BARE to Play Final Performance Off Broadway on February 3 — Page 2

My suspicion is that the Carrie creators wanted someone who would do exactly what Arima did with the material, and even though reviews were lukewarm, there was enough buzz about him at least on the basis of being "the guy who revived Carrie" that he got Bare.

Your suspicion is incorrect. One did not lead to the other because Arima had been attached to BARE for the last six years prior to this production, which is much longer than he was involved with CARRIE. I do agree with you that what he did with CARRIE (removing all camp elements and making it "darker") is exactly what the creators wanted, and that's precisely why he was hired- he was the one who asked for a meeting with them and pushed them into bringing the show back by pitching exactly what they wanted to hear.

All that being said, I agree with the sentiment here that all of the work Arima consistently gets is baffling. Both BARE and CARRIE had been on track to go into production with him attached for quite a long time, so it'll be interesting to see how the subsequent failure of both will affect his future as a director going forward. Producers will have to take notice.

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Updated On: 1/24/13 at 09:37 AM

I was surprised to hear the closing. I guess I was hoping it wasnt as bad as people said...WRONG

I never really though the show would run past the original booking period past March, but I can't say I'm shocked..opening during the holidays, barely adequate and misguided marketing, the weight (and hate) of purists' expectations, and mixed reviews. I think there's a lot of worth in this new version, but it could never get out of its own way.

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