REVIEW : Muted Sound Weakens ‘Carousel’

More than most musicals, “Carousel,” one of Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s most enduring hits, demands a sound system clear enough for the audience to differentiate the tremulous lyrics over the thrust of the orchestra.

But too often the words are either overamplified or muffled in the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium production that closes the San Gabriel Valley Civic Light Opera’s season.

For all the production’s assorted rewards--among them, its vibrant lovers (Stuart Larson and Victoria Strong) and soaring vocals--the result is an uneven theater experience. Sound quality is a common problem with musicals, but it’s especially crucial to “Carousel,” which is more of a musical play than merely a musical with a thin excuse for libretto.

Based on Ferenc Molnar’s Hungarian play “Liliom” and originally staged in 1945 as Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s first venture after their hit “Oklahoma!,” “Carousel” is hard to define because of its mixture of so many forms--fantasy, complete with a heaven sequence; romantic nostalgia, with a clambake on the beach, and folk tale, with a sea chantey, “Blow High, Blow Low” and high-kicking sailors in striped T-shirts.

Not to belabor the acoustics problem (which was not evident in the civic light opera’s last two productions), but any time you have to work at catching the performers’ diction, even if it’s only 20% of the time, a delicate and almost indescribable achievement like “Carousel” will be affected.

It may be cheating to the purist, but the biggest favor that patrons can do for themselves is to take a moment before the curtain and read the plot scenario in the program. It’ll make the show more enjoyable and more accessible. And it’ll free the theater-goer to better soak in Rodgers’ masterful score, led by orchestra conductor M. Roger Lockie and including the jubilant “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and the memorable “If I Loved You” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Despite the technical and dramatic challenges, Larson ably conveys the proud and virile carnival barker Billy Bigelow, a complex character who must be touching and repellent at the same time.

His major number--and the whole show’s central dramatic moment--is the song “Soliloquy,” in which the surly Bigelow ponders becoming a father and shaping up his life. It brings down the first act curtain in heartfelt style.

Bigelow’s love is Julie, a New England cotton mill girl played with fetching devotion and sterling vocalizing by Strong, who’s surrounded by full-throated singers in bloomers and petticoats (Michelle Stout, Claudia Dunn, Ann Rittenhouse).

Humorous and flavorful support also comes from James Dybas’ wicked, high-kicking sailor and avuncular Hank Wilson as heaven’s star-keeper.

But it’s in heaven, where Bigelow materializes after being shot to death in a waterfront robbery attempt, that the production stumbles on a basic visual level. Though the rest of the rented sets are generally vivid (especially director Bill Shaw’s opening, pantomimic carnival scene and its dazzling, gaily colored air balloon), the scenic design for heaven is wretched--a horrible, narrow squiggly line of clouds outlined against a black scrim that looks like a child’s drawing.

As usual, resident choreographer Rikki Lugo has fashioned solid male and female dance ensembles; the men predominate. And Lugo’s “Beach Ballet,” featuring Tobrina Van Buskirk and Scott Maher, is a momentary swirl of grace and passion. (Lugo had an awesome predecessor: The original show’s dances were choreographed by the legendary Agnes de Mille.

“Carousel,” San Gabriel Civic Auditorium, 320 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel, Thursday-Saturday, 8:15 p.m., Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2:15 p.m. Ends May 17. $15-$30. (818) 308-2868. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes.