You'll Never Walk Alone - Circle of Light

You’ll Never Walk Alone was composed by Richard Rodgers (music) & Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) in 1945 for the musical Carousel, set in the Maine coastline, 1873 (The play was adapted from Ferenc Molnár’s 1909 play Liliom; transplanting the original Budapest setting to Maine).

In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, kills himself to avoid capture during a failed robbery. It is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (Billy and Julie’s daughter) is a member. Billy watches this ceremony during his return to earth.

There have been many subsequent productions of the play in several countries (* represents award(s) it won:
* April 19, 1945 to May 24, 1947 at the Majestic Theatre (890 performances), New York, NY
1947 to 1949 U.S. & Canadian tour (five months in Chicago alone, visited 20 states and two Canadian cities
1949 New York City Center, New York, NY
June 7, 1950 to 1952 in London’s West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (566 performances), London England
1954 and 1957 at City Center, presented by the New York City Center Light Opera Company
1958 Brussels World’s Fair, Belgium
August, 1965, Rodgers and the Music Theater of Lincoln Center, New York, NY
1992 West End revival, New York, NY
* December, 1992 through March 1993, at London’s Royal National Theatre, England
September, 1993 to May 1994 at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England
* March 24, 1994 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, New York, NY
May, 1995 the New York play went to Japan
February, 1996 to May, 1997 A U.S. national tour with a scaled-down production closed in Providence, Rhode Island.
December 2, 2008 to June, 2009 at the Savoy Theatre in London, England.
2008 West End revival, New York, NY

There have also been film and TV productions of Carousel:
February 16, 1956 the film version was released
May 7, 1967 an abridged (100 minute) on ABC TV
May, 2009 Hugh Jackman completed a remake of the script, but now waiting for any announcement by 20th Century Fox for distribution (by 20th Century Fox distributed the 1956 film, also)

LYRICS

                  When you walk through a storm,
                  Keep your chin up high,
                  And don’t be afraid of the dark,
                  At the end of the storm is a golden sky.
                  And the sweet silver song of a lark.

                  Walk on through the wind,
                  Walk on through the rain,
                  Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown,
                  Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,
                  And you’ll never walk alone.
                  You’ll never walk alone.

                  When you walk through a storm,
                  Keep your chin up high,
                  And don’t be afraid of the dark,
                  At the end of the storm is a golden sky.
                  And the sweet silver song of a lark.

                  Walk on through the wind,
                  Walk on through the rain,
                  Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown,
                  Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,
                  And you’ll never walk alone.
                  You’ll never walk alone.

NOTE: Somewhere in time, between the play in 1945 & the movie in 1956, the line “Keep your chin up high” was changed to “Hold your head up high”. As to why I haven’t a clue. They pretty much mean the same thing.

Great artists sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Turn off the music on this page before clicking on the artist name below.)

The first two are actually scores from the 1945 play and the 1956 movie.
Christine Johnson The 2nd act of the 1945 play Carousel Starring
Billy Bigelow (John Raitt)
Julie Jordan (Jan Clayton)
Cousin Nettie Fowler (Christine Johnson)

Shirley Jones The last act of the 1956 movie Carousel Starring
Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae)
Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones)
Cousin Nettie Fowler (Claramae Turner)

Judy Garland Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz

Elvis Presley July 19, 1975

Barbra Streisand

The Righteous Brothers 1965

Jerry Lewis The MDA Telethon, 2009 he sings this at the telethon’s finale.

Gerry & The Pacemakers Recorded – October, 1963

Sissel Kyrkjebø International sensation from Norway

The Three Tenors (Paris, 1998) Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, & Luciano Pavarotti

Pattie LaBelle Love her song New Attitude

Mahalia Jackson

Johnny Cash

Engebert Humperdinck & Tom Jones