My guest on Broadway Nation this week is Barry Kester, author of the fascinating new book:

Round In Circles — The Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s CAROUSEL.

I thought I knew a lot about Carousel — and in fact Albert Evans and I have previously devoted several previous episodes to that show and its truly groundbreaking innovations. However, we both found this book to be filled with new information, new discoveries, and new insights.

Based on his exemplary research, Barry Kester takes us deep inside Rodgers & Hammerstein’s creative process as they endevour to transform Ferenc Molnar’s dark, fantastical play, Liliom, into their second Broadway musical collaboration, which they know will be compared to their first show, Oklahoma!, which had become the most successful Broadway Musical of all time and was still going strong! So, they consciously set out to do something very different.

At the center of this story is a dynamic woman, producer Theresa Helborn, who was the inspiring, driving force behind the show. In fact, without Helborn there would have been no Carousel or Oklahoma!

This is the first of three episodes in which Barry will share with us not only these fascinating stories but also his own unlikely and surprising tale of how he came to write this book.

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