Carnival!
Encyclopedia
Carnival is a 1961 musical with the book by Michael Stewart
and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill
. The musical is based on the 1953 film Lili
.
announced his intent to produce a stage musical based on the 1953 film Lili
, a concept suggested to Merrick by that film's screenwriter Helen Deutsch
. Originally Deutsch was to write the musical's book while the score was assigned to Gérard Calvi
a French composer - Lili was set in France - who authored the revue La Plume de Ma Tante which Merrick produced on Broadway. Calvi's lack of expertise with English lyrics would result in his dropping out of the Lili musical project whereupon on Deutsch's recommendation Merrick hired Bob Merrill to write the score.
After seeing the musical Bye Bye Birdie which opened on Broadway in April 1960, Merrick recruited the production's stage director/choreographer Gower Champion
to act in those capacities for the Lili musical; Helen Deutsch by then had been dropped or soon would be dropped from Merrick's project as Merrick was finding the drafts she was submitting unworkable for the stage and feeling he could get the desired result more expediently working with a writer with stage musical experience Merrick recruited Bye Bye Birdie writer Michael Stewart in September 1960 the invitation being made through Gower Champion. (In its final form Carnival! would credit its book to "Michael Stewart based on material by Helen Deutsch".) A month after Stewart submitted his first draft for Carnival! - as the Lili musical project was entitled by November 1960 - the writer was fired by Merrick; however he was rehired thirty-six hours later.
In another part of the carnival Paul Berthalet, a lonely, bitter and crippled puppeteer, is unhappy with life ("I've Got to Find a Reason"), ignoring his friend Jacquot's protests. Lili enters, glad to meet them. She tells them of her hometown "Mira" because she is homesick ("Mira"). Jacquot feels sympathy for Lili, but Paul is unmoved and doesn't care. At the night's performance, Lili ruins the trick and the show. Humiliated, she prepares to leave, but is stopped by a small redheaded puppet named Carrot Top. Lili meets the three other puppets: Horrible Henry, Marguerite, and Reynardo the Fox. After singing a song to comfort Horrible Henry ("Love Makes the World Go 'Round"), Lili decides to join the puppet act. When she leaves, it is revealed that Paul is the puppeteer. The puppet act becomes a hit, starting with the song "Yum Ticky" and then grander songs like "The Rich" and "Beautiful Candy". Paul notices that he pays a lot of attention to Lili and curses his obsession with "Her Face" only to realize the emotion he's feeling is love. All the same, he treats her with increasing cruelty but increasing care through his four alter egos. Jacquot sees that the carnival is gaining popularity and predicts that the carnival will soon be "The Grand Imperial Cirque De Paris". Paul is frustrated and while practicing with Lili, corrects her every move and executes a dance step miserably, causing him to fall. When Lili runs to help him, he kisses her. Lili is shocked, angry and confused. They run to opposite sides as Lili proclaims he's the first person she's ever hated ("I Hate Him") while Paul reprises "Her Face".
Meanwhile Marco practices a magic trick with his partner, The Incomparable Rosalie, who has threatened to leave him for a doctor. They pledge their love ("Always, Always You"). Paul sings about his love with "She's My Love". Lili, stressed, prepares to leave the carnival. The carnival, too, is moving to a new town. Carrot Top appears asking her if she will leave without saying goodbye. She sees the puppet is trembling, and lifts the puppet off to reveal Paul's hand. She brings him out of the puppet stand. As Paul confesses, she begins to understand the kindness in him and together they follow the carnival.
Act II
where it ran March 9–25, 1961with the production next opening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 27, 1961. The Broadway
premiere of Carnival! was on April 12, 1961 at the Imperial Theatre. The original cast starred Anna Maria Alberghetti
as Lili, James Mitchell
as Marco, Kaye Ballard
as Rosalie, Pierre Olaf as Jacquot, Henry Lascoe and Jerry Orbach
making his Broadway debut as Paul Berthalet. Gower Champion both directed and choreographed with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang
. Carnival! was notable for its innovative staging: there was no overture and before the play commenced the curtain was already raised to put on view a field with a few trees; at the play's beginning actors hauled in wagons and raised a tent as if they were setting up a traveling fair at a new site. Throughout the play actors entered and exited the stage via the aisles of the theater where occasionally bits of the action were played. Carnival! was an instant hit with critics and audiences: John Chapman of the Daily News declared the play "enchantment from the moment the houselights go down" while in the Mirror Robert Coleman reported how the premiere's audience "blistered their palms in affectionate welcome to the town's new song and dance triumph." Carnival! ran on Broadway for 719 performances, moving after its December 15, 1962 performance to the Winter Garden Theatre
where the musical ended on January 5, 1963.
In the early stages of developing Carnival!, Merrick had envisioned Lili as a dancing rather singing role as in the parent film Lili and had hoped that film's star Leslie Caron
would recreate the Lili role on Broadway. This course proving untenable, the Lili role in Carnival! was developed as a singing role for which Carol Lawrence was for a time a front runner. However, Merrick's ultimate choice for the role was Anna Maria Alberghetti
an Italian born lyric soprano who at twenty-four had eighteen years experience as a singer and had a light resume of screen acting credits mostly on television. Before Carnival! Alberghetti had two evident credits as a musical stage actress having appeared at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford CT in productions of Rose-Marie
and The Firefly
in respectively 1959 and 1960. It has been reported that Merrick cast Alberghetti in Carnival! after a January 1961 viewing of her cabaret act in Philadelphia where the singer's audience interaction had made a favorable impression. However, Alberghetti has stated that Merrick had her audition after seeing her at the Oakdale Musical Theater in 1960 and her casting as Lili was reported in the New York Times as early as November 1960.
Despite his early good opinion of Alberghetti, Merrick's relationship with the star of his musical turned acrimonious. Merrick refused to release Alberghetti from Carnival! to avail herself of a film offer she received four months into the play's run and when Alberghetti was hospitalized August 6, 1961 for anemia and exhaustion Merrick reportedly either had an independent physician examine Alberghetti in hospital or had the hospitalized Alberghetti verify her illness in a lie detector
test. Merrick loudly championed Anita Gillette
the understudy
who played Lili during Alberghetti's ten day sick leave, stating :"If I'd known she [Gillette] was this good when we were casting, she would have had the part",and when the company of Carnival! greeted Alberghetti upon her return to the show Merrick presented her with a bouquet of roses variously described as plastic or dead. Gillette's brief stints in the lead of Carnival! - she'd relieve Alberghetti during the latter's two week vacation in December 1961 - had enough impact to launch a Broadway career for Gillette - although Carnival! would remain the only hit in which she appeared. Conversely Alberghetti - despite winning a Tony Award
for her role in Carnival! (tying with Diahann Carroll) - would never appear in another Broadway production, subsequently refocusing on her cabaret career although she did occasionally appear in regional theatrical productions.
