When Today Is A Long Time Ago

My favorite musical has always been Carousel (imdb - wiki - official R&H site). I'm not alone, since Time named it the best musical of the 20th Century, and Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein considered it their personal favorite as well. In a genre replete with bright-shiny faces, comedy, and happy endings, Carousel is much-welcomed anomaly.

I know it's hard picking "the best" of anything. I have a hard enough time selecting "the top 10" of anything, be it movies, songs, books, albums, bands, or whatever. But for me, Carousel as best musical is kind of easy. This despite the fact that Carousel was a box-office flop as a movie, and despite the rather uncomfortable take it has on domestic abuse. The latter is a more serious reason to dismiss the musical, but for me, at least, the songs are just too strong, too powerful, too moving, and too well-crafted to toss this work on the apocryphal "junk heap of history" simply because Julie Jordan says that "It is possible dear, for someone to hit you, hit you hard, and it not hurt at all." If I could excise that line, I would. But I can't, and thus I'm left with the music.

The best song in the best musical is also a somewhat easy call: "Soliloquy." (lyrics). This is the song that basically captures the inner dialog Billy Bigalow is having with himself (is there any other kind of inner dialog?). In this single song we see the transformation of Billy from a self-centered braggart to someone actually concerned with the fate of his unborn child, realizing that he has a responsibility that must be met, etc. It redeems the musical, for without it Billy would simply be a lout.

The song's structure captures this. It starts upbeat, with Billy in full "I'm going to have a son who will be just like me, lucky boy!" mode, then slowly evolves in a more thoughtful, poignant tone as it dawns on him that he could just as well be the father to a girl as a boy. This all could have been handled in a trite, schmaltzy manner (and I guess some would argue that it was), but instead the song, to me, becomes the crowned jewel of the song catalog of Rogers and Hammerstein. Considering how many wonderful songs these men were were responsible for, this is saying a great deal indeed.

I may not cry at Beauty and The Geek, or during that scene in the last episode of the British version of The Office when Dawn finally goes to Tim or what have you, but I do sometimes (almost) cry when listening to Soliloquy. That has to count for something, no? ;-)

But wait. There's more. There's If I Loved You, You'll Never Walk Alone, The Carousel Waltz, When I Marry Mr. Snow, When The Children Are Asleep, June Is Busting Out All Over, What's The Use In Wonderin'... my god. What a line up. I'd put If I Loved You, especially, up against anything that's been written since as a love song, or rather a "if-I" love song.

So watch it sometime, even if you find the above-quoted line from Julie Jordan reprehensible. At least there's not rape (Seven Brides For Seven Brothers) or forced sexual servitude (Paint Your Wagon). But there is great music.