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mystic9121
Reviews
Live from Lincoln Center: The New York Philharmonic's Performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel (2013)
Glorious
Of all the greatest Broadway musicals, only Carousel gets me every single time, this more so than ever before: It literally drenched me in tears from start to finish. Blythe stands the tallest, and her anthem at the end tore me in twain.. Even though it has been honed down to its essential skeletal structure, the lyrics still succeed in moving one to tears. More than any other semi-staged concert version of a musical, the direction here was so on the mark that the authentic acting permitted one to identify readily with the main characters. The overarching Christ story of sin, contrition, forgiveness and redemption contribute to the tale, which is really an opera. The full glorious orchestration playing this exquisite score, supplemented by a perfect cast with matching voices are sublime. The touching ballet sequence at the end was thrilling, far better than in any other version I have seen. Bravo all round.
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Response to "flaw" claimed in comment
One review above claims a flaw, in that Christine Helm (Dietrich) never actually committed perjury (true!!!! ) and therefore she should not have accepted her fate so readily, implying that her murder of Vole is manslaughter only and therefore defensible. Helm claims correctly that she had never testified that what she had written in the letters was the truth, merely that she had written them. Christie exploits this assumption by the jury brilliantly and credibly, and is a diabolically clever plot twist. But I don't see it as a flaw. I see it as a way for the audience to assume that Lanchester realizes this very wiggle room is her justification for suggesting Laughton defend Dietrich instead of going to Bermuda on vacation. I have seen this movie masterpiece many many times,and always forget exactly how the denouement is reached, and always enjoy analyzing how Christie brilliantly always remained one step ahead of the reader.