(Lili), Ed Ames
(Paul Berthalet), Jonathan Lucas (Marco), Jo Anne Worley
(Rosalie), Johnny Haymer
(Jacquot) and Alfred Dennis (Schlegel). In April 1962 Susan Watson joined the Broadway production, taking over from Anna Maria Alberghetti who then headlined the touring company's San Francisco production; subsequently Carla Alberghetti
would regularly play the role of Lili in the touring company although Anna Maria Alberghetti again assumed the role in the touring company's Los Angeles production which opened at the Philharmonic Auditorium
in June 1962. Also both Anna Maria Alberghetti and Jerry Orbach would reprise their Broadway roles in an eight week engagement of Carnival! which opened at the Shubert Theater in Chicago in November 1962. The second national tour of Carnival! opened at the Bushnell Memorial Theater in Hartford, Connecticut on October 18, 1962 and ran until May 11, 1963. The cast featured Elaine Malbin
as Lili, David Daniels (Paul Berthalet), Don Potter (Jacquot) and Marge Cameron
(Rosalie); Ed Ames also played Paul Berthalet at some engagements.
production of Carnival! opened at the Lyric Theater in February 1963; this production - which had premiered at the Grand Theater in Leeds November 22, 1962 and also played at the King's Theatre in Glasgow
opening there December 12, 1962 - featured Gower Champion's staging for the Broadway production recreated by Lucia Victor and Doria Avila. James Mitchell reprised his Broadway role as Marco co-starring with Michael Maurel, Shirley Sands, Sally Logan as Lili, Bob Harris and Francis de Wolff
. This cast recorded a cast album before the production had actually opened on the West End, where it would only play for 34 performances.
The Australian production of Carnival! opened in Sydney in September 1962.
revivals, the first a production by the New York City Center Light Opera Company
which began a month long engagement on December 12, 1968. Peter Howard
, who had been the dance arranger for the original Broadway production of Carnival! was the musical director for the City Center production whose cast included Victoria Mallory
(Lili), Leon Bibb
(Paul Berthalet), Richard France (Marco), Karen Morrow
(Rosalie), Carmine Caridi
(Schlegel) and Pierre Olaf who reprising his Broadway role as Jacquot. The City Center production is seemingly unique among major productions of Carnival! in making the show's love story an interracial one by casting an African-American actor in the role of Paul.
Carnival! again played at New York City Center
in 2002 as an Encores!
production directed by Kathleen Marshall
which starred Anne Hathaway
as Lili and featured puppets by the Jim Henson
Company, NY Muppet Workshop; the cast also included Brian Stokes Mitchell
(Paul Berthalet), Douglas Sills
(Marco), Debbie Gravitte (Rosalie), David Costabile
(Jacquot) and David Margulies
(Schlegel). Ben Brantley
in his New York Times review praised the Encores! concert, describing Hathaway as convincing in the role even though "Lili may be the most unworldly heroine ever in a Broadway musical, dangerously blurring the lines between innocence and mental deficiency". It was announced in January 2004 that Julian Schlossberg
planned to produce a revival of Carnival! to run on Broadway. Schlossberg hoped to feature the principal actors from the Encores! concert production in a full-scale rendering of the play, and also hoped that Encores! director Kathleen Marshall and the Jim Henson puppets would come onboard for the revival. The announcement also stated that the book for this revival of Carnival! would be reworked by Thomas Meehan
.This revival did not materialize.
There have been two Off-Off Broadway revivals of Carnival!, the first a 1977 Equity Library Theatre (ELT) production which ran November 3 - November 20. This was the first musical directed by Susan H. Schulman
; the production featured Sue Anne Gershenzon (Lili), Ross Petty
(Paul Berthalet), Joel Craig (Marco), Laura Kenyon (Rosalie), Jack Hoffman (Jacquot) and Carl Don (Schlegel). Schulman subsequently mounted Carnival! for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
(CLO) in the summer of 1982 with Gershenzon, Petty and Hoffman reprising their ELT roles; the CLO production also featured Keith Curran (Marco) and Lenora Nemetz
(Rosalie). In reviewing the CLO production, Terry Hazlett of the Observer-Reporter observed: "On paper, perhaps, [Carnival!] is a lackluster piece. The show contains only one memorable song: 'Love Makes the World Go 'Round', has few production numbers and asks the audience to believe a young woman is so naive she doesn't make the obvious connection between a puppeteer and his puppets. But director Susan H. Schulman and choreographer Steven Gelfer infuse a great deal of life into 'Carnival!' by making it just that - a carnival."
In 1993 the York Theatre
company revival of Carnival played at the Theatre at St Peters Church in March 31- May 2. This production was directed/choreographed by Pamela Hunt and featured Glory Crampton (Lili), Robert Michael Baker (Paul Berthalet), Paul Schoeffler
(Marco), Karen Mason
(Rosalie), Robert Lydiard (Jacquot) and William Linton (Schlegel). In his New York Magazine review of the York Theatre production John Simon
characterized the original Carnival! as "a ramshackle production of a sentimental movie [that] was saved on Broadway by Gower Champion and adept casting" and opined: "The York Theatre production of Carnival! does what York is best at - taking a questionable show and making it unquestionably amateurish." Stephen Holden of the New York Times found the York Theatre production of Carnival!: "a rough-and-tumble singing storybook in which the members of a third-rate French circus troupe smilingly send up their own mediocrity...The show, a double allegory of a girl's growing up and of love overcoming despair, is potentially treacly stuff, and a production this intimate risks magnifying the sweetness to a terminally gooey level. But Pamela Hunt...has tightly controlled its hokier aspects. In her hands, Carnival! becomes a brash musical farce that turns sentimental only when absolutely required."
Both the Equity Library Theatre and Encores! stagings were taped for the New York Public Library
Billy Rose Theatre Collection archives.
