The Goodspeed Opera House’s production of Carousel closes this week—the final performance of the Rodgers & Hammerstein hit is September 29. I regret that I didn’t get a chance to review the show. I did get a chance to SEE it, but at a preview performance so early in the run that it would have been unprofessional to publish my opinions at that time (even though I loved the show). The summer really got away from me, and I didn’t get out to half the things I wanted to, let alone find a way to see things a second time.
The third and final show of Goodspeed’s mainstage season is a welcome professional revival of the mystery musical Something’s Afoot by James McDonald, David Vos and Robert Gerlach, directed by Casey Hushion with choreography by Vince Pesce. The Goodspeed’s second stage, the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, has a stage adaptation of Julie Andrews’ theater-themed children’s book The Great American Mousical (co-written with her daughter Emma), with Andrews herself directing, opening November 8. (After months without word, the closing date of the show is now known: December 2).
I may not have a show to write about here yet, but I can rave about many constant attractions of the Goodspeed, which is one of the state’s great tourist attractions regardless of what it puts on its stage, and is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of Connecticut.
This year the Goodspeed has improved one of my favorite traditions: drinking during intermission.
One of the great pleasures of attending the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam is ordering a drink pre-show and finding it waiting for you on a little shelf in the lobby at intermission. Abroad, in London’s West End, arranging your mid-event drinking needs before the show is a commonplace exercise practiced by dozens of audience members at every theater. The Goodspeed is one of the only American theaters that takes this ritual seriously.
And now they’ve expanded upon it. The bar now offers a clear plastic “souvenir cup” with the Goodspeed logo emblazoned on it, plus a sturdy blue lids with a hole for a straw in it.
The receptacle may not have the allure of, say, a martini glass, but it has a conspicuous advantage—you’re allowed to take it into the theater with you and drink it there.
Many theaters have created double standards around the prospect of drinking in the auditorium. Often, patrons aren’t allowed to bring drinks in for theater performances, but the rules change when the venue’s hosting a pop concert. The Goodspeed’s found the middle ground here—a safely capped vessel branded with the theater’s name is deemed acceptable, the drinker gets to keep the cup afterwards, and everyone’s happy.
Especially when you’re watching shows with bucolic community picnics and poisoned-drink whodunits.
Having also seen this production of Carousel in preview as well and also being a theater journalist, I can only say that Goodspeed’s was one of the most _____________ productions of the show I’ve seen. The acting was ___________, the pacing __________, and the overall impact something akin to ______________. All that in a production where the singing was top ________.