She's Back! CARRIE - First preview !!! - Page 6

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:42pm

Not to mention that' Carrie the musical is written by the screenwriter of the film and at least 2/3 of the musical's revised script is directly pulled from the screenplay

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:43pm

Sorry but if you come out of CARRIE smiling about what a "touching" show it is, the writers didn't do their job and proved their incompetence with the material.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:43pm

It also pisses me off to no end when people say that it's not a horror story. It's a GIVEN that any good story is a human story. A GOOD vampire story, or a GOOD Star Trek story, or a GOOD super-hero story are all human stories. It goes without saying. It's what happens when human beings tell a good story. Stephen King's Carrie uses horror (and I truly believe it is clearly simmering throughout the book) to tell a human story. Without the horror, it's not Carrie, and maybe not even be anything.

It sounds like this revival is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the unfortunate spot that Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark ended at in its revamp. Spider-Man uses the trappings of a comic book without understanding how they are used to make us feel something. I really, really hope that when I see Carrie, it doesn't seem like they've sacrificed the trappings of a horror story to make it a Lifetime Channel movie.



Updated On: 1/31/12 at 11:43 PM

[Idiot]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:44pm

Take out the horror and you've got 'HELLO GOD, IT'S ME, CARRIE'.

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:45pm

I am always more interested in the human aspect of any story than anything else and I appreciate the director's approach, but it seems he took it too far. Carrie does need at least some horror. Otherwise it's not Carrie. Updated On: 1/31/12 at 11:45 PM

[bobbybaby85]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:45pm

Updated On: 2/19/18 at 11:45 PM

[LegallyBroadway2]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:45pm

So, really, to grasp the feel of the film and the novel, the production would have to have a much bigger budget?

content wise, the show should be able to work in a small venue.. but to take the destruction and the effects and the pain of loosing an entire senior class (and the village, if one branched into the book), that would need a bigger space.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:47pm

As the flop connoisseur that I am, CARRIE is one of my favorite musicals ever. I was too young to have seen the original live, but I have listened to the audio hundreds of times and have seen the Act 1 Broadway DVD and the London DVD multiple times.

Going into the show tonight, I knew all the campiness would be gone. (Out For Blood, Don't Waste the Moon, I'm Not Alone, Wotta Night, the red jumpsuit, etc etc) I was certainly prepared to see a more "serious" take on CARRIE since the authors didn't want to embarass themselves again. Anyone who went to the show tonight wanting to see a camp disaster should never have attended in the first place. If the authors hadn't released the rights to CARRIE in over 20 years, why would they redo the show just as it was on Broadway in 1988? The campiness of the Broadway production is what helped the show get horrendous reviews and close in only 5 performances.

Also, I went into the show tonight, knowing that this would be done on an off broadway budget - not too many effects, small cast, not an expensive set. All of this judgement about there being no blood at the gym is assinine. In the original production, the blood was just thrown onto Carrie instead of falling on her from the ceiling - and that was heavily criticized. If that had happened again, I'm sure people would be up in arms about it too. I thought the red lighting worked extremely well...plus, I gasped when Carrie walked into her house covered in blood because that is the iconic way people expect her to look. I didn't care that it didn't happen at the prom - I was satisfied just by being able to see her like that. It was obviously a different dress, and someone put red makeup on her backstage. I thought she looked amazing and it totally worked for the end of the show.

I loved the show tonight. I thought Molly Ranson was outstanding. She nailed the acting and her singing got stronger as the evening went on. While Buckley is and will always be the definitive Margaret White in my mind, Marin is a close second. She won me over during "Where There's No One," which was pitch perfect. The teenagers were also excellent - particularly Christy Altomare (Sue) and Derek Klena (Tommy). Telling the story from Sue's point of view totally worked for me and the actress did an excellent job.

Yes, there were only six people at the prom, but this is an off broadway production and the cast is small. In my mind, I was picturing a stage full of kids...and if there was a bigger budget and a larger stage, Stafford Arima obviously would have made this happen. Still, it didn't matter to me...the prom scene worked perfectly.

Even though "Out for Blood" was cut, there were a few lines from it still in the Act 2 opener, which made me smile. Also, I was glad that "Do Me A Favor" was left in, and it worked so much better than the original version.

Act 2 had major book and score changes to the original, all of which I think worked extremely well. I particularly loved the duet between Sue and Tommy, "You Shine," which replaced "It Hurts To Be Strong."

Apologies for the freeform stream of consciousness review here, but I just wanted to jot a bunch of thoughts down in response to a lot of the negativity on this thread. CARRIE is probably never going to please everybody, but I for one am extremely grateful to have it back in NY and to have the chance to see it live. Do I think this should transfer to Broadway? Absolutely not. Do I think this should extend at MTC and have a successful run there? Yes.

