Halifax All Souls Amateur Dramatic Society is in rehearsals for musical Carousel

Members are rehearsing for their next production – the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel – at the Studio Rooms in St.James Street, Halifax.

The show tells the story of carnival worker Billy Bigelow, who captivates and marries the gentle millworker Julie Jordan.

Billy loses his job as Julie becomes pregnant and he resorts to crime to try to provide for his family.

Caught in the act of robbery, and facing prison, he takes his own life, and is sent ‘up there’.

Fifteen years later, he is allowed to return to earth for one day to see how his daughter is faring without him and, in a touching finale, brings hope to her and her mother.

A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow

Carousel is the second musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein who also wrote Oklahoma!, South Pacific, the King and I and the Sound of Music. The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline.

The original ending was considered too depressing for musical theatre. After acquiring the rights, the team created a work with sequences of music and made the ending more hopeful.

The score includes If I Loved You, June Is Bustin' Out All Over, When I Marry M Snow, Blow High, Blow Low, When the Children Are Asleep and, now best known as Liverpool’s anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.

Richard Rodgers wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals. The movie version starred Gordon McCrae as Billy and Shirley Jones as Julie.

The director for All Souls is Graham Weston with Colin Akers the musical director.

Principal characters are:Carrie Pipperidge: Helen Burton

Julie Jordan: Amy Ellison

Mrs Mullin: Christine Roberts

Billy Bigelow: Mark Hutchinson

Enoch Snow: Jai Jai Ekins

Jigger Craigin: Jonny Campbell

Nettie Fowler: Anna Trent

Star keeper/Dr Seldon: Richard Farrar

Heavenly Friend: Chris Pilgrim

Louise: Lauren Taylor

The youngest member of the cast is four-year-old Millie Burton

Carousel is on at the Halifax Playhouse from Tuesday March 28 to Friday March 31 daily at 7.15pm and Saturday April 1 at 2.15pm. For tickets, please call Susan on 07837 353294, or call the theatre box office on 01422 365998. Ticket prices are £15 adults, £13 concessions, with a price of £7.50 for children's matinee only.