Anna Maria Alberghetti reprised the role of Lili in a production of Carnival! which played the Valley Music Theater
in Woodland Hills LA for two weeks in February 1966 and which also featured James Mitchell and Ed Ames reprising their roles from respectively the Broadway and national touring companies of Carnival!.
Director/choreographer Robert Longbottom
directed a revival of Carnival! which ran from February 17 to March 11, 2007 at the Eisenhower Theatre at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC with a cast which included Ereni Sevasti (Lili), Jim Stanek
(Paul Berthalet), Sebastian La Cause (Marco), Natascia Diaz (Rosalie), Michael Arnold (Jacqout), and Jonathan Lee Iverson (Schlegel). This production, which introduced a revised book by Francine Pascal
(sister of the late Michael Stewart) was a critical hit as evidenced by the reviews of Paul Harris in Variety - "So where has this little gem been hiding? Following the original David Merrick/Gower Champion production's 719-[performance] run on Broadway in the early '60s, Carnival! largely disappeared into the neglected musical dungeon, with only a smattering of noteworthy escapes since, including a 2002 City Center Encores! revival. The Bob Merrill and Michael Stewart tuner has surfaced at the Kennedy Center in delightful shape, under the discerning eye of director-choreographer Robert Longbottom."and Peter Marks of The Washington Post: "No musical in recent years has looked or sounded better on a Kennedy Center stage than the revival of 'Carnival!' that has been buffed to a ravishing sheen by director Robert Longbottom...If the Kennedy Center's goal here was to dress a difficult, neglected work in a coat of contemporary artistry, the aim has been achieved."
The Paper Mill Playhouse
mounted Carnival! in 2006, the play running March 8- April 19 under the direction of Erica Schmidt with a cast including Elena Shaddow
(Lili), Charles Pollock (Paul Berthalet), Paul Schoeffler (Marco), Jennifer Allen (Rosalie), Eric Michael Gillett (Jacquot) and Nick Wyman
(Schlegel). In her New York Times write-up of the Paper Mill revival, Naomi Siegel characterizes Carnival! as "an also-ran among American musicals [which] simply never entered the Broadway pantheon" and specifies the dark elements she feels make Carnival! overall problematic - "the bleakness of the leading characters -- Lili, a forlorn orphan looking for love in all the wrong places; Marco, a second-rate magician with a Lothario complex; and Paul, a former dancer, wounded in the war and now forced to perform as a puppeteer and miserable in the process...[Also] the underlying theme of child exploitation...with a subtle but present sexual subtext" - before assessing the Paper Mill production as "[a] revival [which] reminds us of the genuine charm of the work and provides several show-stopping numbers for its talented players [but] does little to dispel the shadow that the play casts." Paper Mill had first presented Carnival! in 1964 opening 11 February with Liza Minnelli
then seventeen in one of her earliest stage roles as Lili, Minnelli having debuted in the role in a production at the Mineola
Playhouse which opened January 28, 1964.
Darko Tresnjak
directed a revival of Carnival! which ran from August 12 - September 18, 2010 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam CT
under the auspices of Goodspeed Musicals
which had previously mounted Carnival! in 1986. The 2010 Goodspeed production of Carnival!, which retained Francine Pascal's revisions for the 2007 Kennedy Center production, had in its cast Lauren Worsham (Lili), Adam Monley (Paul Berthalet), Nathan Klau (Jacquot), Mike McGowan (Marco), Michelle Blakely (Rosalie) and Laurent Giroux (Schlegel) with the last-named role taken over by Michael Kostroff
. In his review of the 2010 Goodspeed production, Frank Rizzo of Variety described Carnival! as being both a "bittersweet tuner that touches on sadness, desperation and remoteness" and "an entertainment...that features magic, puppetry and aerial work as well as a luxurious score ...Carnival! isn't a natural for wide crossover appeal, but this tasteful, multilayered production does re-enforce the view that it is still a gem to be valued."
dated July 24, 1961 and remained at #1 the following week. (The rights to recordings of Carnival! defaulted to MGM Records
by virtue of the musical's parent film Lili being a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release.)
The Original London Cast album of Carnival! was also recorded by MGM; made before the show's disappointing West End run, the London cast recording was passed by MGM to EMI
and released in January 1963 as HMV CSD-1476. The London Cast recording features the same tracks and edits as the Broadway cast album but includes some dialogue.
The CD of the original Broadway cast was released on June 8, 1989 on Decca Broadway; it includes nine bonus tracks, of which five are by Merrill. Kritzerland will be releasing the original London cast recording on CD for the first time in May 2011.
hoped to produce a film version of Carnival! for MGM
(who automatically had film rights by virtue of having originated the film Lili); Gower Champion and Julius J. Epstein
were attached to the project as respectively director and screenwriter and unofficial reports cast the Carnival! film with Yvette Mimieux
mentioned as both a possible Lili and Rosalie, Robert Goulet
as Paul Berthalet and George Chakiris
as Marco; Broadway cast members James Mitchell and Pierre Olaf were also said to be reprising their stage roles for the film and Anna Maria Alberghetti did a screen test for the film role of Lili in the spring of 1963. Plans for the film version of Carnival! abruptly collapsed.
Tony Awards:
Michael Stewart (playwright)
Michael Stewart was an American playwright and librettist.Born Michael Stuart Rubin in Manhattan, Stewart attended Queens College, and is a graduate of Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts from 1953. Michael Stewart (August 1, 1924 – September 20, 1987) was an American playwright...
and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill
Bob Merrill
Bob Merrill was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter.Merrill was born Henry Merrill Levan in Atlantic City, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following a stint with the Army during World War II, he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a...
. The musical is based on the 1953 film Lili
Lili
Lili is an American film. An MGM release, it stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl, whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets...
.
Background
In December 1958 producer David MerrickDavid Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
announced his intent to produce a stage musical based on the 1953 film Lili
Lili
Lili is an American film. An MGM release, it stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl, whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets...
, a concept suggested to Merrick by that film's screenwriter Helen Deutsch
Helen Deutsch
Helen Deutsch was an American screenwriter, journalist and songwriter.Deutsch was born in New York City and graduated from Barnard College. She began her career by managing the Provincetown Players...
