Like the contours of a wintry Maine coastline, the Olney Theatre Center's "Carousel" communicates with an eloquent spareness. Even before the house lights go down, the image of the eponymous merry-go-round sets the tone: an evocative circle of horseless poles that hovers above the stage, hinting at loss and vanished illusion. Then there's the rest of Milagros Ponce de Leon's suggestively Spartan set: configurations of wooden banquettes and barrels that look as if they'd been created from the planks of a wharf, their simplicity emphasizing the backdrop's lonely expanse of sky. Even the orchestration is frugal but expressive: In this production, a piano, a keyboard and a cello lilt their way through Richard Rodgers's much-loved score, with assorted woodwinds piping up now and then, their distinctive voices adding musical color.
This thrifty aesthetic feels right on target, not only because the streamlining of sound and image emphasizes the melancholy aspects of "Carousel's" story but also because the understatement fits the setting.
Caesar Samayoa as Billy Bigelow and Erin Davie as Julie Jordan in the melancholic "Carousel," at the Olney Theatre through Dec. 26.
(Stan Barouh - Olney Theatre)
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These characters, after all, are laconic New Englanders, bred on stark seascapes and harsh weather. Do they reach for effusive adjectives after a particularly smashing social occasion? No. They sing: "This was a real nice clambake."
These sturdy Northeasterners flesh out nicely in the hands of Olney's players, who realize the characters' thematic functions while always seeming to be real people. Swaggering through the role of Billy Bigelow, Caesar Samayoa has the right air of defiant recklessness, and in the character's pivotal solo, "Soliloquy," he shifts convincingly between exuberance and desperation to make Billy's criminal act feel inevitable. With her slender build and mass of blond hair, Erin Davie, as Julie Jordan, looks ethereal enough to have been lifted from a pre-Raphaelite painting, but something about her posture and intonations convinces you that this woman is tough and stubborn -- she has an intensity that does indeed seem to be "quieter and deeper than a well," as Julie's pal Carrie Pipperidge puts it in the musical's first song.
Tracy Lynn Olivera lends Carrie an earthy practicality that contrasts strikingly with Julie's romanticism, and the difference in temperament becomes all the more poignant because the actresses make Julie and Carrie's friendship seem so real. As Carrie's prosaic love interest, Enoch Snow, who dreams of canning sardines, Nehal Joshi furnishes some valuable comic relief, particularly when he first plods onstage, looking goofy in an absurdly sensible pair of Wellington boots. And Christopher Bloch bolsters the credibility of the plot's denouement with his exceptionally matter-of-fact Starkeeper, a real Yankee of a heavenly being.
In the up-tempo sections of the songs, "Carousel's" principals don't always sound as strong -- or phrase their lines as well -- as they might, but when it's a matter of belting out a passage, their voices take on fullness and resonance. The ensemble furnishes an attractive complement, especially in that old chestnut "You'll Never Walk Alone," whose swelling strains provoked conspicuous bouts of sniffling from the opening-night audience. When it comes to dance, the production fares less well: Choreographer Ilona Kessell's Act 2 ballet, with its melodramatic scurrying and arabesques for Louise (Jenn Segawa), just looks mawkish.
Director Brad Watkins moves his 18-member cast fluidly around the stage, and his intimate stage tableaux are enhanced by Pei Lee's judicious costumes.
Lee's restrained color schemes exemplify the economy that's the hallmark of the production: Billy's blood-red shirt sets him apart from the other characters, dressed in pale blues and off-whites. And in the final scene, the townspeople's muted spring-green attire -- suggesting hope -- helps round out the central metaphor. Moving but going nowhere, the carousel points to life's futility, but it also echoes the cycle of the seasons. June may not be bustin' out all over at present, but that time will come.
Carousel, music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Directed by Brad Watkins; scenic design, Milagros Ponce de Leon; costumes, Pei Lee; lighting, Alex Cooper; sound, Tony Angelini. At the Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney, through Dec. 26. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.
