The Show
The basic plot of the Carousel of Progress show has essentially remained unchanged since it debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The circular center stage is divided into six equal scenes, surrounded by six 240-seat audience sections which revolve from one to the next.
Each of the scenes featured a male dog, who would bark, or growl at the wrong moments, causing the master to firmly scold the creature to behave itself.
The first and last scenes involve the loading and unloading of guests. The middle four scenes depict an Audio-Animatronic family appreciating the technological advances of succeeding eras of the 20th century. Each of the four scenes is set around a holiday associated with one of the four seasons of the year. The progress of the seasons serves as a metaphor for the progress of the development of the modern age of electricity.
The first act takes place during Valentine's Day around the beginning of the 20th century, and features the family using innovations for that era, including gas lamps, a kitchen pump, a hand-cranked washing machine, and a gramophone. A mention of the St. Louis World's Fair dates the scene to 1904. The second act features devices such as electric lighting and cookware, radio, a sewing machine, and a homemade cooling device during the 4th of July in the 1920s (the Charles Lindbergh reference makes the most likely year 1927). The third act, set around Halloween in the 1940s, features an automatic dishwasher, television, and a homemade paint mixing system.
The final scene is set around Christmas and depicts the family interacting with recent technology. As such, it has changed since the show debuted in 1964. While originally featuring the family's home in the 1960s, it currently features high-definition television, virtual reality games, voice activated appliances, and other recent innovations. A slight refurbishment was made in January 2010, upgrading the outdated Sony CRT television to a larger Samsung flat panel display.
Read more about this topic: Carousel Of Progress
Famous quotes containing the word show:
“Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Women hock their jewels and their husbands’ insurance policies to acquire an unaccustomed shade in hair or crêpe de chine. Why then is it that when anyone commits anything novel in the arts he should be always greeted by this same peevish howl of pain and surprise? One is led to suspect that the interest people show in these much talked of commodities, painting, music, and writing, cannot be very deep or very genuine when they so wince under an unexpected impact.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)