. Originally Deutsch was to write the musical's book while the score was assigned to Gérard Calvi
Gerard Calvi
Gérard Calvi is a French composer.Interested in music from an early age, Calvi's first composing work was for the French production The Patron in 1949...
a French composer - Lili was set in France - who authored the revue La Plume de Ma Tante which Merrick produced on Broadway. Calvi's lack of expertise with English lyrics would result in his dropping out of the Lili musical project whereupon on Deutsch's recommendation Merrick hired Bob Merrill to write the score.
After seeing the musical Bye Bye Birdie which opened on Broadway in April 1960, Merrick recruited the production's stage director/choreographer Gower Champion
Gower Champion
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.-Early years:Champion was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School...
to act in those capacities for the Lili musical; Helen Deutsch by then had been dropped or soon would be dropped from Merrick's project as Merrick was finding the drafts she was submitting unworkable for the stage and feeling he could get the desired result more expediently working with a writer with stage musical experience Merrick recruited Bye Bye Birdie writer Michael Stewart in September 1960 the invitation being made through Gower Champion. (In its final form Carnival! would credit its book to "Michael Stewart based on material by Helen Deutsch".) A month after Stewart submitted his first draft for Carnival! - as the Lili musical project was entitled by November 1960 - the writer was fired by Merrick; however he was rehired thirty-six hours later.
Synopsis
A lone figure, Jacquot, is playing "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" on a concertina ("Opening"). Gradually, the other carnival members arrive and parade their colorful banners and bright costumes ("Direct From Vienna"). Lili, an optimistic orphan, enters the gift caravan in hope of a job ("A Very Nice Man"). Marco the Magnificent, a magician, enters and performs a magic trick, which enchants Lili so much that she falls in love with him. He invites her to his trailer and charms her ("A Sword And A Rose And A Cape"). She agrees to participate in one of his magic tricks and leaves to explore more of the carnival happily ("Yes, My Heart").In another part of the carnival Paul Berthalet, a lonely, bitter and crippled puppeteer, is unhappy with life ("I've Got to Find a Reason"), ignoring his friend Jacquot's protests. Lili enters, glad to meet them. She tells them of her hometown "Mira" because she is homesick ("Mira"). Jacquot feels sympathy for Lili, but Paul is unmoved and doesn't care. At the night's performance, Lili ruins the trick and the show. Humiliated, she prepares to leave, but is stopped by a small redheaded puppet named Carrot Top. Lili meets the three other puppets: Horrible Henry, Marguerite, and Reynardo the Fox. After singing a song to comfort Horrible Henry ("Love Makes the World Go 'Round"), Lili decides to join the puppet act. When she leaves, it is revealed that Paul is the puppeteer. The puppet act becomes a hit, starting with the song "Yum Ticky" and then grander songs like "The Rich" and "Beautiful Candy". Paul notices that he pays a lot of attention to Lili and curses his obsession with "Her Face" only to realize the emotion he's feeling is love. All the same, he treats her with increasing cruelty but increasing care through his four alter egos. Jacquot sees that the carnival is gaining popularity and predicts that the carnival will soon be "The Grand Imperial Cirque De Paris". Paul is frustrated and while practicing with Lili, corrects her every move and executes a dance step miserably, causing him to fall. When Lili runs to help him, he kisses her. Lili is shocked, angry and confused. They run to opposite sides as Lili proclaims he's the first person she's ever hated ("I Hate Him") while Paul reprises "Her Face".
Meanwhile Marco practices a magic trick with his partner, The Incomparable Rosalie, who has threatened to leave him for a doctor. They pledge their love ("Always, Always You"). Paul sings about his love with "She's My Love". Lili, stressed, prepares to leave the carnival. The carnival, too, is moving to a new town. Carrot Top appears asking her if she will leave without saying goodbye. She sees the puppet is trembling, and lifts the puppet off to reveal Paul's hand. She brings him out of the puppet stand. As Paul confesses, she begins to understand the kindness in him and together they follow the carnival.
Other Characters
- B.F. Schlegel: The grumpy ringmaster of "Cirque de Paris"
- Grobert: The sleazy souvenir peddler
- Princess Olga: A seductive snake-charming mistress
- Gladys Zuwicki: Gloria's sassy, loud-mouth partner in the Siamese twin act
- Gloria Zuwicki: Gladys' soft-spoken partner in the Siamese twin act
- Dr. Glass: Rosalie's wealthy veterinarian boyfriend
- Greta Schlegel: B.F. Schlegel's spoiled, pampered daughter
Songs
Act I- Direct from Vienna—The Incomparable Rosalie, Greta Schlegel and Carnival People
- A Very Nice Man—Lili
- Fairyland—Puppets
- I've Got to Find a Reason—Paul Berthalet
- Mira—Lili
- Sword, Rose and Cape—Marco the Magnificent and Roustabouts
- Humming—The Incomparable Rosalie and Mr. Schlegel
- Yes, My Heart—Lili and Roustabouts
- Everybody Likes You—Paul Berthalet
- Magic, Magic—Marco the Magnificent, The Incomparable Rosalie and Lili
- Tanz Mit Mir—The Bluebird Girls
- Carnival Ballet—Lili, Carnival People and Townspeople
- Mira (Reprise) -- Lili
- Love Makes the World Go 'Round (Theme From Carnival!)-- Lili and Puppets
Act II
- Yum Ticky—Lili and Puppets
- The Rich—Lili and Puppets
- Love Makes the World Go 'Round (Theme From Carnival!) (Reprise) -- Lili and Puppets
- Beautiful Candy—Lili, Puppets and Vendors
- Her Face—Paul Berthalet
- Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris—Jacquot and Carnival People
- I Hate Him—Lili
- Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris (Reprise) -- Carnival People
- Always Always You—Marco the Magnificent and The Incomparable Rosalie
- She's My Love—Paul Berthalet
Broadway
Carnival! premiered at the National Theatre in Washington D.C.National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
The National Theatre is located in Washington, D.C., and is a venue for a variety of live stage productions with seating for 1,676.Despite its name, it is not a governmentally funded national theatre, but operated by a private, non-profit organization....
where it ran March 9–25, 1961with the production next opening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 27, 1961. The Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
premiere of Carnival! was on April 12, 1961 at the Imperial Theatre. The original cast starred Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti is an Italian-born operatic singer and actress.Born in Pesaro, Marche, she starred on Broadway and won a Tony Award in 1962 as Best Actress for Carnival! .Alberghetti was a child prodigy. Her father was an opera singer and concert master of the Rome Opera Company...
as Lili, James Mitchell
James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
as Marco, Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard is an American musical theatre and television actress, comedienne, and singer.-Life and career:Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italian American family, the daughter of Lena and Vincent James Balotta.Ballard established herself as a musical...
as Rosalie, Pierre Olaf as Jacquot, Henry Lascoe and Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
making his Broadway debut as Paul Berthalet. Gower Champion both directed and choreographed with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang
Philip J. Lang
Philip J. Lang was an American musical arranger, orchestrator and composer of band music, as well as a musical educator...
