King’s Musical Theater Department Presents Carousel in Concert
| Photo courtesy of The King’s College
The King’s Musical Theater Department hosted Carousel on Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday Nov. 6 after a two-year hiatus. Carousel, directed by Misti B. Wills and music directed by Virginia Hart Pike, is the first of a series of readings that will be done throughout the year.
Carousel follows the story of Billy Bigelow, played by junior Aidan Briggs, who struggles with self-identity and showing his true emotions even to those that love him the most. Billy’s struggle with being emotionally open and accepting of his own feelings leads to him constantly hurting both himself and those that he cares about the most.
“Being heavily involved in the theater industry I knew of Carousel before, and so I was surprised that the musical theater department took it on,” junior Neidin Shelnutt said. “It deals with darker, very real and very human themes that need to be talked about, and I appreciated their willingness to take on the project and perform it with raw integrity.”
| Photo courtesy of The King’s College
Due to COVID-19, there was a two year hiatus within the department at King’s, but students are excited to see it be brought back to life.
“While preparing there was definitely a lot of nerves and excitement,” Briggs said. “Like you said, it is the first time most of us are doing this in nearly two years, so it took a day or two to get back into the swing of it. But once you got your head wrapped around the fact that it was happening again and rehearsals were rolling, it was just a lot of excitement.”
| Photo courtesy of The King’s College
Aidan Kurth who played Enoch Jr. and Jigger Craig spoke on how he felt seeing a crowd again.
“I was definitely a little afraid thinking about doing it in front of people after a year and a half of not being on stage in front of people,” Kurth said. “However, in the end, I found the show so much more exciting when we did get that audience! Feeding on the audience's energy is one of the most thrilling aspects of doing theatre. The parts of the show that I found to be the most engaging for the crowd were the big showpieces we did like ‘Blow High, Blow Low!’ or ‘June is Busting Out All Over.’ The crowd definitely enjoyed the jokes and such!”
The musical also allowed audience members to relate to the characters on a personal level and bring a sense of reality to the play.
“I really enjoyed Aidan Briggs’s performance! His character came across as firm and unchangeable but simultaneously conflicted and regretful,” Davison Drumm, scholar for the House of Reagan said.