Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
Carousel
Music by
RICHARD RODGERS
Book and Lyrics by
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Based on Ferenc Molnar’s Play “Liliom“
As adapted by Benjamin F. Glazer
Original Choreography by Agnes de Mille
Conducted by David Angus
Directed by Anne Bogart
Emerson Colonial Theatre
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 7:30PM
Sunday, April 6, 2025 | 3:00PM
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 7:30PM
Sunday, April 13, 2025 | 3:00PM
80th anniversary production
Subscriptions on sale now – priority seating for Subscribers ends May 15. Member presale starts May 27, 2024.
Nearly a century after premiering at the Colonial Theatre, Carousel has become one of the most beloved American musicals of all time. In this landmark 80th anniversary production, creative visionary and BLO Artistic Associate Anne Bogart stages a stunning and evocative tribute to this Rodgers & Hammerstein gem. Featuring unforgettable songs like “If I Loved You” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” this timeless paean to the power of love and redemption is sure to sweep you off your feet.
Music Director David Angus conducts an exceptional cast featuring Brandie Sutton as Julie Jordan, Edward Nelson as Billy Bigelow, Jamie Barton as Nettie Fowler, and Anya Matanovič as Carrie Pipperidge.
CAROUSEL is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. www.concordtheatricals.com
Brandie Sutton | Julie Jordan
Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, soprano Brandie Inez Sutton enjoys success in opera, concerts, classical art songs, oratorio, spirituals, jazz and musical theater. She made her New York City Opera debut as Rautendelein in Respighi’s rarely-heard opera, La Campana Sommersa. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was as Clara in Porgy and Bess, and she has returned to the company to sing The Fairy Godmother in Cendrillon, among other roles. Recent additions to her operatic repertoire have included Violetta, La Traviata; Gilda, Rigoletto; Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos; Adina, L’elisir d’amore; and the title role in Joplin’s Treemonisha. She returns to Seattle Opera to sing Pamina in The Magic Flute, where previously sang Clara in Porgy and Bess and Musetta in La bohème. Ms. Sutton has appeared with the opera companies of Hamburg, Geneva, Dresden, Mexico City, Philadelphia, Virginia, Michigan, St. Louis, and Theater an der Wien (Vienna). Her concert appearances have included Carnegie Hall, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, and performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC; American Symphony Orchestra; Royal Danish Orchestra; the Bard Festival; and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Edward Nelson | Billy Bigelow
Winner of the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup and an alumnus of both the Merola Opera Program and the Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera, American baritone Edward Nelson is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting singers of his generation. This season, Mr. Nelson made his debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in La Cenerentola and returned to the Semperoper Dresden for the same production. He also returned to the Washington National Opera for Songbird. He recently made his debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in the new production of Terence Blanchard’s Champion, the Teatro del la Maestranza in Seville as Pelleas in Pelleas et Melisande, and at the Teatro Real in the title role of Glass’s Orphée. His many other engagements have included over 70 appearances on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House with the San Francisco Opera and productions at Opera Philadelphia, Palm Beach Opera, Detroit Opera, Norwegian Opera, and Ópera de Oviedo. A native of California, Mr. Nelson is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received further training at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Jamie Barton | Nettie Fowler
Critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is increasingly recognized for how she uses her powerful instrument offstage – lifting up women, queer people, and other marginalized communities. In recognition of her iconic performance at Last Night of the Proms, Ms. Barton was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards. She is also the winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Her 2007 win at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions launched a major international career that includes leading roles at the world’s most-loved opera houses, including the Met, Royal Opera House, Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Unexpected Shadows, her critically acclaimed album with composer and pianist Jake Heggie, earned a 2022 Grammy® nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
Anya Matanovič | Carrie Pipperidge
American soprano Anya Matanovič (ma-‘ta-no-vich) returns to The Metropolitan Opera during the 2023/24 season to cover Musetta, La bohème. She also sings Violetta, La traviata, Knoxville Opera; and Micäela, Carmen, Opera Santa Barbara.
A graduate of Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program, she has appeared with the company as Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Gretel, Hansel and Gretel; Marzelline, Fidelio; and Nanetta, Falstaff. Recent roles also include Wanda, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein and Papagena, Die Zauberflöte, Santa Fe Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera, she covered Violetta during the 2022/23 season, having previously sung the role with Utah Opera and Boston Lyric Opera.
Other engagements include Micaëla, Carmen, Glimmerglass Festival; Musetta, La bohème, New Israeli Opera; Mimì, La bohème, Opera Colorado; Isotta, Die Schweigsame Frau, Bard Summerscape; Anne Trulove, The Rake’s Progress, Boston Lyric Opera; and Stella, A Streetcar Named Desire, Kentucky Opera. Ms. Matanovič made her professional opera debut as Mimì in the Los Angeles commercial engagement of Baz Luhrmann’s Tony Award-winning production of La bohème.
Highlights of the soprano’s orchestral appearances include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony, Carmina Burana with Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with North Carolina Symphony.