. Carnival! was notable for its innovative staging: there was no overture and before the play commenced the curtain was already raised to put on view a field with a few trees; at the play's beginning actors hauled in wagons and raised a tent as if they were setting up a traveling fair at a new site. Throughout the play actors entered and exited the stage via the aisles of the theater where occasionally bits of the action were played. Carnival! was an instant hit with critics and audiences: John Chapman of the Daily News declared the play "enchantment from the moment the houselights go down" while in the Mirror Robert Coleman reported how the premiere's audience "blistered their palms in affectionate welcome to the town's new song and dance triumph." Carnival! ran on Broadway for 719 performances, moving after its December 15, 1962 performance to the Winter Garden Theatre
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown Manhattan.-History:The structure was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....
where the musical ended on January 5, 1963.
In the early stages of developing Carnival!, Merrick had envisioned Lili as a dancing rather singing role as in the parent film Lili and had hoped that film's star Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
would recreate the Lili role on Broadway. This course proving untenable, the Lili role in Carnival! was developed as a singing role for which Carol Lawrence was for a time a front runner. However, Merrick's ultimate choice for the role was Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti is an Italian-born operatic singer and actress.Born in Pesaro, Marche, she starred on Broadway and won a Tony Award in 1962 as Best Actress for Carnival! .Alberghetti was a child prodigy. Her father was an opera singer and concert master of the Rome Opera Company...
an Italian born lyric soprano who at twenty-four had eighteen years experience as a singer and had a light resume of screen acting credits mostly on television. Before Carnival! Alberghetti had two evident credits as a musical stage actress having appeared at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford CT in productions of Rose-Marie
Rose-Marie
Rose-Marie is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story takes place in the Canadian Rockies and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon...
and The Firefly
The Firefly (operetta)
The Firefly is the first operetta written by composer Rudolf Friml, with a libretto by Otto Harbach. The story concerns a young girl, who is a street singer. She disguises herself and serves as a cabin boy on a ship to Bermuda, where she falls in love...
in respectively 1959 and 1960. It has been reported that Merrick cast Alberghetti in Carnival! after a January 1961 viewing of her cabaret act in Philadelphia where the singer's audience interaction had made a favorable impression. However, Alberghetti has stated that Merrick had her audition after seeing her at the Oakdale Musical Theater in 1960 and her casting as Lili was reported in the New York Times as early as November 1960.
Despite his early good opinion of Alberghetti, Merrick's relationship with the star of his musical turned acrimonious. Merrick refused to release Alberghetti from Carnival! to avail herself of a film offer she received four months into the play's run and when Alberghetti was hospitalized August 6, 1961 for anemia and exhaustion Merrick reportedly either had an independent physician examine Alberghetti in hospital or had the hospitalized Alberghetti verify her illness in a lie detector
Lie detection
Lie detection is the practice of attempting to determine whether someone is lying. Activities of the body not easily controlled by the conscious mind are compared under different circumstances. Usually this involves asking the subject control questions where the answers are known to the examiner...
test. Merrick loudly championed Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette is an American actress, most notable for her work on Broadway and as a celebrity guest on various game shows....
the understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
who played Lili during Alberghetti's ten day sick leave, stating :"If I'd known she [Gillette] was this good when we were casting, she would have had the part",and when the company of Carnival! greeted Alberghetti upon her return to the show Merrick presented her with a bouquet of roses variously described as plastic or dead. Gillette's brief stints in the lead of Carnival! - she'd relieve Alberghetti during the latter's two week vacation in December 1961 - had enough impact to launch a Broadway career for Gillette - although Carnival! would remain the only hit in which she appeared. Conversely Alberghetti - despite winning a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for her role in Carnival! (tying with Diahann Carroll) - would never appear in another Broadway production, subsequently refocusing on her cabaret career although she did occasionally appear in regional theatrical productions.
National tours
The first national tour of Carnival! opened in December 1961 in Rochester, New York and was headlined by Susan WatsonSusan Watson
Susan Watson is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in musical theatre.Watson's first professional role was Velma in the original West End production of West Side Story in 1958. She created the role of Luisa in The Fantasticks and then played Kim on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie,...
(Lili), Ed Ames
Ed Ames
Ed Ames is an American popular singer and actor. He is best known for his pop and adult contemporary hits of the 1960s like "When the Snow is on the Roses" and the perennial "My Cup Runneth Over." He was part of a popular 1950s singing group called The Ames Brothers.-Early life:Born in Malden,...
(Paul Berthalet), Jonathan Lucas (Marco), Jo Anne Worley
Jo Anne Worley
Jo Anne Worley is an American actress. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. She is best known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Biography:...
(Rosalie), Johnny Haymer
Johnny Haymer
Johnny Haymer was an American actor who played Staff Sergeant Zelmo Zale, a recurring character in the television series M*A*S*H. Another high-profile role was that of the painfully unfunny stand-up comedian in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall...
(Jacquot) and Alfred Dennis (Schlegel). In April 1962 Susan Watson joined the Broadway production, taking over from Anna Maria Alberghetti who then headlined the touring company's San Francisco production; subsequently Carla Alberghetti
Carla Alberghetti
Carla Alberghetti is an actress and soprano singer.Alberghetti made her singing debut at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1955, singing "Un bel di" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. In 1960 she appeared in a touring production of the musical Kismet opposite baritone...
would regularly play the role of Lili in the touring company although Anna Maria Alberghetti again assumed the role in the touring company's Los Angeles production which opened at the Philharmonic Auditorium
Hazard's Pavilion
Hazard's Pavilion was a large auditorium in Los Angeles, California, located at the intersection of Fifth and Olive Streets. Showman George "Roundhouse" Lehman had planned to construct a large theatre center on the land he purchased at this location, but he went broke and the property was sold to...
in June 1962. Also both Anna Maria Alberghetti and Jerry Orbach would reprise their Broadway roles in an eight week engagement of Carnival! which opened at the Shubert Theater in Chicago in November 1962. The second national tour of Carnival! opened at the Bushnell Memorial Theater in Hartford, Connecticut on October 18, 1962 and ran until May 11, 1963. The cast featured Elaine Malbin
Elaine Malbin
Elaine Malbin is an American soprano who had a prolific international career singing in operas, musicals, and concerts from 1949 through 1967. She appeared in a number of Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s...
as Lili, David Daniels (Paul Berthalet), Don Potter (Jacquot) and Marge Cameron
Carmen Zapata
Carmen Margarita Zapata is an American actress. Zapata was born in New York City to a Mexican father and an Argentine mother. She has been in over one hundred movies and shows, including Batman: The Animated Series, Married... with Children, Sister Act, and she was Carmen Castillo in Santa Barbara...
