Before the era of the "serious" musical, before West Side Story and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, there was Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, which had its premier on April 19, 1945. Set in the grim confines of a New England mill town, the show features violent crime, spousal abuse, and the suicide of its romantic male lead halfway through. Carousel was based on a 1909 play called Liliom by the Hungarian writer Ferenc Molnár; both Gershwin and Puccini had earlier turned down opportunities to participate in the creation of a musical version. The thematic ambitions of the show are matched by its complex structure and musical language. It opens with a ballet-pantomime introducing Billy and Julie, the two romantic leads; in general, a full-scale production puts heavy technical demands on its dancers. Rodgers experiments with dissonance that goes beyond anything heard in a musical before. In the words of historian Gerald Bordman, "For many ... Carousel ... was the season's triumph. For others, it was the beginning of an era of pretentious solemnity in the American Musical Theatre, an era that attempted to replace the marquee with a steeple." Notwithstanding all this, much of the show's enduring appeal lies in its eminently infectious tunes, including "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and the inspirational tearjerker "You'll Never Walk Alone." ~ All Music Guide