Omar Najmi | Enoch Snow
This season, Boston-based tenor Omar Najmi debuts with Boston Baroque in Handel’s Messiah; LA Opera as Simon, Adoration; and Washington National Opera as a composer, where his new opera Mud Girl will be presented through the American Opera Initiative. He also appears at BachFest Leipzig and will be featured on Danaë Xanthe Vlasse’s upcoming album Mythlogies.
Recent engagements include Valcour, The Anonymous Lover, Boston Lyric Opera; Ruggero, La rondine, Opera on the James; Lord Byron, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (world premiere), Guerilla Opera; Alessandro, Il re pastore, Orpheus PDX; Rodolfo, La bohème, Opera Steamboat; Shakur, Thumbprint, Portland Opera; and Spearmint Lodge, The Artwork of the Future (world premiere), Fresh Squeezed Opera. He debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2018 and has toured with Video Games Live. Accolades include the Harold Norblom Award (Opera Colorado), Stephen Shrestinian Award (Boston Lyric Opera), and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellowship (Emmanuel Music).
As a composer, Najmi has written several operas, song cycles, and choral works, including my name is Alondra, Boston Lyric Opera; The Portrait, Atlanta Opera; The Last Invocation, Emmanuel Music; More Than Our Own Caves, Juventas New Music Ensemble; This Is Not That Dawn, Catalyst New Music; and Jo Dooba So Paar, White Snake Projects.
Markel Reed | Jigger Craigin
Baritone Markel Reed excels in concert, recital and opera performances throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
At the Metropolitan Opera, Reed performed with the ensemble in productions of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and sang in their Grammy®Award-winning Porgy and Bess in 2019. That same year, he created the role of Chester in Fire Shut Up in My Bones in its premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Recent highlights include singing as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Virginia Opera, Young Emile in Terence Blanchard’s Champion with Boston Lyric Opera, and Marcello in La bohème with Opera Steamboat. Concert highlights include soloist performances in Carmina Burana with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Wozzeck in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Toledo Symphony, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Charlotte Master Chorale, and a Bach and Margaret Bonds program with the Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall. In the spring of 2023, Reed traveled to Switzerland to perform the role of Joey in The Time of our Singing at Theater St. Gallen.
David Angus | Conductor
DAVID ANGUS Now in his fourteenth year as Boston Lyric Opera’s music director, David Angus recently served as music director and conductor for the critically acclaimed online productions of desert in and The Fall of the House of Usher, as well as BLO’s backwards La Bohème and Anne Bogart’s striking production of Bluebeard’s Castle. In addition to his work with BLO, he just conducted a new Sweeney Todd at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, The Marriage of Figaro in Prague, and several recordings of new American works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Prior to his time at BLO, Angus was music director of The Glimmerglass Festival and Chief Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders. He has led orchestras and choirs throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia, including the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and several Danish orchestras. Born in England, he has conducted most of the major orchestras in Great Britain, including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, most of the BBC orchestras, the London Mozart Players, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He recently debuted with the Toscanini Orchestra in Parma and the Porto Symphony Orchestra in Portugal. He returned to Wexford Festival Opera, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the LPO, and the Huddersfield Choral Society, as well as to his former orchestra in Belgium. Angus was a boy chorister at King’s College under Sir David Willcocks and read music at Surrey University. He was a conducting fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he won several prizes for opera conducting.
Anne Bogart | Stage Director
ANNE BOGART last worked with BLO directing Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale. A professor at Columbia University, where she runs the graduate directing program, Bogart is the author of six books: A Director Prepares; The Viewpoints Book; And Then, You Act; Conversations with Anne; What’s the Story; and The Art of Resonance.
Recent theater works with SITI Company include Falling and Loving; The Bacchae; the theater is a blank page; Persians; Steel Hammer; A Rite; Café Variations; Trojan Women; American Document; Antigone; Freshwater Under Construction; Who Do You Think You Are; Radio Macbeth; Hotel Cassiopeia; Death and the Ploughman; La Dispute; Score; bobrauschenbergamerica; Room; War of the Worlds; Cabin Pressure; Alice’s Adventures; Culture of Desire; Bob; Going, Going, Gone; Small Lives/Big Dreams; The Medium; Hay Fever; Private Lives; Miss Julie; and Orestes. Opera credits include Tristan and Isolde, Croatian National Theatre; Macbeth, Glimmerglass Festival; Norma, Washington National Opera; I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Carmen, Glimmerglass Festival, Seven Deadly Sins, New York City Opera; and three operas by Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra, Los Angeles Opera; Marina: A Captive Spirit, American Opera Projects; and Lilith, New York City Opera.
Shura Baryshnikov
Choreographer
Shura Baryshnikov | Choreographer
Sara Brown
Set Designer
Sara Brown | Set Designer
Haydee Zelideth
Costume Designer
Haydee Zelideth | Costume Designer
Brian H. Scott
Lighting Designer
Brian H. Scott | Lighting Designer
Earon Dianna
Wig/Makeup Designer
Earon Dianna | Wig/Makeup Designer
Emerson Colonial Theatre
106 Boylston Street | Boston, MA 02116
