Written by Broadway icons Rodgers & Hammerstein, this seminal production was the first of its genre to contain a tragic plot line when it debuted in 1945. It takes place in a small New England fishing town, where a young girl, Julie, falls in love with a rough-edged carnival barker, Billy. Together they attempt to make a life together, despite financial struggles and Billy's mistreatment of Julie. Upon learning of her pregnancy, Billy resolves to make a better life for their child, involving him in a dangerous robbery attempt. Billy ends up dead in the botched job, and the show follows him into heaven and purgatory as he struggles for redemption, leaving his wife and unborn child on earth. Taken from the incisive source material of Ferenc Molnar's 1909 play, Liliom, the show was named by Time magazine as the best musical of the 20th Century.