(Rosalie); Ed Ames also played Paul Berthalet at some engagements.
International
The West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of Carnival! opened at the Lyric Theater in February 1963; this production - which had premiered at the Grand Theater in Leeds November 22, 1962 and also played at the King's Theatre in Glasgow
King's Theatre, Glasgow
The King's Theatre is located in Glasgow, Scotland. It was built for Howard & Wyndham Ltd under its chairman Baillie Michael Simons as a sister theatre of their Theatre Royal in the city and was designed by Frank Matcham, opening in 1904. The theatre is primarily a receiving house for touring...
opening there December 12, 1962 - featured Gower Champion's staging for the Broadway production recreated by Lucia Victor and Doria Avila. James Mitchell reprised his Broadway role as Marco co-starring with Michael Maurel, Shirley Sands, Sally Logan as Lili, Bob Harris and Francis de Wolff
Francis de Wolff
Francis de Wolff was an English character actor. Large, bearded, and beetle-browed, he was often cast as villains in both film and television....
. This cast recorded a cast album before the production had actually opened on the West End, where it would only play for 34 performances.
The Australian production of Carnival! opened in Sydney in September 1962.
Notable revivals
Carnival! has not played on Broadway since the original production closed. There have been two Off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
revivals, the first a production by the New York City Center Light Opera Company
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
which began a month long engagement on December 12, 1968. Peter Howard
Peter Howard (Broadway conductor and arranger)
Peter Howard was an American musical theater arranger, conductor and pianist...
, who had been the dance arranger for the original Broadway production of Carnival! was the musical director for the City Center production whose cast included Victoria Mallory
Victoria Mallory
Victoria Mallory is an American singer and actress. She was born September 20, 1949 in Virginia. She is sometimes credited as Vicki Morales, her birth name....
(Lili), Leon Bibb
Leon Bibb
Leon Bibb is an American news anchor for WEWS-TV in Cleveland, OH and was a member of the BGSU Board of Trustees...
(Paul Berthalet), Richard France (Marco), Karen Morrow
Karen Morrow
Karen Morrow is an American singer – actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations....
(Rosalie), Carmine Caridi
Carmine Caridi
Carmine Caridi is an American television and film actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of roles over the past 30 years. He lives in West Hollywood.- Career :...
(Schlegel) and Pierre Olaf who reprising his Broadway role as Jacquot. The City Center production is seemingly unique among major productions of Carnival! in making the show's love story an interracial one by casting an African-American actor in the role of Paul.
Carnival! again played at New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
in 2002 as an Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
production directed by Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall is an American choreographer, director, and creative consultant.-Life and career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Marshall graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School and Smith College. She worked in the Pittsburgh theatre scene when she was younger, performing with such...
which starred Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...
as Lili and featured puppets by the Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
Company, NY Muppet Workshop; the cast also included Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell is an American stage, film and television actor. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s...
(Paul Berthalet), Douglas Sills
Douglas Sills
-Life and career:Born in Detroit, Michigan, he grew up in the suburb of Franklin, where he was friends with both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Sills attended Cranbrook School, from which he graduated in 1978, and the University of Michigan where he majored in music...
(Marco), Debbie Gravitte (Rosalie), David Costabile
David Costabile
David Costabile is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. He is best known for his recurring television roles on The Wire , Flight of the Conchords , Damages , and Breaking Bad...
(Jacquot) and David Margulies
David Margulies
David Joseph Margulies is an American actor.Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Runya , a nurse and museum worker, and Harry David Margulies, a lawyer. Margulies graduated from City College of New York. Immediately afterward, he made his stage debut in the off-Broadway play Golden 6...
(Schlegel). Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
in his New York Times review praised the Encores! concert, describing Hathaway as convincing in the role even though "Lili may be the most unworldly heroine ever in a Broadway musical, dangerously blurring the lines between innocence and mental deficiency". It was announced in January 2004 that Julian Schlossberg
Julian Schlossberg
Julian Schlossberg is an American motion picture, theatre and television producer.- Biography :Following a tour of duty in the United States Army, Schlossberg studied at New York University, completing his degree and graduating with honors...
planned to produce a revival of Carnival! to run on Broadway. Schlossberg hoped to feature the principal actors from the Encores! concert production in a full-scale rendering of the play, and also hoped that Encores! director Kathleen Marshall and the Jim Henson puppets would come onboard for the revival. The announcement also stated that the book for this revival of Carnival! would be reworked by Thomas Meehan
Thomas Meehan
Thomas Meehan , was a noted British-born nurseryman, botanist and author. He worked as a Kew gardener in 1846–1848, and thereafter he moved to Germantown in Philadelphia...
.This revival did not materialize.
There have been two Off-Off Broadway revivals of Carnival!, the first a 1977 Equity Library Theatre (ELT) production which ran November 3 - November 20. This was the first musical directed by Susan H. Schulman
Susan H. Schulman
Susan H. Schulman is an American theater director.Intent on a career as an actress, Schulman studied drama at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, New York in the 1960s. She attended Yale University on a playwrighting fellowship, graduating with a Master's Degree...
; the production featured Sue Anne Gershenzon (Lili), Ross Petty
Ross Petty
Ross Petty is a Canadian actor and theatre producer. He is best known for his eponymous production company, which stages family theatre productions in Toronto every holiday season.- Early career :...
