Domestic abuse, pregnancy, suicide, and a clambake.
Carousel was the first show Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote after their smash debut, Oklahoma! They had clearly had enough of sunshine, happiness, and straw-hatted zest for living. Carousel conspicuously lacks an exclamation point.
Evidently, the great musical-theater team set out to write a show about characters you wouldn’t normally root for. They include a dim-witted carnival barker who quits his job so he can hook up with a small-town mill girl (who loses her job for hooking up with the barker). Domestic abuse, pregnancy, and suicide follow, as does a clambake…
