Carousel

Composers: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II Director: Lonny Price English National Opera, London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2 (020-7845 9300) Until 13 May Running time: 2hrs 50mins (including interval)

What a great pleasure it is, said Michael Billington in The Guardian, to hear artists of the calibre of Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe sing the lead roles in a musical, and to “luxuriate” in a 42-piece orchestra bringing out the “rich colours” of a Richard Rodgers score. Carousel is the third “semi-staged” musical (one with limited staging, sets and costumes) that the ENO has put on in three years (the others being Sweeney Todd in 2015, and Sunset Boulevard – with Glenn Close – last year). And it’s “an almost total joy”. My main quibble is why ENO should have billed Lonny Price’s excellent revival as “semi-staged” in the first place: it looks “pretty complete” to me. James Noone’s designs, in which images of a New England fishing village are projected onto a set of curved sails, “have the subdued beauty of Andrew Wyeth’s paintings”. And Josh Rhodes’ choreography is a full-blooded affair, the dancers performing with “virile agility”. What a ride!

Musically, this Carousel may indeed leave you “giddy”, said Sarah Hemming in the FT. The orchestra’s handling of the score, under David Charles Abell, is “glorious – delicate, sweeping, witty”. Jenkins’ and Boe’s singing is “soaring and vivid”, too, and the ensemble’s is similarly “rich and uplifting”. But elsewhere this Carousel is “a stop-start affair, with some of the acting almost as stiff as a merry-goround horse”. Boe as Billy Bigelow, the fairground barker who catches the eye of millworker Julie Jordan, is the chief culprit. His voice is towering, but his acting is “curiously rigid”. And though Jenkins is far more persuasive, there’s no chemistry between them – an insuperable handicap in a story that covers “passion, aggression and remorse”.

Jenkins is superb, said Paul Taylor in The Independent – and not just her “shiver-inducing” singing. She brings a “terrible dignity” to the way Julie copes with being unable to stop loving a violent man whose pain she feels. Brenda Edwards is also excellent as Nettie, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times, particularly when blasting out You’ll Never Walk Alone. And it is great to see a rare appearance from Nicholas Lyndhurst as the Star Keeper.

The week’s other opening

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall York Theatre Royal (01904-623568). From 26 April to 6 May This outstanding stage adaptation of Anne Brontë’s novel, about a young mother who has fled a vicious marriage, is packed with great performances. Phoebe Pryce, in particular, is “magnificent” in the title role (Observer).