Carousel Posts Closing Notices at Savoy, 20 Jun

Lindsay Posner’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic Broadway musical Carousel has posted closing notices at the West End’s Savoy Theatre. Following a regional tour, the production, starring Lesley Garrett, opened on 2 December 2008 (previews from 22 November) at the Savoy, where it had been booking until 25 July 2009. It will now finish a month earlier than planned, on Saturday 20 June 2009.

Carousel is a romantic fantasy from both Heaven and Earth, tracking the tragic New England love story of fast-talking carousel barker Billy Bigelow and naïve mill worker Julie Jordan.

Lesley Garrett – the opera soprano who made her musical theatre debut in 2006 playing the Mother Abbess in another Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, The Sound of Music – plays Julie’s cousin Nettie Fowler, who sings the anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. She’s joined in the cast by Jeremiah James (as Billy) and Alexandra Silber (Julie Jordan).

Premiered on Broadway in 1945, Carousel was made into a Hollywood film, starring Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae, in 1956. It’s last major London outing was at the National Theatre in 1992 in an award-winning production directed by Nicholas Hytner which subsequently transferred to Broadway. The score also includes “Mister Snow”, “Soliloquy” and “What’s the Use of Wond’rin”.

The new revival reunites director Lindsay Posner and producer Kim Poster of Stanhope Productions Ltd, who brought Fiddler on the Roof for an extended season at the Savoy in 2007. It’s choreographed by former Royal Ballet principal Adam Cooper and designed by William Dudley, with costumes by Deirdre Clancey, lighting by Peter Mumford, orchestrations by Larry Blank and musical direction by David Firman.

The Carousel cast also features Lauren Hood, Diana Kent, Alan Vicary and Graham MacDuff.

The next production scheduled for the Savoy is a more recent Broadway hit, the 2007 screen-to-stage adaptation of Legally Blonde, which will have its UK premiere on 12 January 2010 (previews from 5 December 2009) and will star Sheridan Smith and Duncan James (See News, 21 Apr 2009).