Carnival! is a
musical that was produced in 1961. The book was written by Michael Stewart and
music and lyrics by Bod Merrill. The musical
is based on the 1953 film Lili. Carnival first premiered at the National
Theatre in Washington D.C. in March 1961. It finally premiered on Broadway on
April 12, 1961 at the Imperial Theater and it closed January 5, 1963. The show had 719 performances. The original
cast starred Anna Maria Alberghetti as Lili, James Mitchell as Marco, Kaye
Ballard as Rosalie, Pierre Olaf as Jacquot, Henry Lascoe and Jerry Orbach. The musical
was noted for its innovation staging with the introduction to puppets to musical
theater. The musical has won many awards
such as the 1962 Tony Award for best Actress in a musical and the Tony Award
for best scenic design. The show had several nation and international tours around
the world. Also there have been several revivals. The play does not tour as
much but it is still put on by several regional and community theaters.
The musical is about this optimistic orphan girl named Lili.
She is look for a job and find herself at a circus. At the circus, she meets a
man named Marco the Magnificent who asks her to be his act but the job doesn’t work
out well. She tries to find a job with the puppeteers but Paul, who is secretly
in love with her, scares her away with his bitterness but she comes back when
Carrot Top (the puppet played by Paul) starts talking and joins the show. The show goes good for a while until Paul
realizes he is paying too much attention to Lili and curses her. Then later on,
Paul kisses Lili and confuses and scares her. Lili then tell him that he is the
first person she has ever hated in her life. Later on, Paul confesses his love
to Lili which stresses her out and prepares her to leave the carnival. But as
she is leaving, Carrot Top appears asks her to stay and starts to trembling. Lili
lift the puppet off revealing Paul hand. Paul begins to understand the kindness
in him and they live happily end after.
One dramaturgical choice made in the play was the motif of ambiguity
things. One is at the end of the play, the play just ended. The play did not
end with a musical number or an oral conclusion. Paul realizes that he can be
kind and loving and the lights fade. The playwright probably wants the audience
to create their own conclusion. Another moment of ambiguity is with Gobert, the
souvenir salesman. He appears in the play with no goals or reasons. Half of the
time he is standing around wiping things or just saying the obvious. The second dramaturgical choice is create the
magnificent character as a con-artist. Throughout the musical, the magnificent is
always trying to trick someone or fool someone. For example, as the puppet job
is growing on Lili, Marco does everything in his power to have Lili running back
to him. I think the playwright did this as a parallel. He performs tricks for
the audience but he also tricks people too.
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