Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical (Applause Libretto Library)

In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century, swaggering, carefree carnival barker Billy Bigelow captivates and marries naive millworker Julie Jordan. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant, and – desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family – he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent “up there.” Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day 15 years later, and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely, friendless teenager, her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instills a sense of hope and dignity in both the child and her mother is a dramatic testimony to the power of love. It's easy to understand why, of all the shows they created, Carousel was Rodgers and Hammerstein's personal favorite.

Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) was librettist, playwright, producer, and director who is best known for his collaborations with Richard Rodgers. As Rodgers and Hammerstein, the pair were key players during the golden age of musical theater, creating wildly successful classic plays such as The Sound of Music, The King and I, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, and the television musical Cinderella. Hammerstein co-wrote more than 850 songs, winning eight Tony Awards as well as two Academy Awards for Best Original Song.