CARRIE - Reading full cast. - Page 2

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 7:44pm

"I'm not Alone" might be a nice song in another musical, but its just totally inappropriate for this show. Carrie, in the novel is convinced that its all a set up. As she is getting ready for the prom, she is absolutely terrified that Tommy won't come for her and that she will have to deal with her mother being correct (which of course she ultimately is). The fear builds all the way until she gets to the dance - her moment of true happiness is SO brief. She should absolutely not be singing a song about how she's not alone and how she fits in and how powerful she feels, before she is assured that the other kids accept her.

Good to hear that AppleTree - the show needs that if it there is any chance for it to ever work. We all have our guilty favorite numbers from the original ("Don't Waste the Moon" is mine) but most of them should be cut, extinguished and banished to youtube or bonus tracks on a revival cast recording.

[James885]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 7:58pm

^^^
You hit the nail on the head. "I'm not Alone" is a nice song, but the tone just doesn't fit at all. Like Michael Bennett said, Carrie is scared that she's being set up again. She wouldn't be singing a song about how wonderful love is, and how she's floating on cloud 9. I believe it's even mentioned in the novel that Carrie can sense that Tommy didn't ask her to the prom out of love, but because he was put up to it by Sue.

I'm glad so many numbers are being cut. The show needs to be almost totally eviscerated if it's to have any chance for success.

Updated On: 11/12/09 at 07:58 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 7:59pm

"what does a 29-hour reading mean?"

It means under the staged reading agreement with Equity they have 29 total hours to work in, and that includes the time for each presentation. The cast gets a stipend of $100, they are allowed a span of 14 days to complete the rehearsals and presentations. Readings are meant to be very minimal, minimal staging, no memorization, books must be kept in hand, no choreography, no sets, props, or costumes According to the Staged Reading guidelines it is limited to an invited audience only, there can be no admission charged or donations solicited, and it is also not supposed to be used as a backers' audition. In addition no recording can be made.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 8:07pm

Outside of those made on tape recorders stuck into people's purses.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 8:21pm

I'd be fine with them cutting "I'm Not Alone" if it really did make its way onto the cast recording as a bonus track, but I really don't see them spending extra money to include cut songs on a cast album if this does turn into a revival and if we even get a cast recording.

[THDavis]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 8:21pm

Does anyone think they'll release the rights of the original show if the possible revival hits the Great White Way? I'm super excited that the show in general is considering a comeback, especially since I'm such a fan of the book, but at the same time I feel that most of us still want to see the original production live (regardless of the level of theatre it's performed at).

Basically, I'm stoked to see this show being revisited, but still have the urge to see the original production somehow come back too.
Updated On: 11/12/09 at 08:21 PM

[philly03]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 8:31pm

I think some of the music can stay, but the lyrics need to be changed ("Carrie" for example), but then some of it needs a total revamp ("Wotta Night," "Don't Waste the Moon"). And then some of it just seems near-perfect but could use a few lyric touch-ups ("Eve was Weak," "When There's No One").

I also think they need to stay away from projections, but find a good way to do the destruction scene. If that atleast looked legit, perhaps it would have lasted more than 5 official performances !

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 9:14pm

No one thought of giving Carrie "I'm Not Alone" as an inner monologue or something as she goes up the steps to accept the crown as prom queen? I'd think it'd be a great soliloquy, especially knowing what's coming. You feel so much more sorry for her that way.

Just throwing out a way it could stay in the show and not be out of place.

Updated On: 11/12/09 at 09:14 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 9:16pm

I think the other part of the problem with that song (and so many others) is they sound like early 1980s sugar pop songs, which are dated now, and out of place with the tone of the show to begin with

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 9:25pm

So a new arrangement?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 9:25pm

Exactly, I think unlike some music from the 60s and 70s, 80s pop sound is incredibly dated and comes off as jarring. I believe that if they don't change that sound, they are doomed to fail. From what I understand, the 80s sound was already dated when the show opened in the 80s!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 9:51pm

I wonder what year they are setting this production. The book actually took place 5 years in the future (which at the time of publication was 1979). A lot of the basic story does seem very 70s though and perhaps should stay there. I certainly hope there isn't some cloying cute update to a song like "Dont Waste the Moon" with the kids on cell phones to give it a 'modern' spin.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 10:11pm

That. Song. Must. Go.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 10:12pm

"No one thought of giving Carrie "I'm Not Alone" as an inner monologue or something as she goes up the steps to accept the crown as prom queen? I'd think it'd be a great soliloquy, especially knowing what's coming. You feel so much more sorry for her that way.

Just throwing out a way it could stay in the show and not be out of place."

"I'm Not Alone" was definitely the wrong song for Carrie to be singing before the prom. I also don't think giving Carrie an extended soliloquy/aria right before the blood dousing is right either. By that point the evening needs to be hurtling towards the penultimate conclusion, not stopping to take a break to hear Carrie's inner monologue. I actually think the score/libretto work pretty well as written from the "Heaven Octet" through the "Destruction" though clearly the original staging did miss the mark, and the final moments also need some work. The ending was just far too ambiguous, though that matched a lot of the rest of evening in that original production.

[bundy5000]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 10:18pm

Is there any way to purchase tickets for the reading or is it just Invitation only?

[tourboi]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 10:21pm

Invitation only for industry folk.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 10:31pm

I'm sure SOMEONE will leak something out.

[BroadwayGirl3]

Posted: 11/14/09 at 10:33pm

Can't wait to hear more about this!

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 11/14/09 at 10:41pm

I hope they leave the setting in the 70's, it works so well.

I hope this gets another chance to see the light of day.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:11am

Except the setting of the musical was the 80s wasn't it? the film was the 70s... I have to admit so much of the appeal of this show to me is the more ridiculous stuff (my guilty pleasure is Do Me a Favour) that I kinda wonder what will be left and if I'll wanna bother with it--though obviously that's the only approach to take.

"The idea of dance being such a huge component of the show was really something that was introduced when Debbie Allen came onboard as choreographer."

I LOVE dance musicals, but Allen'scontribution was so over the top ridiculous. I mean there has to be almost more dancing (if you can call it that) then in Chorus Line or West Side Story. Stuff like the staging of Do Me a Favour where they just don't stand still for ANYTHING--I really wish I knew what she was thinking and why this was a good concept for high schoolkids.

[Dantes]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:00pm

I don't know if i read it on here but apparently 8 songs have been cut with 8 new ones written

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:03pm

I suspect you read it on page one of this thread

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:14pm

Eric - as for the setting of the musical when it was on Broadway - I think its totally up for debate what time, what year, and what planet Terry Hands set his production of CARRIE in. I'd vote for Endor in the year 8914.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:17pm

Haha! I was actually thinking that while writing the above. I recently rewatched the clip of Moonlight and there's a line where Sue says she has to go home to do her homework and it just seems so strange--the kids might as well be aliens with the strange clothes they wear, their strange constant dancing/undulations, the weird car formation they're hanging out in--to think of any of them returning like that to their homes to do homework just seems so not possible.

[amoni2]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 6:23pm

It's all so encouraging. I just wish Molly Ranson,
and Diana DeGarmo would switch roles. DeGarmo is on the cusp of becoming a Broadway star and this could be the role to do it.