Testi Soundtracks :: C

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z1

Carousel - Act 2

That evening, resting up after the cookout (A Real Nice Clambake), everyone

Prepares for the annual treasure hunt.

Jigger, pretending to show Carrie self-defense maneuvers, gets her into a

compromising position just as Mister Snow appears. Now the gender scuffling

turns serius, as Snow walks out on Carrie, Billy heads off with Jigger for

their robbery despite Julie's protests, and the women lament their lack of

power (Geraniums In The Winter/Stonecutters Cut It On Stone/What's The Use Of Wond'rin').

Back to the mainland, Billy and Jigger await the arrival of their intended

victim by playing twenty-one. Jigger, dealing, cheats Billy out of virtually

all his share of the coming boodle. But the robbery is foiled, Jigger escapes,

and Billy, seeing his whole life as a failure, kills himself crying, "Julie!"



The clambakers arrive, Julie only just in time to trade a few words with Billy

Before he dies. "I love you," she tells him, for the first time in her life,

After he has died. Nettie comforts her (You'll Never Walk Alone).



It's not over yet. A heavenly Friend shows up to take Billy "Up There," where

In a scene suggestive of some advanced Protestant sect's open-air meeting house,

An austere Starkeeper allows Billy to go back and resolve problems he left "Down

Here" - for instance, his daughter, Louise, who is now fifteen and as wild and

resentful as Billy was. The Starkeeper gives Billy a star to take to her as a

present.

A ballet reveals Louise to us: as a tomboy cut-up, then as a young woman tasting

love with a boy she meets in the ruins of her father's carousel (Ballet: Pas de

Deux). She is, in effect, recreating her mother's experience, breaking out of a

Drab life in a dangerous yet wonderful relationship. But the boy wanders off,

Leaving Louise heartbroken and destructively defiant.



Back on earth with the Heavenly Friend, Billy tries to give Louise the star, she

suspiciously resists, and he slaps her face - once again, in his inarticulate

rage, failing to express his true feelings to those he loves (If I Loved You

reprise).

"Common sense may tell you that the endin' will be sad" - but, at Louise's

high-school graduation, Billy heartens his daughter and tells julie "I loved

you."

As the congregation clusters in socio-religious community, Billy, in a distance,

Climbs a great stairway to heaven (You'll Nevr Walk Alone reprise).