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Billy Bigelow says he does not beat his wife.
But Ive gotten ahead of myself.
This happens near the end of the show, when Louise asks, Has it ever happened to you?
Has anyone ever hit you without hurtin?
This year, the women are not saying those lines.
For Bigelow and his wife Julie Jordan, happiness on earth is not in the picture.
Bigelow has a gift for obliterating whatever good might come from his few impulses toward decency.
He comes as close to telling Julie he loves her as O.J.
Simpson came to confession; Bigelow can only say ifI loved you.
But he doesnt get to travel very far down the road.
It is a shocking moment, even though it happens offstage.
But public condemnation has no effect on Billy; his judgment never evolves.
His best plan to care for his unborn child is to rob a rich man.
At this, a gasp went through the audience at an early preview.
British director Nicholas Hytner paid great attention to the way poverty grinds down even the young.
HytnersCarouselprovided an argument about class that contextualized Billys violence.
OBrien never shows us the mill at all his is a less grim, more traditional and more romanticCarousel.
His female chorus often looks like it was shipped in fromOklahoma!
long ruffled skirts and crinolines, bloomers and little ankle boots, and everyone looks healthy and happy.
Twenty-five years after he stagedCarouselsfinale, Hytner told me he regrets not deleting the dialogue between Julie and Louise.
Its outrageous and unforgivable.
It should be cut.
Despite her deprivations, Julie sees more, feels more, and knows more.
This is present in both productions, possibly in every production.
Suffering does bring some kind of knowledge.
Youre in love with something that doesnt exist, says Vera.
At that, Volk smacks her across the mouth.
Her answer is triumphant: Ah!
That didnt hurt at all!
While the smack is in the source material, Veras response is original toMay Wine.
Dorothy acquiesced but always drifted back to her business with one large commission or another.
We are capable of course of condemning the sin but forgiving the sinner.
Some of us will weep at all of that, too.
