MCC to produce Off-Broadway CARRIE revival in 2011-2012

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 6:31pm

Stafford Arima to direct. Book and score reworked.

Would be presented at the Lortel on Christopher Street if all comes to fruition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/theater/06carrie.html?_r=1

Updated On: 10/5/10 at 06:31 PM

[bk]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 6:36pm

"major production" and the Lucille Lortel Theater is an oxymoron.

What is MCC Theater? And is Bernie Telsey, the artistic director, the same as the casting director? That seems weird.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 6:42pm

Yes, same guy. He and Bob LuPone formed MCC in the mid-80's before he became "Bernie Telsey."

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 7:16pm

Amazing news and im so gald they are taking it Off Broadway (at least for now), it seems from what is been said that the producers and creatives are heading in the right direction.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 8:23pm

I like the accompanying headline on the right - "Two Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Physics for Work on Ultra-Thin Material."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 9:56pm

^^^
Brilliant, wonderwaiter.

This oughta be a lot of fun to watch. I wish them the best of luck. Who knows? It might work. A revival of Follies might work. A revival of Merrily We Roll Along might work.

Stranger things have happened.

[phantom39]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 10:23pm

This is great news, but..
Do fans really want a "new" Carrie? I think interest still exists for this material because of its past productions. And now with half of the score gone, and the plot completely reworked, will anyone care for a new dramatic take on Carrie?

Updated On: 10/5/10 at 10:23 PM

[binau]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 10:41pm

Well assumably the interest is in the parts that will remain (i.e. Eve was Weak, Evening Prayers, When There's no One etc..) and not for the the parts that could go (out for blood?).

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 11:37pm

Just to throw some fuel on the fire, look at the "outrage" over the cutting of "I'm Not Alone" from the last reading.

It's going to be an interesting production if it does indeed come to fruition. They are going to have to put some serious work into any special effects, since at the Lortel they won't have the advantage of distance hiding some of the tricks that they would have in a larger space.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 12:38am

I'll admit that Don't Waste The Moon was one of my favorite numbers.

[Brick]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 2:28am

I'd argue, with the right marketing (and if the material is truly better) there could be an audience for this that wouldn't know anything about the Flop legend.

[brettystar]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 2:34am

Part of the intrigue with Carrie for me is how tacky and over the top so much of the original was. I would still like to see a reworked version but would rather they do the original version and make it even more over the top than to take it seriously again.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 7:06am

brettystar, the last thing we need is another Xanadu show. And Carrie has already been spoofed to death. It's not a new idea (see the campy as tits Erik Jackson Theatre Couture production...).

All of that being said... I'M SO PSYCHED!!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 8:53am

To put a replica of the original on stage s pointless, it did not work for a reason, no matter how much fun it is.

As a mega Carrie fan and have been since i watched it in the 80s i would rather a reworked version with new songs and a darker tone and more intimate experience go on the stage. The book for the new Carrie won't be rewritten, the book exists in King's format and that's what they will use, i would guess they will just use more of it rather than the song cues they used in the original.

Carrie fans will always moan about certain songs getting cut, at the end of the day though if it makes the material stronger (i think the removal of Out For Blood, Wotta Night, I'm Not Alone etc did) then im all for it.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 8:57am

"The book for the new Carrie won't be rewritten, the book exists in King's format and that's what they will use..."

I'm sorry, what?

[trentsketch]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 9:32am

I'm baffled by that, too, findingnamo. King's book is a modern epistolary novel told through newspaper articles, medical papers, and police testimony. It certainly wouldn't work as a literal translation on stage.

I also don't understand this desire to cut half the score and keep the same book. Wasn't part of the problem the ambiguity of Carrie's powers? I understand telekinesis isn't the clearest thing to describe, but they also gave her pyrokinesis just to have explosions on stage. The focus should be on figuring out how to stage the story so it makes sense to someone who hasn't seen the film or read the novel, not eliminating half the score. The score was the good part of the show. New orchestrations could be all the difference in making some of those misguided disco numbers work. And songs like "I'm Not Alone" could be trimmed considerably (or, you know, make use of modern Broadway technology to actually capture the purpose of the song, or elaborate puppetry ala The Addams Family) instead of just cutting it.

I'm eager to see what else they're going to do to it. Then I'll decide whether or not it's worth getting excited over such a heavily reworked score.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 9:34am

I'll admit that Don't Waste The Moon was one of my favorite numbers

Me too!

I'm excited to see how this pans out, but my personal opinion - and this is just from hearing the reading that surfaced online - is that the show doesn't work when it's given the "kitchen sink reality" treatment. To me, the show IS Greek Tragedy and progresses in the way that tragedy does (the outcome is never in doubt, everything that happens HAS to happen because the end is inevitable, etc) and reeling it back into normal drama makes the proceedings even MORE laughable. But that's just me. Like I said, I am excited to see what happens.

