“You’ll Never Watch Alone” - "Carousel" in Bryant Park

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This past Monday, June 28, it was well over 90 degrees, with the kind of humidity that frizzles the smoothest coiffure and defies anti-perspirants.  Periods of rain and thunderstorms were predicted.  At about 5:30, it did start to rain, a brief drizzle.  But at 6pm, undeterred, I headed over to 42^nd Street and Sixth Avenue, determined to attend the second film in this year’s annual Bryant Park Summer Film Festival,  Carousel.

Judging from past experience, by 6:30, the park’s lawn is usually well on its way to being filled.  This night, not so.  As I stood at the security entrance where this year, for the first time, bags are being checked, I chatted with the guard for a moment.  “Last week, for Goldfinger, we were packed by now,” he told me.  “A lot of people left when it started to rain.”   I wondered aloud, “Maybe it’s also because it’s a musical?”   He shook his head.  “No.  They show up for anything.  It’s free, y’know.”

It certainly is.  For 18 years, HBO, a subsidiary of Time Warner, has sponsored the popular Monday night festival showing roughly 10 films each season. The programming spans five decades (the 1930s through the 70s) and includes various movie genres.  Next week (7/5), it’s 1971’s The French Connection, an action-packed popular crime drama which earned Gene Hackman his first Oscar.  On July 12, it’s 1936's screwball comedy classic, My Man Godfrey, perhaps (and lamentably) the most obscure film in this year’s series, starring the peerless William Powell and Carole Lombard.   Later this summer, Monty Python (…and the Holy Grail), Mia Farrow (Rosemary’s Baby), 12 Angry Men and Bonnie and Clyde will all have their nights in the park.  (For a complete schedule, www.bryantpark.org.)  But on this sultry, storm-threatened evening, it was Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones’s turn, in the 1956 film of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s second Broadway musical, originally produced in 1945, and considered by many to be the team’s finest (and darkest) work.  As I made my way through the stalwart survivors of the shower, spread out on blankets or sitting on folding chairs on the two peripheral walkways on either side of the lawn, I noticed how predominately young the crowd was.  I wondered how many (if any) were there to specifically see this movie, or simply to share in one of New York’s unique summer experiences.  I decided to chat up a few random groups and get some answers.

Photo: Lindsey Sundboom

Andy Cohen, 27, a musical theatre fan, was definitely there to see Carousel, but his friend, Will Hopper, 22, wasn’t.  “I’m only here because he insisted,” Will said, smiling, “but I’m looking forward to it.”    I asked them if they were Bryant Park movie regulars (“Yes!”) and which films they thought played best there.  Said Andy, “Usually the lighter, quirkier films like Harold and Maude, or movies set in New York like The Apartment. You can always tell which movies go over well, because, well, there’s less talking and fewer walk-outs.  Since it’s free, if it’s getting late and you’re bored, you leave!”

Playing devil’s advocate and channeling my partner, Ira, who balked at the idea of joining me, “Why not rent the movie and watch it in the comfort of an air-conditioned apartment?”

“You’re kidding, right?” said Andy, who lives three blocks away.  “It’s not about the movie, not really.   It’s about the novelty of seeing it outdoors, watching the people, and doing “The Dance.”

“The Dance?”

“You’re obviously not a regular.  After they show the previews and the cartoon (there’s always a Warner Bros. cartoon before the movie, usually Bugs Bunny), the HBO logo film comes on with this funky rock music and everybody gets up, jumps up and down and waves.  It’s a tradition!”

Photo: Lindsey Sundboom

Moving on to another blanket, I spoke to Kristin, from Frankfurt, Germany, visiting NY for four weeks to study English.  She had no idea what the movie was, but her interest was piqued when I told her it was by “the men who wrote The Sound of Music.”  She said she was there because of “the wonderful weather.”  Resisting the urge to look for men in white coats, I questioned her further, only to discover that there’s been an unusual cold spell in Germany this year, so, for Kristin, 90 degrees was a treat!

If I thought Germany was a long way from home, I was once again reminded that all things are relative when I encountered a group of nearly 40 students and their teachers from Melbourne, Australia, who were part of a week-long performing arts excursion run by an organization called “Theatrica.”  Carousel was part of an itinerary that included numerous Broadway shows, tours of Radio City, Lincoln Center and Madison Square Garden, but alas, no cabaret.  However, after exchanging cards with the group’s director that may very well change!

By now, it was past 8:30, the sky had cleared, the temperature had fallen, and as dusk descended, a bit of a breeze made the evening more comfortable than expected.  As I settled in a chair on the north gravel outskirt, sharing a table with a graphic artist and his girlfriend, I watched two young women with hula hoops at the south east end of the park.  They were very proficient.  The park had filled up a great deal, but still not at capacity.  An announcer greeted the crowd, asked for cell phones to be turned off, and reminded everyone that tonight was Richard Rodgers’ birthday (a nice touch).   At 9pm, the previews and commercials started, then the cartoon and then, yes, “The Dance!”  After the “jumpers” settled down and the klieg lights which had illuminated the lawn were turned off, the movie began.

Photo: Lindsey Sundboom

I’ve seen Carousel many times, first (to my best recollection) as a pre-teen on ABC’s "Sunday Night at the Movies," then on cable’s AMC, then on VHS and, most recently, as a deluxe 50^th Anniversary DVD.   The consensus of most film critics is that it’s a worthy, (fairly) faithful adaptation of the musical, but not without its flaws.  Well, I’m here to tell you,  on Monday night, those flaws didn’t matter.  As Gordon MacRae’s rich singing voice filled the park (and blocks around) with “If I Loved You,” then, later, with the spectacular seven-minute “Soliloquy,” this audience, most of whom weren’t born until after Rodgers died, were mesmerized.  The film definitely passed Andy’s litmus test – no talking, few walk-outs.  By 11:20, when its most famous song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” was reprised right before the final fade-out, I found myself crying, which was a new experience watching this film.  (Has the show made me cry?  Yes.  The movie?  Not till Monday night.)   I glanced around, and, yes, I was not alone in my tears.  When it was over, and the crowd quickly packed up its blankets, empty food containers and other paraphernalia, I quietly pondered this phenomenon.  Something happens to a work of art when it’s shared with as many people as were there in the park that night.  (Come to think of it, with today’s miniscule miniplexes, I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie with more than a hundred people!)  That’s why there will always be a need for audiences to come together to share events like this, no matter how accessible they are at home.  So, on Monday nights for the rest of the summer, if you’d like to see The China Syndrome or The Goodbye Girl in a totally different way, try going over to Bryant Park, no matter what the weather looks like.  You won’t be bored and you may very well be surprised.