Which productions most inspired, moved and delighted our leading theatremakers? Actor, writer and director Mark Gatiss chooses a West End pr
Carousel, Savoy Theatre, London, 2008
It has never happened before or since – the feeling I had after seeing Carousel in 2008. It was a matinee and Michael Simkins and Julia Deakin took my partner Ian and I. Despite it being a little tricky these days because of the violence, Carousel is probably my favourite musical. An incredible piece of work. I’d seen the film many times and knew the score but I’d never seen it on stage.
It was full of joys for me. An actor named David Collings was the Starkeeper – he was the greatest Doctor Who we never had: a fine actor. That thrilled me.
And I’m obsessed with a thing I learned a long, long time ago: that Rodgers and Hammerstein came up with the idea of the conditional love song, which is what If I Loved You is. It’s one of the greatest songs: such a great idea, it blows my mind. They need a love duet but it’s too early in the character development and plot. Rodgers and Hammerstein had done it before in Oklahoma! with People Will Say We’re in Love. It’s as if they’re saying: “We can’t say so yet but here’s what we would feel if...” I love that song so much.
Obviously, Carousel is a show that affects people differently. It confronts you with your own emotions, and then some. If you’re not the sort of person who wants that tap turned on, it’s not going to get you.
You’ll Never Walk Alone was one of my late mother’s absolute favourites. She used to sing it after a couple of glasses of Carlsberg so the show is full of strangenesses for me. But the main thing – which we were totally unprepared for – came right at the end when the anti-hero, Billy Bigelow, comes back. It was so profoundly moving that when the show finished with the reprise of You’ll Never Walk Alone, Ian and I sat in our seats and we couldn’t speak. It sounds like theatrical bullshit but we were just speechless.
It’s a phrase you see in reviews all the time but it was true. It was like being poleaxed. And I remember thinking: ‘Well, this is what it’s about, isn’t it? Here we are, it’s a lovely afternoon and they’ve sung their hearts out in a fabulous show but that was the real thing.’ Julie just glimpses Billy, her dead love, and it makes your hair stand on end. It was a genuinely amazing experience and I’ve never forgotten it.
A little while later we saw another production expecting the same thing. Thanks to the worst kind of opera acting, it was truly terrible. It made the memory of the previous afternoon even more remarkable
