Barbara Cook- Carrie Incident? — Page 2

"Always"? Always when?

---

So many new members. Welcome, I'mSTILLhere.

2.

---

Whatever the reason, she made a wise decision to flee this mess.

Methinks the fancy tales of Miss Barbara Cook's near decapitation at ye olde theater in Stratford are apocryphal.

Me too!

Actually you're a bit mistaken. Barbara WAS almost decapitated, yes. But not by the staircase. For the final scene when the staircase came down she rode up in an elevator to the top and when it was lowered completely she stepped out onto it and down the stairs. The accident happened when the White Home set piece came forward before Open Your Heart. The back wall lifted, and flipped to show the "wood" on the other side and, as it did this, the "floor" of the home slid forward. Barbara stepped out onto the floor too early and almost lost her head as the wall was flipping and a stage hand pulled her back in time. As for the grunting on the video, that could be anything. Someone dying at the prom, Linzi crying, someone in the audience. Who knows.

Who knows.... You'd have to ask terry Hands about that one. I know some of the people that were in the show and even they don't know. The legend goes that Terry was in a production meeting before the show began and a woman in the meeting said something like "Wow, with all the high school stuff it's very Grease." And he took that as meaning Greece, like Greek Tragedy. And he came back to the next meeting with all these designs of togas and symbolism and sparse staging. The staircase could therefore be anything ... steps of the school, steps to hell, steps to heaven. It's a really cool set piece and a neat effect but totally pointless and stupid in this show.

Another rumor about Carrie, for years thanks to Ken Mandlebaum and his totally unresearched book, was that in the Destruction a giant shower curtain fell on the kids. No. What DID happen was that a giant scrim came down to make the lasers show more and to stop the pyro from going unwatanted places. A bad idea, yes, because it was a bit unnecessary, but certainly not a shower curtain.

I have always wanted to read that book. In fact, when I was fifteen a friend of my sister had it and I read that chapter. I didn't know enough about the show at that time. But 17 years later I think I will buy it.

---

I used to think that when people referred to "that site" they were talking about a secret website filled with rare performances, and bootlegs, and that only the real insiders knew what it was/had access to it. Talk about misconceptions...childhood or otherwise.

Carrie without a bucket of blood is like Oz without the wizard.

Triple Threat Kid - It's a pretty good read and I have read it a few times. But just like anything else, you have to take into account that a lot of it is his opinion and not necessarily based in much research. For example, he never reached out to anyone involved in CARRIE to get any facts on the show. He just wrote what he heard and remembered. But still a good read.

Auggie27 - Sally Anne Triplett, Sue in the 1988 cast, said in an interview that when it came time to discuss dumping the blood on Carrie that Terry was completely without a clue as to how to do it. Linzi Hately, as Carrie & 17 years old, said to him "Just dump a bucket of blood on me." He wouldn't/couldn't figure it out. So at first they tried red lights, but that just looked like she was standing in a red spotlight (funny that that's what they chose for the revival). Then they tried putting a bucket on her head with two sponges on the inside soaked in red dye and when Billy put it on her she was supposed to grab the bucket and press it to her face. But that looked like she was just wearing a lot of blush. All the while Linzi is still saying "Just dump a bucket of blood on me." Finally they had Billy run up and plunk the bucket on her head. Which, I think actually looked pretty good. I like the revival a lot and thought the use of projections was great but I still missed the actual blood at the prom. When you think about it tho, there really is no way to secure a bucket full of liquid falling in the same spot every performance. And it'd be unsafe if splashed everywhere. I think running up and plunking the bucket on her head is really the only good choice.