I hate to disagree with experts, but I do not view Billy's singing if I loved you as a reprise. I view it as the second part of a duet. Two people coming to the same emotions sequentially.
I mean functionally it’s a reprise of the material but yes, it works less like a formal reprise where the material is restated later in the show and is more like the second ‘verse’ or reuse of the material in the same duet.
@@zacharymendenhall But there is the formal reprise nearly at the end of the show when Billy sings to Julie. (When it's not if he loved her, but how he loved her.)
I find all the modern Rodgers and Hammerstein each deal with a major social issue. Oklahoma, sexual assault, Carousel, domestic abuse, South Pacific interracial love, and adultery that is Ok with every one) They are not just pretty songs and dances...they are about something. that is why they stand up to time...well, the music as well.
They don’t make musicals like these anymore!! 😢. Many of the ones out today are not as well thought out, ones that are simply cover songs strung together. I love R&H Musicals so much!!❤
What an incredibly immense privilege to inhabit the same planet as these great composers with such a great legacy from such a great musical period of American music.
Kelli O'Hara and Nathan Gunn are terrific! They deliver passionate, full-throated performances of one of the greatest love duets in the history of musical theatre.
The final three bars of the entire sequence are the greatest three bars ever written by Richard Rodgers. First bar: straight Db chords from Brass and Woodwind with strong Db pedal in the lower strings with the violins beginning a rising Db scale. Second bar: same rhythm and pedal note of Db, but above, the chords are of D major with the vlns rising further up, this time in D major. Third bar and climax of sequence: Everything resolves back in Db major on a tutti chord that can take the theatre roof off!!! I conducted a production many years ago and this was the best part of the show for me! I had minimal forces in the pit, but by God, we made up for it! I would hold that final chord until the brass and wind were blue in the face and sparks were flying off the bows of the strings! IMHO, Rodgers' greatest and certainly most romantic and operatic score.
This is magnificent scene. I do agree with a poster below who said Billy's "If I Loved You" is not a reprise. It isn't. It's part of the fabric of the scene.
I would recommend watching the video of John Raitt and Jan Clayton, who originated the roles of Billy and Julie. There is an introduction by Mary Martin. Jan Clayton is amazing.
That video has become my go to favorite. Their rendition is quite the best I have ever seen. Jan Clayton WAS Julie - her love for Billy there in her eyes. She's hypnotic. Kelli has a lovely voice, but she plays Julie a little too sure of herself - too modern, if you will JMO. Also, find his voice a little heavy, but that's subjective. Gordon MacRae is the best vocall - again JMO. In any event, this rendition doesn't pull me in the same way as the Raitt/Clayton one does. Just an aside, regarding MacRae - we were so blessed Frank Sinatra pulled out of the film.
This of course is not the first time Hammerstein used this convention. “Make Believe “ from Show Boat and “People Will Say We’re in Love” from Oklahoma. He clearly was a shy flaming romantic at heart.
This version pales in comparison to the original - at least the 1954 version with Jan Clayton and John Raitt. Not thrilled with the interpretations of these actors. The film is better, but cuts out most of Julie's chatter.
I consider Carousel the deepest and most meaningful of the R&H musicals, and I know them all since childhood with the exception of a few flops. I even wish I could hear the music of Me & Juliet and the other failure. Allegro didn't take off, but it was misstructured, with the second act too long. But many individual songs that stand on their own. Like So Far and One Foot, Other Foot, and many more.
Even the least successful Rodgers & Hammerstein shows *(Allegro, Me & Juliet,* and *Pipe Dream)* were preserved on Original Broadway Cast Recordings, which are still obtainable today. All are worth a listen.
I dare to say that I see some resemblances with the "Barcelona" number in Company. A couple getting to know each other in a sort-of-awkward conversation. Anybody agree?
The 'Bench Scene:...... never was there better than Clayton and Raitt, they made it real, and Billy should never sit on the bench and she should never leave it.
I wish the 1954 performance by Jan Clayton and John Raitt was included here. They were the originals, and Clayton is incredibly expressive. Thanks for giving us this look at the gifts of R & H.
She’s no Shirley Jones. Watched that movie last night for at least the 10th time. Johnny Carson had her on to do a 3 song medley had his whole audience & Johnny in tears. Can’t find it on RU-vid for some reason. America needs this now!😎
Terrific performances! I saw Nathan Gunn as Sweeney Todd with Houston Grand Opera. Also saw HGO’s West Side Story. It’s a revelation to hear opera singers do musical theater: wonderful! (HGO’s Carousel had Met Opera’s star mezzo Stephanie Blythe singing You’ll Never Walk Alone.)
The couple from 2:45 have spectacular voices, and they’re physically attractive, yet I still prefer Jan Clayton and John Raitt from the original production, due to the emotional intensity of their acting.
“How Carousel's ‘Bench Scene’ revolutionized musical theatre” It didn’t revolutionize anything. It set a new standard for excellence, to be sure, but one that no one but Rodgers & Hammerstein could meet. Similarly, Riskin, Sherwood, and Hecht set a new standard for screenwriting, but they didn’t “revolutionize” the field. Rather, they left it for the inferior spirits to come.
