Alternately funny and menacing, Edquist, like Lewis, brought electricity to an often wooden production. After his triumph as Edward Kynaston in this season's stellar 'Prince of Players,' this is no surprise. Ben Edquist made much of the relatively small role of Jigger Craigin, the crass and conniving criminal who tempts Billy into the get-rich-quick robbery scheme that results in his death. Whether strolling or fretting, wooing or crooning, he was utterly convincing. The confident and charismatic Blythe led the very fine Houston Grand Opera chorus, itself a standout of the evening, in the rousing 'June Is Bustin' Out All Over' and 'A Real Nice Clambake.' Blythe knows how to grab the audience, and she didn't let go in a moving rendition of one of the musical's most memorable songs, 'You'll Never Walk Alone.'Īlexander Lewis was a captivating Enoch Snow - nerdy, awkward and urgent all at once. Stephanie Blythe seized the stage each time she appeared as Julie's nurturing cousin Nettie Fowler. 'Carousel' may star these central couples, but standout performances came from the supporting cast. Tickets: $15-$258, 71, See More Collapse Where: Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Ave. Meanwhile, Julie's good friend Carrie Pipperidge nets the man of her dreams, fisherman Enoch Snow, only to find, rather comically, that happiness means mothering an exhausting brood of seven children.

In spite of Billy's untimely demise, he returns as a ghost in the hope of ensuring his entry to heaven by preventing his daughter from repeating his own foolish mistakes. Julie loses her job, her dignity and her virtue for Billy - who hits her and leaves her pregnant before taking his own life to avoid jail. Mullin's traveling fair, which features an irresistible carousel. Julie Jordan falls for bad boy Billy Bigelow, a barker at Mrs. In 'Carousel,' getting what you want is dangerous, especially when what you want is just no good. Bush and Barbara Bush paid no small compliment to Rodgers and Hammerstein by returning to see an encore more than a quarter-century later.

Still, the Sunday matinee of 'Carousel,' which runs through May 7, was an unexpected reprise of a 1990 presidential performance of 'Carousel' at HGO as George H.W.

Houston grand opera carousel