Was "I'm Not Alone" cut in the reading? I don't remember. That's the one song in the score I truly loathe.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 9:56am

Count me in the group that will miss I'm Not Alone.

The epic failure of the original prom scene is the stuff of legend mainly because of that absurd plexiglass fish tank screen which was supposed to keep all the dry ice smoke in. But I have always felt the white set and the Greek tragic "feel" of the finale were kinda in the right spirit of the material.

I'm really curious to see how they will re-conceptualize that.

And of course cutting or rewriting all the Fame-lite and embarrassing high school bully numbers is only positive.

I guess the orchestra will be drastically scaled down. Anyone know how many musicians can fit in the Lortel's pit?

[Famebroadway2]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 10:36am

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

WAIT! Off-Bway? Huh? They must have scaled back the cast size because there is no way it would make money in a 299 seat theater with a cast of 20+. Are they making it a chamber musical now? ugh!!!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 11:14am

I really like Don't Waste the Moon and Do Me a Favor because they really captured the essence of timeless teen desires, social interaction and manipulation. Both numbers reminded me the behavior of kids I went to school with. I am divided on I'm Not Alone, however. I love the melody, but the lyrics halt the dramatic tension. Until Carrie dances with Tommy at the prom, she is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. It isn't until she gets swept up by the magic of the prom and experiencing something entirely new that she lets her guard down. I like the idea of a celebratory number in which Carrie expresses her excitement of having the ability to defy her mother and embark on a journey towards assimilation into society, but the lyrics need to contain that edge of careful consideration and caution. I don't believe for a second Carrie would ever joyously shout, "I'm not alone any more!" It makes no sense. And the too-precious staging with the dancing shoes and clothes just killed it.

I have always thought there needed to be a number in the first act where Carrie consciously discovers her power with a theme that could be recycled later as she develops her power, leading to her ability to use them against her mother at the end of the act. There was never much of a connective thread from the moment the light bulb breaks in the locker room to the end of the first act to clue the audience that Carrie makes this realization and uses it to her advantage.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 11:58am

There are also lines from the original pre-RSC script (maybe an early reading?) where Margaret explicitly states her mother (grandmother, maybe) had the same power as Carrie, which at least gives a little more frame of reference for her attack.

Frankly, I think the title song could use a major lyrical overhaul.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 12:19pm

I think the bigger question remains: How the hell are they going to do the prom destruction? It's sort of the event the entire story revolves around.

Good for them for giving this a go, but lets hope this isn't the mark of major hubris for Telsey.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 12:25pm

LCD effects? I really don't know, though. I would think there's got to me some innovative way to do it. To me, that's the least of this show's concerns.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 12:52pm

I always liked that Carrie goes to the library to find who she is. A trip to the library sequence could work in helping to reveal her telekinesis.

Nothing will ever be the original '88 production so I am generally fine with whatever revising they need to do. I'm sure they'll keep all the strong mother/daughter material and that's the only element from the original incarnation that must be retained. I hope MCC and Arima can put some scares into it and make it genuinely tense instead of goofy.

Updated On: 10/6/10 at 12:52 PM

[romgitsean]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 1:01pm

famebroadway02, it is in the best interest it for all if it goes Off-Broadway first. Even a limited engagement, then extend possibly. That'll gain the momentum that it needs. If enough hype is brought up, then it'll go to Broadway. I really hope they get it to Broadway, but let's face it - Broadway's a tourist trap, and it has limited appeal for tourists.

"Don't Waste The Moon" is good, but it was a wise cut. They could have had "Don't Waste" a la the production at Emerson College, where they had the music underscore a scene. In addition, I really loved the new "Do Me A Favor", but it's still not spread out enough. There's not nearly enough transition for Chris to find out that Tommy is taking Carrie, and to ask Billy to do 'her a favor'.

I personally thinking cutting "I'm Not Alone" is the worst that they have made. It's become a trademark song, because of Ms. Weiss, (I've heard it several times for auditions now) and it makes Carrie's downfall so much more tragic. With "I'm Not Alone", Carrie feels that she has this delusional false fantasy romance that her and Tommy have this true blossoming romance of sorts - and sortof confirms the big "want" in the title song that she wants a husband. It makes her feel that things really aren't going to be bad from this point on, and that this prom is the best thing to ever happen to her. I'm not saying the lyrics don't need work, but "Why Not Me?" is so redundant. We already cover in the title song Carrie has just a right to going to the prom and fitting as everyone else does.

The weakest part is by far the book. See, I know for a fact, that the book can be translated onto stage with all the interviews and monologues given by supporting characters in a strictly dramatic non-musical version. In a musical it doesn't work. They need to have scenes that match the caliber of the music. Maybe you can still sneak in some of those monologues in there, but it has to be done so carefully and precise. Stephen King is very big on past tense writing. We had a few brief internal monologues from Sue in the new script, but there's room for more (see Carrie - the 2002 version for what I'm talking about).

Updated On: 10/6/10 at 01:01 PM