Music composed by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Principal cast includes: Gordon MacRae (Billy Bigelow); Shirley Jones (Julie Jordan); Cameron Mitchell (Jigger Craigin); Barbara Ruick (Carrie Pepperidge); Claramae Turner (Cousin Nettie Fowler).

Producers: Benard Freericks, Harry M. Leonard.

Reissue producers: Didier C. Deutsch, Charles L. Granata.

Recorded at 20th Century Fox Studios, Hollywood, California. Originally released on Capitol (694). Includes liner notes by Charles L. Granata & Didier C. Deutsch.

Digital remastering by Darcy M. Proper & Andreas K. Meyer (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).

Principal cast includes: John Raitt (Billy Bigelow); Jan Clayton (Julie Jordon); Jean Darling (Carrie Piperidge); Eric Mattson (Enoch Snow); Christine Johnson (Nettie Fowler); Jean Casto (Mrs. Mullin); Murvyn Vye (Jigger Craigin).

Reissue Producers: Andy McKaie, Ron O'Brien, Max O. Preeo

Recorded on May 11, 16 and 21, 1945. Originally released on Decca (DA 400). Includes liner notes by Max O. Preeo.

Digitally remastered by Greg Calbi (2000).

Decca Records scored a significant commercial success with its album of songs from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's first musical, Oklahoma!, performed by members of the original cast. So, the label was interested in releasing a similar recording of the songwriters' next musical, Carousel. The new show was a darker effort than Oklahoma!, based on the tragic play Liliom, even though Hammerstein had the two leads marry and considerably softened the ending. One element he did retain was the story's lustiness, especially evident in one of the score's hit songs, "June Is Bustin' out All Over." Rodgers' music was characteristically tuneful, and the cast, led by John Raitt in his Broadway debut, was excellent. The score produced standards in the hits "If I Loved You" and "You'll Never Walk Alone," as well as the epic "Soliloquy," a revolutionary recitative in which Raitt, as Billy Bigelow, undergoes a character transformation as he anticipates the birth of his child. Rodgers and Hammerstein's stature, and the show's outstanding music, helped it to a Broadway run of 890 performances after it opened in New York in 1945. The cast recording shared in this success; it topped the recently instituted album charts, and Decca (later succeeded by MCA) kept it in print through a series of reissues over the years. ~ William Ruhlmann

This album contains recordings by the original Broadway cast of Carousel from 1945, or at least copies of those recordings. In Europe, the copyright on recordings lapses after 50 years, allowing anyone who likes to press up CDs transferred from old records. Prism Leisure, a British budget reissue label, specializes in this practice, and this is their version of Carousel. Of course, a far better quality version of the same recordings has been maintained in print in the U.S. by Decca and later MCA, and those imprints' parent company, Universal, continues to claim ownership under American law. That should mean that the Prism disc would not be on sale in America, but it was easily obtainable from U.S. mail-order firms upon release, selling for only about $8. Not surprisingly, the sound is inferior to the American CD, and the skimpy annotations are embarrassingly inept. (Even Oscar Hammerstein II's name is misspelled!) But musical theater buffs may want to seek it out anyway because of the inclusion of recordings made by members of the original London cast in 1950. Iva Withers (a Broadway replacement) and Stephen Douglass (also of the 1947 U.S. tour) may not be as strong as Jan Clayton and John Raitt, but they are worth hearing, both on their own terms and also at the low price. ~ William Ruhlmann

The original motion picture soundtrack of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel benefits from Gordon MacRae's powerful performance in the lead role of Billy Bigelow. MacRae was cast in the role when director Henry King's first choice, Frank Sinatra, fell through, and is clearly the highlight of the recording. Not every cast member is as reliable. Shirley Jones as Bigelow's wife has a tendency to overact her songs in a way that is more grating on record than in the film. The same mugging plagues the performance of the chorus on the classic song "June Is Bustin' out All Over." The other major chorus numbers don't require overacting to be grating. Some critics complained that the film was missing some of the best songs from the Broadway version of Carousel. The problem may not have been that songs were cut, but that they cut the wrong songs. The tedious "Soliloquy" is probably necessary to advance the action, but it's certainly not as tuneful as the absent "Blow High, Blow Low." And surely the show would hold up without the dopey "A Real Nice Clambake." No doubt most fans would happily exchange it for a few more reprises of "You'll Never Walk Alone." ~ Evan Cater

Rodgers and Hammerstein were relatively uninvolved in the movie version of their second musical, Carousel, which was the least successful of three adaptations of their shows released within an eight-month period from October 1955 to June 1956. Oklahoma!, which preceded it, and The King and I, which followed, were both blockbusters, while Carousel failed to make back its considerable production cost. The dark-edged story had also been less of a success on Broadway, though still a big hit, and the casting of Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae (the latter a last-minute replacement for Frank Sinatra, who walked out in a contract dispute), the same pair who had just appeared in Oklahoma!, may have dampened audiences' enthusiasm. The soundtrack album, however, was musically more complete containing songs like "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" and "Blow High, Blow Low" that had been cut from the film -- and more popular -- reaching the Top Five and selling a million copies -- than the movie. Jones (some of whose singing may have been dubbed by Marni Nixon) and MacRae perform well, as does the rest of the cast, particularly soprano Claramae Turner ("You'll Never Walk Alone"). Some lyrics have been bowdlerized, and a couple of minor songs are missing, but this is still a good version of the score, especially because of the larger orchestra. Subsequent CD reissues have expanded the album's length, and the 2001 edition is padded out with music from two lengthy ballet sections to bring the running time over 70 minutes. 2001 reissue producers Didier C. Deutsch and Charles L. Granata each contribute liner notes, and they overlap; the two essays should have been edited together. And since they make so much of Sinatra's defection, it would have been nice to have dug up the pre-recordings he made for the soundtrack. ~ William Ruhlmann

Rodgers and Hammerstein were relatively uninvolved in the movie version of their second musical, Carousel, which was the least successful of three adaptations of their shows released within an eight-month period from October 1955 to June 1956. Oklahoma!, which preceded it, and The King and I, which followed, were both blockbusters, while Carousel failed to make back its considerable production cost. The dark-edged story had also been less of a success on Broadway, though still a big hit, and the casting of Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae (the latter a last-minute replacement for Frank Sinatra, who walked out in a contract dispute), the same pair who had just appeared in Oklahoma!, may have dampened audiences' enthusiasm. The soundtrack album, however, was musically more complete containing songs like "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" and "Blow High, Blow Low" that had been cut from the film -- and more popular -- reaching the Top Five and selling a million copies -- than the movie. Jones (some of whose singing may have been dubbed by Marni Nixon) and MacRae perform well, as does the rest of the cast, particularly soprano Claramae Turner ("You'll Never Walk Alone").

Entertainment Weekly (10/12/01, p.36) - Ranked #42 in EW's "100 Best Movie Soundtracks" - "...The soundtrack is one glorious go-round..."