 Other characters catch our notice — Mr. Bascombe , the pompous mill owner , Mrs. Mullin , the widow who runs the carousel and , apparently , Billy ; a dancing bear ; an acrobat . But what draws us in is the intensity with which Julie regards Billy — the way she stands frozen , staring at him , while everyone else at the fair is swaying to the rhythm of Billy 's spiel . And as Julie and Billy ride together on the swirling carousel , and the stage picture surges with the excitement of the crowd , and the orchestra storms to a climax , and the curtain falls , we realize that R & H have not only skipped the overture and the opening number but the exposition as well . They have plunged into the story , right into the middle of it , in the most intense first scene any musical ever had . 
