Carousel
Costume Designer • Arts Express • Spring 2020
• Production Photos • Research •
Rogers and Hammerstein's 1945 classic tragedy, Carousel is set in a Maine Textile Mill town, and tells the story of the ill-fated love of the carousel barker Billy Bigelow, and mill worker Julie Jordan. The director for this production focused on cycles of abuse, and the show was done in partnership with a local domestic violence center to raise awareness of how these issues still impact our society. The costumes used deep colors, busy textures and layering to emphasize the working class town, as well as the moral degradation in the story. The only contrast to this comes from the Snow family in the last scene; so pristine they feel unnatural.
Costume Design: Mae Berg
Asst. Costume: Tiff Jensen
Director: Nancy Davis Booth
Scenic Design: Mike Dunn
Lighting Design: Michael Sorrenson
Sound Design: Tyler Berg
Stage Manager: Gemma Dick
Photos: Ben Wiese
Research
When researching Carousel, I wanted to better understand the time and place in order to understand the cultural context of this surprisingly dark show. A search for the history of Textile Mills and Sardines (both providing valuable context and images) also led to the historical situation of Maine as a whole during this time. The state itself was in decline economically, having been stripped of many of its natural resources. This helps to better understand the depravity and despair of many characters in this musical.