(Paul Berthalet), Joel Craig (Marco), Laura Kenyon (Rosalie), Jack Hoffman (Jacquot) and Carl Don (Schlegel). Schulman subsequently mounted Carnival! for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera is a nonprofit professional theater company based in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
(CLO) in the summer of 1982 with Gershenzon, Petty and Hoffman reprising their ELT roles; the CLO production also featured Keith Curran (Marco) and Lenora Nemetz
Lenora Nemetz
-Career:Nemetz left her native Pittsburgh as a teenager to work on Broadway. She performed her way across the country for the last three decades, starting with her Broadway debut in Cabaret. A protege of Bob Fosse, Nemetz first came to the attention of New York critics when she replaced Chita...
(Rosalie). In reviewing the CLO production, Terry Hazlett of the Observer-Reporter observed: "On paper, perhaps, [Carnival!] is a lackluster piece. The show contains only one memorable song: 'Love Makes the World Go 'Round', has few production numbers and asks the audience to believe a young woman is so naive she doesn't make the obvious connection between a puppeteer and his puppets. But director Susan H. Schulman and choreographer Steven Gelfer infuse a great deal of life into 'Carnival!' by making it just that - a carnival."
In 1993 the York Theatre
York Theatre
The York Theatre is an Off-Broadway theatre at 619 Lexington Avenue at the corner of 54th Street in the East Midtown section of Manhattan, New York City. It is dedicated to the production of new musicals and concert productions of forgotten musicals from the past. Each season consists of three or...
company revival of Carnival played at the Theatre at St Peters Church in March 31- May 2. This production was directed/choreographed by Pamela Hunt and featured Glory Crampton (Lili), Robert Michael Baker (Paul Berthalet), Paul Schoeffler
Paul Schoeffler
For the operatic baritone, see Paul Schöffler.Paul Schoeffler is a Canadian stage, film, television and voice actor.-Biography:...
(Marco), Karen Mason
Karen Mason
Karen Mason is an American theatre actress and singer.She was one of the featured cabaret vocalists at The Duplex Cabaret in the early 1980s. She has appeared at the Bay Area Cabaret, Empire Ballroom, San Francisco....
(Rosalie), Robert Lydiard (Jacquot) and William Linton (Schlegel). In his New York Magazine review of the York Theatre production John Simon
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...
characterized the original Carnival! as "a ramshackle production of a sentimental movie [that] was saved on Broadway by Gower Champion and adept casting" and opined: "The York Theatre production of Carnival! does what York is best at - taking a questionable show and making it unquestionably amateurish." Stephen Holden of the New York Times found the York Theatre production of Carnival!: "a rough-and-tumble singing storybook in which the members of a third-rate French circus troupe smilingly send up their own mediocrity...The show, a double allegory of a girl's growing up and of love overcoming despair, is potentially treacly stuff, and a production this intimate risks magnifying the sweetness to a terminally gooey level. But Pamela Hunt...has tightly controlled its hokier aspects. In her hands, Carnival! becomes a brash musical farce that turns sentimental only when absolutely required."
Both the Equity Library Theatre and Encores! stagings were taped for the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
Billy Rose Theatre Collection archives.
Anna Maria Alberghetti reprised the role of Lili in a production of Carnival! which played the Valley Music Theater
Valley Music Theater
The Valley Music Theater was a theater-in-the-round performing arts hall located at 20600 Ventura Blvd. just south of the Ventura Freeway in Woodland Hills, California...
in Woodland Hills LA for two weeks in February 1966 and which also featured James Mitchell and Ed Ames reprising their roles from respectively the Broadway and national touring companies of Carnival!.
Director/choreographer Robert Longbottom
Robert Longbottom
Robert Longbottom is a dancer, choreographer, and director, primarily for the stage. He has received a Tony Award nomination for his choreography....
directed a revival of Carnival! which ran from February 17 to March 11, 2007 at the Eisenhower Theatre at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC with a cast which included Ereni Sevasti (Lili), Jim Stanek
Jim Stanek
Jim Stanek is an American musical theatre, film and television actor.-Early life:Stanek was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland and raised in Cranberry Township, Butler County, a suburb of Pittsburgh. He attended the Seneca Valley School District where he performed in such musicals as Grease and...
(Paul Berthalet), Sebastian La Cause (Marco), Natascia Diaz (Rosalie), Michael Arnold (Jacqout), and Jonathan Lee Iverson (Schlegel). This production, which introduced a revised book by Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal
Francine Pascal is an author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series. There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University...
(sister of the late Michael Stewart) was a critical hit as evidenced by the reviews of Paul Harris in Variety - "So where has this little gem been hiding? Following the original David Merrick/Gower Champion production's 719-[performance] run on Broadway in the early '60s, Carnival! largely disappeared into the neglected musical dungeon, with only a smattering of noteworthy escapes since, including a 2002 City Center Encores! revival. The Bob Merrill and Michael Stewart tuner has surfaced at the Kennedy Center in delightful shape, under the discerning eye of director-choreographer Robert Longbottom."and Peter Marks of The Washington Post: "No musical in recent years has looked or sounded better on a Kennedy Center stage than the revival of 'Carnival!' that has been buffed to a ravishing sheen by director Robert Longbottom...If the Kennedy Center's goal here was to dress a difficult, neglected work in a coat of contemporary artistry, the aim has been achieved."
The Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey, less than 25 miles from Manhattan. Due to its location, it can draw from the pool of actors who live in New York City. Its location, as well as its focus on producing large-scale shows, makes...
mounted Carnival! in 2006, the play running March 8- April 19 under the direction of Erica Schmidt with a cast including Elena Shaddow
Elena Shaddow
Elena Shaddow is an American singer and actress. She is originally from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, in national tours, and in London. Her Broadway credits include Les Misérables, Sweet Smell of Success, Nine, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Woman in...
(Lili), Charles Pollock (Paul Berthalet), Paul Schoeffler (Marco), Jennifer Allen (Rosalie), Eric Michael Gillett (Jacquot) and Nick Wyman
Nick Wyman
Nick Wyman is an American stage, television, and film actor, and is the President of the Actors' Equity Association.-Career:...
