"Carnival!" is a musical about the tinsel and glitter of the circus, about the human backstage lives of the people who make all that for a living, and about the willingness to believe in the spectacle that makes circuses --- and lives --- possible. An innocent waif named Lili, who believes hand-puppets are real, makes a crowd-pleasing act just by talking and singing with them, restores the fortunes of a travelling troupe, and teaches the embittered ex-dancer whose hands are in those puppets that "Love Makes The World Go 'Round." What if she's also taken in by the magic tricks of Marco The Magnificent, who fully intends to be unfaithful to his fiancee-assistant The Incomparable Rosalie first chance he gets? Happy endings are for sorting everyone into the right match-ups eventually.