LYRIC STAGE OPENS FIFTEENTH SEASON WITH
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CAROUSEL
PRODUCTION TO FEATURE 40 PIECE ORCHESTRA

Lyric Stage, Dallas County's only locally produced professional musical theater company, opens its 15th season with Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL, September 7-16, 2007, in the Irving Arts Center's Carpenter Performance Hall. Tickets are available by calling the box office AT 972-252-2787. Order your tickets now!

Hear CAROUSEL the way Richard Rodgers intended it to be heard - with a 40 piece orchestra! CAROUSEL was Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's favorite of all of their musicals. "If I Loved You," "June is Bustin' Out All Over," and "You'll Never Walk Alone" are just three of the songs in this glorious score. TIME magazine proclaimed CAROUSEL the Number One musical of the twentieth century.

Lyric Stage Founding Producer Steven Jones says, "We are very excited about this special production of CAROUSEL. The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Lyric Stage a grant enabling us to present Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL with a 40 piece orchestra! For the first time in Texas, CAROUSEL will be presented as it was originally heard on Broadway in 1945 - with a 40 piece orchestra playing Don Walker's orchestrations. The Rodgers & Hammerstein organization has painstakingly restored Walker's original Broadway orchestrations and we are pleased that Lyric Stage audiences will hear them with a full complement of musicians." The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization's Musical Supervisor, Bruce Pomahac, adds, "Richard Rodgers composed the score of CAROUSEL with a symphonic sound in mind. In his lifetime he didn't always hear it played that way because few orchestra pits could hold the forty players the original scoring demanded. Subsequently the instrumentation was scaled down and for more than half a century many of the musical details that made the orchestration of CAROUSEL unique were lost. Now The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization has restored what has been missing and Lyric Stage will be presenting Rodgers' most glorious work just as he intended it to be heard, with all of Don Walker's superb orchestrations intact."

This fully staged production of CAROUSEL will be directed by Cheryl Denson with Jay Dias as Music Director/Conductor, and Len Pfluger as Choreographer. Margaret J. Soch is the Production Stage Manager. Lighting design is by Julie Simmons with costumes by Billie Boston. The cast includes Christopher Pinnella (Billy Bigelow), Kimberly Whalen (Julie Jordan), Dara Whitehead Allen (Carrie Pipperidge), Jackson Ross Best, Jr. (Enoch Snow), Natalie Arduino (Nettie Fowler), Joshua Doss (Jigger Craigin), Stacia Malone (Mrs. Mullin), Lily Froehlich (Louise), Tony Martin (Mr. Bascombe), Francis Fusillier (Starkeeper), Alicia Bullen, Sara Chason, John de Los Santos, Mary Rose Duncan, Cris Galvan, Ben Giddings, Carlos Gomez, Andy Gosnel, Martin Antonio Guerra, Marvin Joshua, Michael Madrinkian, Kelly McCain, Jonathan McCurry, Mary McElree, Michelle McElree, Curt Mega, C. Nicholas Morris, Len Pfluger, Carly Rosemore, Dana Harlow Taylor, Jay Taylor, Greg Tucker, Vernicia Vernon, Jennifer White, Theo Wischhusen, Emmie Arduino, Julia Rose Arduino, Kallie Duncan and Nicholas Godfrey.

The Theatre Guild's Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner, producers of Rodgers & Hammerstein's ground breaking OKLAHOMA!, suggested that the duo follow their 1943 hit with a musical adaptation of Ferenc Molnar's LILIOM. Although hesitant at first, concerned about the dark story and an anti-hero leading character, they agreed to tackle the project. Rodgers & Hammerstein were not comfortable with the Hungarian setting of the play, and so chose to set the musical on the New England coast, and offered an inspired ending of hope in contrast to the bleak conclusion of the original source material - and even Molnar himself said Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL solved what he admitted was his own play's flawed ending. CAROUSEL cemented the partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and led to SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Looking back on CAROUSEL in his autobiography, Rodgers remembered, "Oscar never wrote more meaningful or more moving lyrics, and to me, my score is more satisfying than anything I have ever written."

Lyric Stage Season Subscriptions range from $80 to $135 and are available by calling the box office @ 972-252-2787. Single tickets to CAROUSEL are priced from $20 to $45. CAROUSEL runs September 7, 8, 13, 14 & 15 @ 8:00 PM with matinees on Sunday September 9 & 16 @ 2:30 PM.