(Schlegel). In her New York Times write-up of the Paper Mill revival, Naomi Siegel characterizes Carnival! as "an also-ran among American musicals [which] simply never entered the Broadway pantheon" and specifies the dark elements she feels make Carnival! overall problematic - "the bleakness of the leading characters -- Lili, a forlorn orphan looking for love in all the wrong places; Marco, a second-rate magician with a Lothario complex; and Paul, a former dancer, wounded in the war and now forced to perform as a puppeteer and miserable in the process...[Also] the underlying theme of child exploitation...with a subtle but present sexual subtext" - before assessing the Paper Mill production as "[a] revival [which] reminds us of the genuine charm of the work and provides several show-stopping numbers for its talented players [but] does little to dispel the shadow that the play casts." Paper Mill had first presented Carnival! in 1964 opening 11 February with Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
then seventeen in one of her earliest stage roles as Lili, Minnelli having debuted in the role in a production at the Mineola
Mineola, New York
Mineola is a village in Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a Native American word meaning a "pleasant place"....
Playhouse which opened January 28, 1964.
Darko Tresnjak
Darko Tresnjak
Darko Tresnjak is a prominent American theatre director. He has received the Alan Schneider Award for Directing Excellence, a T.C.G. National Theater Artist Residency Award, a Boris Sagal Directing Fellowship, an NEA New Forms Grant, two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Individual Artist...
directed a revival of Carnival! which ran from August 12 - September 18, 2010 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam CT
East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,333 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
under the auspices of Goodspeed Musicals
Goodspeed Musicals
Goodspeed Musicals, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, was formed in 1959 to restore the Goodspeed Opera House, located in East Haddam, Connecticut, to its original Victorian appearance. Each year, Goodspeed...
which had previously mounted Carnival! in 1986. The 2010 Goodspeed production of Carnival!, which retained Francine Pascal's revisions for the 2007 Kennedy Center production, had in its cast Lauren Worsham (Lili), Adam Monley (Paul Berthalet), Nathan Klau (Jacquot), Mike McGowan (Marco), Michelle Blakely (Rosalie) and Laurent Giroux (Schlegel) with the last-named role taken over by Michael Kostroff
Michael Kostroff
Michael Kostroff is an American actor. He appeared on the HBO program The Wire as defense attorney Maurice Levy. Kostroff starred in the fifth season of the series and appeared in all four earlier seasons as a guest star.- Biography :...
. In his review of the 2010 Goodspeed production, Frank Rizzo of Variety described Carnival! as being both a "bittersweet tuner that touches on sadness, desperation and remoteness" and "an entertainment...that features magic, puppetry and aerial work as well as a luxurious score ...Carnival! isn't a natural for wide crossover appeal, but this tasteful, multilayered production does re-enforce the view that it is still a gem to be valued."
Recordings
The Original Broadway Cast recording of Carnival! was recorded April 23, 1961 with Eddie Heller producing in association with Arnold Maxin; the album omits much of the dance music, as well as the songs "Magic, Magic," "Fairyland," and the "Mira" reprise. Rush-released that May as MGM 3946/Stereo S3946, the Broadway cast recording reached #1 on the Billboard album chartBillboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
dated July 24, 1961 and remained at #1 the following week. (The rights to recordings of Carnival! defaulted to MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
by virtue of the musical's parent film Lili being a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
release.)
The Original London Cast album of Carnival! was also recorded by MGM; made before the show's disappointing West End run, the London cast recording was passed by MGM to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and released in January 1963 as HMV CSD-1476. The London Cast recording features the same tracks and edits as the Broadway cast album but includes some dialogue.
The CD of the original Broadway cast was released on June 8, 1989 on Decca Broadway; it includes nine bonus tracks, of which five are by Merrill. Kritzerland will be releasing the original London cast recording on CD for the first time in May 2011.
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Billboard Pop Albums (Billboard 200) (mono) | 1 |
Projected film
Arthur FreedArthur Freed
Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
hoped to produce a film version of Carnival! for MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(who automatically had film rights by virtue of having originated the film Lili); Gower Champion and Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for the adaptation - in partnership with his twin brother, Philip, and others - of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's that became the screenplay for the film Casablanca , for which its team of writers...
were attached to the project as respectively director and screenwriter and unofficial reports cast the Carnival! film with Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Carmen Mimieux is a retired American movie and television actress.-Early life and career:Yvette Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor...
mentioned as both a possible Lili and Rosalie, Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
as Paul Berthalet and George Chakiris
George Chakiris
George Chakiris is an American-Greek dancer, singer and actor.-Early life:Chakiris was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Steven and Zoe Chakiris, immigrants from Greece. Chakiris studied at the American School of Dance....
as Marco; Broadway cast members James Mitchell and Pierre Olaf were also said to be reprising their stage roles for the film and Anna Maria Alberghetti did a screen test for the film role of Lili in the spring of 1963. Plans for the film version of Carnival! abruptly collapsed.
Awards and nominations
Broadway production- New York Drama Critics Circle Award -- Best Musical
- Outer Circle Critics Award for Creative Contributions to the Season
Tony Awards:
-
- Best Actress in a Musical -- Anna Maria AlberghettiAnna Maria AlberghettiAnna Maria Alberghetti is an Italian-born operatic singer and actress.Born in Pesaro, Marche, she starred on Broadway and won a Tony Award in 1962 as Best Actress for Carnival! .Alberghetti was a child prodigy. Her father was an opera singer and concert master of the Rome Opera Company...
(tie with Diahann Carroll in No Strings) (WINNER) - Best Scenic Design -- Will Steven Armstrong (WINNER)
- Best Musical—Producer - David MerrickDavid MerrickDavid Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
(nominee) - Best Author of a Musical—Book by Michael Stewart; Based on material by Helen DeutschHelen DeutschHelen Deutsch was an American screenwriter, journalist and songwriter.Deutsch was born in New York City and graduated from Barnard College. She began her career by managing the Provincetown Players...
(nominee) - Best Featured Actor in a Musical -- Pierre Olaf (nominee)
- Best Direction of a Musical -- Gower ChampionGower ChampionGower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.-Early years:Champion was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School...
(nominee) - Best Producer of a Musical—David Merrick (nominee)
- Best Actress in a Musical -- Anna Maria Alberghetti
Further reading
- Gilvey, John Anthony. Before the Parade Passes By: Gower Champion and the Glorious American Musical. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-33776-0
- Payne-Carter, David, Brooks McNamara, and Steve Nelson, eds. Gower Champion: Dance and American Musical Theatre. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ISBN 0-313-30451-3
External links
- Carnival at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Tams-Witmark synopsis and production information
- Music and Lyrics for Carnival by Bob Merrill - Hear sound clips on TheBobMerrill.com site
- Interview with Kaye Ballard about Carnival
- Theater Mania review of 2007 Kennedy Center production
- Carnival! on Floormic.com