This show holds a place near and dear to my heart and I am thrilled to have been able to see it and plan on seeing it a few more times at the Lucille Lortel before it closes.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:48pm

I've seen Ryan Landry stage an epic on a stage the size of a broom closet. Very theatrically creative people can dream up great things on any budget.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:48pm

Jordan nobody said that’s how you should come out of Carrie so that statement is redundant.

I am not saying (again) that Carrie is not a story told with horror elements, I’m saying that the human story played far bigger than most genre novels, if not all genre novels. All I’m saying is that for the horror aspect of the book is one aspect, what gets MY attention about the novel is much more than the (i will admit) fantastic ending as she brings the town to its knees.

'Stephen King's Carrie uses horror to tell a human story. Without the horror, it's not Carrie, and maybe not even anything.'

Yes it uses elements of horror to tell a human story, but in reality if you keep the same story and replace her powers with a gun you have the same novel but sitting in a different section of the library.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:50pm

Is redundant what you meant to say there?

[LegallyBroadway2]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:52pm

But some don't believe Carrie even has the gun in the musical... if my wording is understandable...

[bobbybaby85]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:52pm

Updated On: 2/19/18 at 11:52 PM

[Idiot]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:53pm

WithoutATrace:

"The campiness of the Broadway production is what helped the show get horrendous reviews and close in only 5 performances."

The 'campiness' of the original (yes, I saw it in person) had to do with dressing high school students in togas and leather among other atrocious creative decisions. It is really really not hard to avoid those problems. First, stop dropping acid.

As for the blood drop in the original -- a dancer walks by and pours syrupy blood on the lead. It drips slooowwwwlly. This is not hard to fix, and it's certainly NO reason not to try it again.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:55pm

'I've seen Ryan Landry stage an epic on a stage the size of a broom closet. Very theatrically creative people can dream up great things on any budget.'

I have done the same as well.
I hope the right do come out for this show because my company is desperate to do this show and i think we could really bring something to it.

[LegallyBroadway2]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:56pm

Should the show transfer with a big budget to get the intense effects? I remember I was terrified of and for this girl, for those moments reading late in the night... I could almost hear the sirens wailing as the night was plunged in red streaks.. And with the image of Carrie's eyes when she flexes, that imprinted in my mind.

The blood is iconic, seeing it pour from the bucket and spatter and soak her dress and face and hair is sicking. It needs to return. Updated On: 1/31/12 at 11:56 PM

[tourboi]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 11:56pm

Well there are commercial producers in the background on this, so I hope they get the finale figured out if (when) it transfers. Although, I'm sure any bad reviews might kill that.

Thank you to ALL for the reports tonight, though!

The thought of CARRIE minus blood just.... I mean... it's not CARRIE.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:00am

For what it's worth I do think this production will become the basis for an officially licensed version of the show--

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:01am

"Withoutatrace, you give me hope. You mention that it shouldn't transfer... do you think if the production elements and cast were expanded the material would work or do you think that it shouldn't ever try for the Great White Way again?"

Honestly, I love the show, but I do not think it should ever try for the Great White Way again. It flopped once and will flop again. If they have a successful off Broadway run, the creative team can be proud of what they've accomplished, be satisfied with the new "definitive" script and score, and release the rights. If it transfers to Broadway and flops again, the show will never be seen again, which would be a shame.


"The 'campiness' of the original (yes, I saw it in person) had to do with dressing high school students in togas and leather among other atrocious creative decisions. It is really really not hard to avoid those problems."

Yes, the costumes were certainly part of the campiness - I had mentioned the red jump suit in my review - but the campy songs were also part of that...and Debbie Allen's ridiculous choreography. I knew that all the campiness would be gone going into the show tonight. Why anyone going into Carrie 2.0 would expect tons of camp is beyond me. The authors are trying to AVOID embarassment here...not garner more bad press.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:04am

I just want to say a big thanks to all who reviewed tonight and put their opinions down so well on here (good or bad) you made a Brit very happy, but it;s 5am here so im going to go to bed. Thanks again and i look forward to hearing more in the coming weeks and months.

Updated On: 2/1/12 at 12:04 AM

[Idiot]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:04am

"Okay, we can try CARRIE again as long as we don't make a mess."

Nope.

WithoutATrace:

Why do you think people were 'expecting' camp? I don't think that. I think they were expecting CARRIE.


Updated On: 2/1/12 at 12:04 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:06am

I wouldn't expect tons of camp but I would expect the production to have the same dual sense of both humour and horror that the film
Balances; especially since its for the most part the same script.

[bobbybaby85]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:08am

Updated On: 2/19/18 at 12:08 AM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:09am

One of the biggest criticisms of the original production was that it felt like two different shows - one good show with the Carrie/Margaret material - and one horrible campy show with the high school kids' material. This new version obviously tries to correct that - and succeeds whole heartedly in my opinion.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:11am

I didn't realize so many people had these hopes-bordering-on-expectations that this little revival, touted as "more of a chamber piece," was going to transfer. Is this what American Idol has done to people?