Lindsay Michelle Mendez is an American actress and singer, best known for her work in American musical theatre. She won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Carrie Pipperidge in a Broadway revival of Carousel. Her other credits on Broadway include Elphaba in Wicked, Godspell, and Jan in Grease.
Mendez in 2018
Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II. The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.
"A star—please, my dear—I must do something good." Liliom (Joseph Schildkraut) offers Louise (Evelyn Chard) the star he stole; 1921 Theatre Guild production
The opening carnival scene in Liliom inspired the pantomime that begins Carousel; 1921
Oscar Hammerstein II
Enoch (Eric Mattson) arrives unexpectedly (reprise of "(When I Marry) Mister Snow"). Iva Withers is Julie (standing), and Margot Moser is Carrie (bent over) (1947).