RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S CAROUSEL

June 4-14, 2026

Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Based on the Play Liliom by Ferenc Molnar as adapted by Benjamin F. Glazer
Original Choreography by Agnes de Mille

Two broken souls. One impossible love.

In Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s daring reimagining of Carousel, the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein masterpiece is stripped to its raw emotional core. Gone are the petticoats and pastel nostalgia — what remains is something hauntingly beautiful, urgently relevant, and electrifyingly human.

Julie Jordan is a factory worker caught in a cycle she can’t escape. Billy Bigelow is a carnival barker with nothing to his name but charm and a short fuse. They meet at the bottom of the class system, two people too damaged to say the words “I love you,” left only with the aching possibility of “If I loved you…”

What follows is a turbulent journey of passion, violence, consequence, and grace — a love story shadowed by the harsh realities of poverty, masculinity, and forgiveness. With a score that still soars and a story that cuts deeper than ever, this Carousel is not a relic of the past, but a mirror held up to now.

SCT continues its mission to reimagine the classics for a contemporary world. This is Carousel like you’ve never seen it before. Intimate. Gritty. Beautiful. Necessary.