Walnut St.'s 'Carousel' busts out all over

Not long after the curtain goes up on

Carousel

at the Walnut Street Theatre, when the petite Julie Hanson begins to sing

If I Loved You

like a songbird at sunrise, you know it's going to be a really good night. A few minutes later, when the strong Philadelphia actor Jeffrey Coon delivers his part of the song, you know it's going to be a great one.

And then, a bit later, it comes: Rodgers and Hammerstein's emphatic - and, in musical theater, iconic - "Soliloquy," in which Coon's Billy Bigelow, a volatile bum without work and a "speck of nothing" by his own definition, reacts to his forthcoming fatherhood.

"My boy, Bill! He'll be tall and tough as a tree," declares Coon, who is tall and tough as a tree; when he whacks his chest to make a point, the hardy punch doesn't even make a dent in his singing. This is Carousel the way the 1945 musical was meant to be: big voices for big songs, some of the American theater's most acclaimed.

Katie O'Shaughnessey's "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" is all the more joyous for her wide smile. Cary Michele Miller sings about her Mister Snow as if he were the last man on earth, and Mister Snow - a mutton-chopped William Hartery - sings back in wholehearted tenor.

The acting, like the singing and dancing, is far above par. Mary Martello gives nuance to the unsympathetic role of Mrs. Mullin, the amusement-park owner who fires Bigelow from his job as carousel barker. Christopher Marlowe Roche is sleazily animated as lowlife whaler Jigger Craigin, the agent of Bigelow's downfall.

And everyone has "A Real Nice Clambake" - boats moving along the Walnut's stage, aglimmer with the light of lanterns.

By the time the huge ensemble gets to "You'll Never Walk Alone," which seems to be the sole reason for a second act, it's clear: The Walnut has given Carousel a big, unstinting production. In doing so, the production honors a great American musical.

I can argue with some of the intense staging by director Bruce Lumpkin, who very often has characters seething in conflict within an inch of each other's faces, a signature of the production that made it somewhat less believable to me. But given the tremendous detail that went into Lumpkin's realization of the show, that's certainly no spoiler. And he assembled a fine crew to pull it off.

Michelle Gaudette's choreography is both intricate and difficult, and in the hands and feet of this cast comes off sparkling. Her ballet on the beach, toward the end of the musical, is beautifully performed by Kristen Paulicelli as young Louise, and when the ensemble busts out in June, summer has surely come.

The many sets by John Farrell evoke the New England coast, the excitement and colors of an amusement park, and the apple-pie sensibility of the show, also obvious in Colleen Grady's 19th-century costumes.

Carousel is a show that begs forgiveness, and gets it. Characters are instantly in or out of love. The two acts have different feels - the first so sparse in dialogue it's nearly sung-through, and the second just the opposite. At root, it's a bit lecturish, like a morality play. "You'll Never Walk Alone" comes at a time that calls for tears and anger and mourning, not singing about hope and strength.

And yet . . . the music is so lovely we're enveloped by it, the lyrics so impassioned they enchant us - and in this case, the production so sharply created and brightly performed, it shows that, at its best, Carousel is one grand musical.

Music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, directed by Bruce Lumpkin, choreographed by Michelle Gaudette, musical/vocal direction by Douglass G. Lutz, scenery by John Farrell, costumes by Colleen Grady, lighting by Jack Jacobs, sound by Ryk Lewis. Presented by Walnut Street Theatre.

The cast: Jeffrey Coon (Billy Bigelow), Julie Hanson (Julie Jordan), Cary Michele Miller (Carrie Pipperidge), William Hartery (Enoch Snow), Mary Martello (Mrs. Mullin), Christopher Marlowe Roche (Jigger), Katie O'Shaughnessey (Nettie), Kristen Paulicelli (Louise), Bill Van Horn (Starkeeper), Peter Schmitz (David Bascombe).

Playing at the Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., through July 15. Tickets: $10 to $67.50. Information: 215-574-3550 or www.walnutstreettheatre.org.

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