Carousel (1965)

A handsome, shiftless amusement park barker, Billy Bigelow. A sweet and gentle homespun mill girl, Julie Jordan. A New England fishing village. A carousel. These are the uncommon ingredients combined in Carousel. Derived from Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel remains one of their most irresistible creations and greatest successes.

When Julie Jordan falls in love with ne'er-do-well Billy Bigelow, the townspeople's predictions of disaster fail to dissuade her. She marries Billy, who has his own dire warnings from the jealous Mrs. Mullins, owner of the carousel. Soon, because he's now a "married man," Billy is no longer a drawing card at the amusement park. He loses his job, begins berating his bride, goes steadily downhill until . . . he learns he is to become a father. To raise money for the coming child, Billy agrees to help a treacherous pal, Jigger, with a holdup. The robbery leads to a murder and Billy kills himself to avoid capture.

In the closing scenes of Carousel, among the musical theater's most extraordinary and appealing, Billy Bigelow returns to earth to gain his daughter's happiness . . . restore his wife's faith in her love for him . . . and redeem his own soul.