Mercury offers a melancholy and magnificent ‘Carousel’ Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Member, International Association of Theatre Critics When theaters stage Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s gorgeous but outmoded and overtly lyrical 1945 musical “Carousel,” based on Ferenc Molnar’s 1909 play “Liliom,” the tendency is to throw big-budget production values and operatic conventions at it. But not the production currently being performed on the Mercury Theatre Company stage. For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.