsense that has rewritten the show so much it has nothing to do with the poignant Carousel we all love, all the musicality has incredibly also been stripped away. Even ‘You’ll never walk alone’, is rendered with a Telly Savalas type croaky dry delivery, as is the orchestration. The choreography totally fails to use the revolving stage, which becomes an obstacle for the cast to avoid tripping over, mostly the choreography has them plodding around looking depressed and almost static. The cast work hard and there is some strong acting, but this is an appalling insult to a classic musical which when done well should have the audience in tears. Tonight’s applause was so weak and short they could barely get through the curtain call and our taxi driver who waits outside each night said that was par for the course. Don’t waste your time checking the weather forecast, do something else with your evening.

Freddy Haakon José from London, England

JUST PLAIN DULL

We’ve been theatre starved for 18 months and so to be honest anything I would of thought should of hit the spot. Unfortunately this was just a plain dull performance. Not only was the scenography almost non-existent apart from a few wooden polls The cast never really was able to engage with the audience not helped by a plain stage and the cast dressed in a endless variety of browns and Beige leftovers from before the pandemic. Couldn’t they hear us scream - we need couloir back in our lives!

RPG from London, England

UNDERWHELMED

A stripped back musical, with little character development. Stunning vocals, music and choreography- however the script was disjointed and hard to follow. No empathy for any of the characters. Not up to RPOAT’s excellent standard. I was actually hoping for rain.

Sam from London, England

MISLEAD

Seen this musical twice and loved it so I was looking forward to seeing a third time more than lucky performance. How disappointed was I. This woke production bashed me over the head with its message. I'm surprised that they didn't unfurl a banner at the end just to ram home the didactic message about domestic violence. Spoiler alert - apparently god is a female collective - who knew? The kids had nothing to do and the ensemble singing wasn't featured enough. For a play that's ultimately about redemption (however flawed the original) there's very little to redeem this version.

Hugh from London, England

TRYING TOO HARD

Most in the audience, I imagine, would have seen Carousel before and would be fully aware of the underlying theme of domestic abuse. Those seeing it for the first time will soon work it out. This production tries unnecessarily to educate us at every turn. Acting and singing were largely impressive but after a fairly enjoyable first half the second half was hugely disappointing especially the Carousel Waltz with its new and uninspiring music. As for the end, leaving Billie without redemption left Louise without hope. The sight of her isolated did not suggest she ‘would never walk alone’. This theatre is unique because of its magical setting. There was precious little magic here. Perhaps such a dark and dingy interpretation should have been staged in a dark and dingy theatre.

Helen from London, England

CRASS

Crass and uninspiring

Sue Scaife from London, England

CAROUSEL

For 48.00 I expected better. Dull dull dull. Singing not up to scratch and the puffs of smoke were annoying and made the audience cough. What was,the point. I can’t imagine how the poor singers fared. What most of the grey haired audience thought I do not know, but very disappointed. wonderful songs after all these years, but in the wrong setting

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