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Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” addresses some heavy subjects, but also offers a glimmer of hope.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 1945 and won countless awards and has since become one of the most revived shows of all time.
Fourteen years after the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts last staged “Carousel,” it’s back this summer with some new faces and at least one very familiar one as Kira Lace Hawkins is playing Nettie Fowler, the same role she took on in the 2012 production.
“Nettie is basically an aunt of the main character, Julie Jordan. She is an unmarried, kind of community leader. They say that the scenes are happening outside of her spa, so she presumably owns a business and kind of organizes the town to gather all of the things that they need for a clam bake. She’s almost the community engagement representative,” Hawkins said in describing Nettie.
Julie - played by Cora Kendall - falls in love with Billy Bigelow, played by Avery Nienhuis. Billy gets into a pretty impossible situation early on in their marriage and Julie shares with Billy that she’s carrying his child before a devastating loss occurs.
Along with Hawkins as Nettie in the 2012 Wagon Wheel production of “Carousel,” an actress by the name of Erica Henningsen played Carrie Pipperidge. Henningsen now plays Ginny in the Netflix series “The Four Seasons.” Her character is carrying the baby of Steve Carell’s character this season. Henningsen also originated the role of Cady Heron in “Mean Girls” on Broadway. She just originated Connie Francis in “Just In Time” on Broadway.”
“So she’s a pretty big name in our world, and it’s kind of wild to think that the last time we did ‘Carousel,’ she was just flitting around as Carrie,” Hawkins recalled.
Matthew Janisse also was a lead in the 2012 production and he’s coming back to the Wagon Wheel this summer to direct “Into the Woods” with the youth camp. He was just at the Paramount Theatre in Chicago doing “South Pacific” with Allsun O’Malley and his wife Carolyn Anne Miller.
“Remembering that far back and thinking about these really big names that were a part of that production, then I’ll often just look around the room and be like, ‘Who’s going to blow up? Whose career is just going to skyrocket and we’re just going to be able to hold on to the energy that they brought into this space that gets to stay here forever?” she said.
Getting back to the 2026 production of “Carousel” and its themes, Hawkins said there are a few that can be found.
“This is a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Of course, the carousel itself is a theme. I think somebody could draw a comparison to the way a carousel turns into the way behavior comes up. But the beauty of that imagery definitely lasts throughout,” Hawkins said. “I think that an overall theme is also justice in the afterlife. We get to meet a version of heavenly helpers, and after Billy’s death he answers for some things that he’s done on earth and kind of wrestles with his spirit of whether he can try to atone for those actions or not.”
Billy makes several attempts.
Hawkins said she really loves the way Director David Schlumpf has cast the heavenly helpers and what’s called the Starkeeper (played by Jayleena Hill).
“And they’re not necessarily supposed to represent actual God or heaven or anything like that, but a version of that. But we’re using all youth ensemble for those characters,” Hawkins said.
One of Schlumpf’s themes comes from Matthew 18:3 NIV, which says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Hawkins said, “So it’s really driving home this idea that the people in charge of greeting a soul that is grappling with their existence on earth, that they are youth. They are all under 18. They all have kind of an innocence in their delivery and it’s a pretty astounding metaphor.”
Another big theme in the show is, of course, love.
“Billy and Julie kind of fall in love very quickly and we see a passionate love represented in their coupling. We also see a really steady sweet pairing in Carrie (Kayla Louison) and Enoch Snow (Anderson Law), that’s the other love couple that we have in the show. A lot of their songs just talk about the pure innocence of young love and dreaming about future children and dreaming about what it will be like to be married, so we really kind of get two representations of love, and it is the love that drives the characters throughout the musical,” Hawkins explained.
She didn’t sugarcoat that there are darker aspects to the show.
“I think that’s something that’s so interesting in a lot of these older musicals. They weren’t afraid to deal with heavy topics, and it’s also interesting to handle these older musicals in a modern age because those heavy topics have probably morphed and changed throughout the decades, and so David has been incredibly intentional with checking in with the cast to make sure that we all are happy with the storytelling, that we buy into the truth of the story,” Hawkins explained. “Some of the darker aspects deal with Billy imparting some physical violence on Julie, and so that’s what I was alluding to, to what he grapples with when he passes.”
Schlumpf has changed the prologue of the musical to include depictions of young Billy experiencing physical violence with his father so it’s the idea of generational habits.
Hawkins said Nettie has her concerns about Julie’s and Billy’s relationship.
“It’s really interesting because we see Billy and Julie meet, but then the very next scene, they’re already married and are just heading toward a clam bake. So, we don’t see the wedding, we don’t see the courtship, and we also only hear about any troubles in their marriage. We never see that until later, and so, I’ve had to kind of fill in that time for my character to know how do I feel about Billy entering our family and I can see that Julie is hopelessly in love with him and cares for him, and that he loves her. So I can see that relationship in a way that makes sense,” she said, but Nettie feels very protective about Julie.
“Carousel” is set in the 19th century, premiered in the mid-20th century and is hitting the stage in the modern 21st century.
“I would say the modern sensibilities that we’re bringing to it include our reactions to that, include whether or not we believe Billy would be absolved of those actions. Also, a stronger focus on the women of the community offering some support,” Hawkins said. “This musical was based off a play called ‘Lilliom’ and that was also written by a male playwright, and so I would say that the ways in which we’ve modernized the storytelling include the female emerging power and prospective, while trying to keep it historically accurate. There’s certain truths about being a woman in the late 1800s that we can’t change or would make sense for the storytelling.”
Contractually, the Wagon Wheel can’t change things about the story anyway.
She said one can’t imaging never performing songs like “If I Loved You” or “You’ll Never Walk Alone” again, but they are entrenched in “these problematic, historical pieces that are more difficult to tell today than they were in 1946 when it was written.”
Hawkins said it’s really important to remember that “yes, this feels outdated, but the representation of people who still deal with these issues today, it’s also important and to know that there’s support and to know that there’s love in those situations and ways out, is important as well.”
The Beaman Home (https://thebeamanhome.org/), which provides residential and outreach services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, is an official partner for the Wagon Wheel production of “Carousel.”
As for the show, Hawkins said, “I think it’s really important for people to know that particularly that this cast and this ensemble is incredible. We say this every year, but they are so insanely talented. People who were able to see ‘Cats’ know because they were just mind-blowing, and so our four leads - Julie, Billy, Enoch and Carrie - really do an effective job, along with the entire ensemble, of telling this story with love and care in an effort to raise awareness, in an effort to start conversation, and they’re just beautiful.”
She also called out the set, costumes and wigs crews. “Everyone in this building is just at the top of their game, and it’s so thrilling to work with them,” Hawkins stated.
“Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel” is at the Wagon Wheel June 18-27. Tickets may be purchased by calling 574-267-8041; visit the box office at 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw; or visit the website at https://wagonwheelcenter.org/event/cats-musical-wagon-wheel-2026/
