Show Synopsis:
Julie and Carrie visit the town carousel one day, and Mrs. Mullin bans Julie from returning to the carousel when she lets Billy put his arm around her. Billy is fired for mocking Mrs. Mullin, and when he takes Julie for a drink, Julie is fired too since she is banned from being out late at night. A few months later, Julie tells Carrie that her new husband Billy has hit her, and then Billy and his friend Jigger make fun of Julie and Carrie's fiance Enoch. Julie tells Billy that she is pregnant, and Billy is concerned about finances, so he joins in on a robbery Jigger has organized. Enoch dumps Carrie at the town clambake when he thinks she's flirting with Jigger, and Julie begs Billy to not go on the robbery. The robbery fails, Billy dies, and the reunited Carrie and Enoch try to console Julie. Billy's spirit meets the Starkeeper who tells Billy that he can return to Earth for a single day fifteen years after his death to perform good deeds and redeem himself to get to heaven. Billy's daughter Louise is ostracized in their town, Carrie and Enoch are happy and wealthy, and their youngest son Enoch Jr. wants to marry Louise. Louise wants to run away and join an acting troupe, and they get into a fight. Billy gives Louise a star he stole from the heavens, pretending to be a friend of her deceased father, and when Louise tells Julie what happened, she has a feeling it is Billy speaking from beyond the grave. Billy goes to Louise's high school graduation and tries to convince her to reach out to other people so that she will not have to be a lonely outcast. Billy tells Julie that he loves her and finally goes to heaven.
Character:
Billy Bigelow, a young handsome man who works as a barker at the town carousel; acts rashly and does not respect Julie, but would love to be a good father to his daughter.
Julie Jordan, a millworker in her 20s unsure of her feelings for Billy but sure that she trusts him.
Song Context:
Billy cannot decide what to do with his life until Julie tells him she is pregnant and he realizes that his life is going to change in unexpected ways.
Fun Facts:
1. This musical was based on the play Liliom by Ferenc Molnár.
2. John Raitt originated the role of Billy on Broadway after playing Curly in the national tour of Oklahoma, another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
3. Richard Rodgers insisted on adding the segment about Billy having a daughter because he had two daughters, and it changed the entire arc of the song. The song now functions as the moment that Billy shows his motivations for burglary.
"I wonder what he'll think of me.
I guess he'll call me the ""old man.""
I guess he'll think I can lick
Ev'ry other feller's father,
Well, I can!
I bet that he'll turn out to be
The spittin' image of his dad
But he'll have more common sense
Than his puddin? headed father ever had.
I'll teach him to wrestle
And dive through a wave
When we go in the mornin's for our swim.
His mother can teach him
The way to behave,
But she won't make a sissy out o? him.
Not him! Not my boy! Not Bill!
Bill - my boy Bill,
I will see that he is named after me, I will.
My boy, Bill! He'll be tall
And tough as a tree, will Bill!
Like a tree he'll grow
With his head held high
And his feet planted firm on the ground,
And you won't see nobody dare to try
To boss or toss him around!
No pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully
Will boss him around.
I don't give a hang what he does
As long as he does what he likes!
He can sit on his tail
Or work on a rail
With a hammer, hammering spikes!
He can ferry a boat on a river
Or peddle a pack on his back
Or work up and down
The streets of a town
With a whip and a horse and a hack.
He can haul a scow along a canal
Run a cow around a corral
Or maybe bark for a carousel -
Of course it takes talent to do that well.
Aha-ha-ha-ha!
He might be a champ of the heavyweights,
Or a feller that sells you glue,
Or President of the United States,
That'd be alright, too.
His mother would like that
But he wouldn't be President if he didn't wanna be!
Not Bill!
My boy, Bill! He'll be tall
And as tough as a tree, will Bill.
Like a tree he'll grow
With his head held high
And his feet planted firm on the ground
And you won't see nobody dare to try
To boss him or toss him around!
No fat-bottomed, flabby-faced,
Pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully
Will boss him around.
And I'm hanged if he'll marry his boss? daughter,
A skinny-lipped virgin with blood like water
Who'll give him a peck
And call it a kiss
And look in his eyes through a lorgnette.
Hey, why am I talkin' on like this?
My kid ain't even been born, yet!
I can see him when he's seventeen or so,
And startin' to go with a girl
I can give him lots of pointers, very sound
On the way to get 'round any girl
I can tell him -
Wait a minute!
Could it be?
What the hell!
What if he is a girl?
What would I do with her?
What could I do for her?
A bum with no money!
You can have fun with a son
But you gotta be a father to a girl
She mightn't be so bad at that
A kid with ribbons in her hair!
A kind o' sweett and petite
Little tin-type of her mother!
What a pair!
My little girl
Pink and white
As peaches and cream is she.
My little girl
Is half again as bright
As girls are meant to be!
Dozens of boys pursue her
Many a likely lad does what he can to woo her
From her faithful dad.
She has a few
Pink and white young fellers of two or three
But my little girl
Gets hungry ev'ry night and she comes home to me!
I?I got to get ready before she comes!
I got to make certain that she
Won't be dragged up in slums
With a lot o' bums like me.
She's got to be sheltered
And fed and dressed
In the best that money can buy.
I never knew how to get money,
But, I'll try, I'll try! I'll try!
I'll go out and make it or steal it
Or take it or die!"