Carrie updates???- Page 2

[twinbelters]

Posted: 2/23/10 at 1:48pm

Exactly. This adaptation is the easiest answer to a complicated proposition. Whoever adapts Carrie to the stage has to be a mad genius; Pitchford and Gore are pop-tunesmiths, no more.

That being said, I revel in the ineptitude.

[Disneyland Magic Man]

Posted: 2/23/10 at 8:48pm

Okay, I'm not defending Dean Pitchford by any means... he has a lot to be desired as a lyricist. BUT, to say Pitchford and Gore are merely pop tune-smiths really doesn't give them the credit they deserve. In Carrie alone, three... almost four numbers stick out to be some of the most haunting beautiful songs ever written for theater. Eve Was Weak is beyond brilliant. Evening Prayers gives me goosebumps and I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance is a seamless transition of the material in the novel or in the film in musical form. While "When There's No One" verges on generic, though I do feel well written, pop ballad... the bridge foreshadows so much of the story in a cleaver way.

Let's not forget that the song "Fame" won an Oscar... not just because it was a great pop song. It, through song and dance, spoke for an entire generation of young performers. The same could be said for "Out Here On My Own". As much as I dislike parts of the score to Footloose, many of the songs are pretty damn well written to reflect things directly associated with the plot.

I think the problem ULTIMATELY lies in the book. It's never been strong enough, even in either workshop. If Mr. Cohen would go back... write a draft of the play without the songs, and then have everybody sit and put them in... it might work out. He writes screenplays in which the dialogue isn't the driving force of the story and persona of the characters. You need a strong text to tell a strong story. Carrie on stage has yet to have this.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 2/23/10 at 8:55pm

Amen, Disneyland Magic Man.

I really like "In", and I think "Carrie" is actually a really wonderful ballad. Same with "Tommy's Poem".

[Burgos1969]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 3:30am

This show has some of the most beautiful music have ever heard, musical theatre or anywhere. Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Cabaret have all proved that dark can work as musical, but like so many people have mentioned, this needs brilliant writing to succeed.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 9:46am

Tye show is DOA, and deservedly so. It has some of the worst lyrics ever written, utterly banal music, And a book that is a patchwork of ineptitude and hack work. A few interesting moments don't make a show. Let it go. Move on to new creation.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 12:18pm

OR...those who have differing opinions from newintown (which is highly likely) can enjoy the discussion and do what they wish.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 12:24pm

Oh, no, Matt, they certainly may not talk about this any more. Ever. No, never.

That really was my point, as you discerned with your usual breathtaking insight. I just can't imagine how you could disagree...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 12:45pm

You don't read your own posts, do you?

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 12:56pm

If you interpret "Let it go" as "you may never discuss this again," then I suspect you may be that guy who translates assembly instructions from Chinese for Ikea products.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 1:13pm

Ah...question answered.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 1:13pm

And in Chinese.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 2:27pm

If you interpret "Let it go" as "you may never discuss this again,"...

Except I didn't do that. You don't read any posts, do you? I get that negativity is your schtick of choice, and while it is wildly unoriginal (especially around here) and derivative of the late-80s "attitude" trend popularized in the gay community, it's not working well as retro-chic here. And it certainly doesn't add anything authoritative to your opinions, so there really is no solid foundation on which the smug arrogance is based.

I just think your characterization needs work. Or perhaps you might want to try something with a bit more authenticity. Snarky bitch is just so...cliche.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 2:32pm

Sorry, were you talking to me? I was reading some assembly instructions for a bookshelf...

Please do go on. Your screed delights.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 2:44pm

That's because I am delightful, but thank you for your winsome encouragement. Good luck with your bookshelf. If your ability to follow pictures in numbered order is as good as your ability to read posts in English, I've no doubt you'll simply project your own inadequacies on others in an acerbic, offensive and self-important manner while managing to accomplish nothing in the process.

FYI - If you want to use IKEA instructions as a metaphor, it helps if you knew something about them. Or at least have seen them before.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 2:56pm

I'm sorry you're so itchily irritable today, young Matt; you know, I hear that Preparation H can work wonders. But there are those who swear by Tucks...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 3:05pm

Well, you may be wrong (again), but you are terrific at proving my point. I'm sorry you're such a pill every day, old newintown.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 3:09pm

That sounds like a song lyric: "I'm sorry you're such a pill every day, old newintown!"

Along the lines of "I want a girl just like the girl that married dear old Dad!"

I hear a barbershop quartet...

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 3:38pm

"Whoever adapts Carrie to the stage has to be a mad genius; Pitchford and Gore are pop-tunesmiths, no more.

That being said, I revel in the ineptitude."

I stand by what I said. I think the reason that much of the Carrie/Margaret sequences succeed is because Pitchford/Gore were inspired by Alban Berg's opera Lulu. They lifted Berg's work in operatic grandeur for the mother and then modeled the teenagers' songs after Grease and Bye Bye Birdie. It is such wildly uneven work. What little ability they had as a team of theater writers was basically cloned from other theater and opera work. I do like their songs for Fame but none of them are true character songs.

I love Carrie and it started out promisingly, but it was clearly incompetent from the beginning and would have fallen short with or without Terry Hands.

Also, the book is barely existent but what is there is taken directly from the film and plays quite silly as staged dialogue. I still can't get over that nowhere is there any mention of telekinesis. They could have given Carrie a "A Trip To The Library"-type song.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 3:48pm

Berg? Lulu?

I don't know... I own both scores (Lulu & Carrie), and have read through Lulu more than Carrie, but...

Lulu is a serialist work, and Carrie is plain old simple tonalism. There's absolutely nothing wrong with simple tonal music (it's what the vast bulk of listeners prefer), but it's nothing like serialism in general, or Lulu specifically.

The Margaret/Carrie bits may be more ambitious than the rest of the score, but it's still pretty basic stuff, musically. And lyrically, the rhymes can be pretty low going. ("And lust was how the sin began, the sin was Man./I don't understand!/Well understand!" or "You've got Jezebel's pride!/And your soul is a hole of disease!/I can see you inside!")

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 4:35pm

Lulu being an inspiration for the Carrie writers is public knowledge. I don't believe the sound of Lulu inspired the sound for Carrie. From what I understand it was more the idea of making Carrie and Margaret pseudo-operatic antagonists on stage--basically making them come to blows with operatic grandeur as opposed to the rock/pop sound of the teens.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 8:06pm

I would still really love to know how people in this thread found audio from the reading...