Carousel: Diamond Valley Singers & Eltham Orchestra

The Diamond Valley Singers and the Eltham Orchestra of Carousel is a fine example representative of the long amateur musical company tradition of Melbourne that provides rare chances for audiences to see quality performances of lesser known classics of music theatre.

The musical Carousel has a long reputation for dividing opinion between those who think it’s Rodger & Hammerstein’s best and those who think it is the worst! I think this accounts for the reluctance of professional companies to perform this Rodger and Hammerstein classic, which is unfair, as the show has some wonderful moments.

In this production, the voices of Esther Counsel and Gerard Schneider in the leads as Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow were well cast, carrying the difficult vocal lines well. Michelle Crupi singing as Carrie Pipperidge was also enjoyable and was well matched in her duets with Julie Jordan.

While the quality of the supporting cast varied, for me, one of the highlights of this production was the fine chorus singing. I always find it very interesting, that you will find some of the best chorus singing in musicals in Melbourne, not on the professional stage, but in the amateur productions.

In this production, the women in June were terrific, but the fine singing in the men’s chorus Blow High, Blow Low was a personal highlight for me. Often the singing in male choruses is lacking in amateur productions, but this was certainly not the case here, with some very fine ensemble singing that was a real pleasure to listen to.

This approach of the sets and direction is fairly standard, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. This production will give audiences an experience of what a typical production of this play looks like, as it is not often produced.

And this is a pity, as there’s no doubt that the score is a fine one, with the wonderful Carousel waltz, the groundbreaking Soliloquy, and of course, the inspirational classic You’ll never walk alone.

The score of Carousel is wonderfully innovative and the Diamond Valley Singers production gives an opportunity to become familiar with this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic which is unlikely to see a professional production in the near future. In addition, all proceeds from this production go to World Vision, giving another good reason to take a look.

Carousel: Diamond Valley Singers & Eltham Orchestra

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