Carol on Tour - the Fourth (and final) Carol Page theater story

And so, it is with a heavy heart, we come to the fourth and final Carol Page theater story by Helen Dore Boylston.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Carol Page, her best friend Julia Gregg, and her gruff but faithful friend Mike Horodinsky, and it has been fun watching them start out as amateurs (Carol Goes on Stage), then spend the summer learning more of their respective crafts (Careol Plays Summer Stock), and finally return to New York to face the struggles of making their way in an already overcrowded industry (Carol on Broadway).  Now, here we are at last - Julia has been performing in a traveling show, Mike has been stage managing Miss Marlowe's show, and Carol has had a role in a Broadway hit!  So, what else is there for them to do?

 

Carol on Tour, by the title alone, gives a pretty strong hint of what comes next for Carol, Julia, and Mike. The story picks up not long after the end of the previous book, when the play written by Carol's new friend is picked up by a producer and brought to life by Carol's long-time teacher and mentor, Miss Marlowe.  The show is a success, and Carol has been getting rave reviews; although, Carol being Carol, she does not necessarily let those reviews go to her head.  At least, not at first.  The story throws a new (yet at the same time, old) twist into things.  One of Carol's fellow cast members sees Carol as a stepping stone, so she befriends her and starts taking her to a number of dinner engagements and parties - after all, in order to keep working on Broadway, it's all about who you know, not talent!  Carol is too naive to see the type of people she is associating with, and when Mike and Julia try to warn her, she only grows angry and defensive.  It's not until Carol has the opportunity to take on a major role in a touring company's production of The Merchant of Venice that she discovers the truth about her new "friend" - a truth that pushes her to take the role and head on a new journey in her career as an actress!

 

While the number of unbelievable breaks that come Carol's way continue to mount, Boylston manages to keep a certain level of believability to the story by integrating the various theater personalities around her - from those who simply use others to get ahead, to those who are always demanding to be the center of attention, to those who have years of experience and are only too happy to share their knowledge with others, to those who are anxious to get on the stage, willing to take any role offered!  And circumstances seem to always convene to make sure Carol remains humble, acknowledging her lack of experience and her great fortune to be where she is.  Of course, Boylston keeps Mike and Julia in the mix, as Julia gets a small walk-on part in the touring show, and Mike is promoted to an assistant director - so all three face some new challenges in this story, and not all of it on the stage.

 

One aspect of the tale I enjoyed was Carol's attempts to be a friend to one of her fellow actor, Harris Nichols, who seems despondent and depressed.  She soon learns he is having difficulties maintaining his relationship with the girl he loves back home, and he is fearful that she is going to turn to another man.  Carol tries to soothe his fears and boost his confidence, but when Harris gets notification that the girl has gone off to marry another man, he loses all hope.  The situation that develops is actually quite dark, and I'm rather surprised Boylston included it in a book intended for children and young adults.  However, it is that very incident that leads to a monumental decision that Carol must make - one that has been in the making since that very first book (and one I saw coming early on and kept hoping it would see fruition, and finally, at the end of this book, it does!).

 

There are couple of scenes in the book worth pointing out, as they reflect (or, rather in one case, do NOT reflect) true life in the theater.  The first is when Carol is considering the different types of audiences one must face when acting on the stage:

One never knew about the audience in the first few minutes, but as the play went on, one became more and more aware of it quality as a single, concentrated personality.  Sometimes it was responsive - quit to laughter or tears.  Sometimes it was dull and heavy - sitting out there like a great lump, a weight upon the performance and the players.  Sometimes it wasn't a personality at all, but just groups of differing reactions - "spotty" the company called it.  And sometimes it was maddeningly restless.

 

Each audience made the play a new play and each performance different from the one before. (p. 31)

Only someone who has been on the stage before can understand exactly how true this description is. The actors on stage react to the audience's reactions, and so a non-responsive audience can easily result in a not-too-exciting play; on the other hand, an audience that gasps, laughs, hoots, and is all-in can be a strong encouragement to the actors, who truly come alive in their performances as never before to make the play more real and more exciting for the cast and audience alike.  I thought this moment of reflection on the part of Carol shows just how much the character has grown over the past three books, and how much understanding she has gained with respect to the stage and its impact on those in each audience who attend.

 

The second moment in the book that caught my attention was closer to the end, as the touring group was preparing to get on stage for opening night.  As Carol fights those opening night jitters, Julia tells her, "Good luck!," to which Carol responds with her own, "Good luck!" (p. 138).  And just a few paragraphs later, as she slips by Mike to prepare for her entrance, she hears him say, "Good luck" (p. 138).  One might think these well-wishes are nothing to make note of - however, those who have worked in the theater know that you never, never, NEVER wish an actor "good luck" before they go on stage - that is considered BAD luck; instead, you tell the actor to "break a leg" (which is a theater superstition, along the lines of the ghost light that stays on at all times or never-ever saying the name of a certain Shakespeare play inside of a theater).  Considering how well Boylston managed to portray the theatrical world correctly, I was greatly surprised by this gaffe!

 

Other than that one flub, the book was another wonderful read, ending on a high note (despite the gloom of Harris Nichols) that takes Carol and Mike on to the next stage of their life (and if that doesn't give it away to you, then you have not been paying attention at all!).  The gorgeous black and white illustrations are once again provided by Major Felten, and the frontis piece is by far his best masterpiece of the series, showing Carol waking gracefully down a staircase in a stunning dress.  The color cover, also by Felten, displays Carol in her Shakespearean outfit as Nerissa, her eyes sparkling as she recites her lines on the stage.  The cover of the British edition is the same as the previous three books, with exception of the color, which changed for each book.  The British edition for this book is unique in one way - it is the only one of the four titles to use the same title as the American edition:  Carol on Tour.  

And with that, so comes to a close another wonderful series.  It is a true shame that Carol Page only had four books of adventures, as it would have been great to read her, Mike, and Julia's further adventures in New York and on Broadway as they took the theater world by storm!  Alas, all of those tales will remain forever untold...

 

RATING:  10 plain, wine-colored silk dresses out of 10 for sharing Carol's final theatrical adventures and ending the series in a very satisfying manner.