CARRIE Reading? — Page 4

"You think Carrie is mainstream media?"

Wow, with that deep reasoning I bet you're looking forward to "The Real Housewives Of Atlanta, the Musical". I hear NeNe's 11 O'Clock number "Shut Up Bitch Or I'll Cut You" touches the soul.

King's book has never been out of print in 35 years. The movie is always on TV, a simple search shows it's on Encore HD this week alone. It was on heavy rotation on UniversalHD and HDNet last month at Halloween. There was a TV remake in 2004 also played all over TV this past October. Do the youngin's today have TV? They have never come across it in their twenty five years on network TV, local, basic or pay cable? The VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray is in every video store in the country. You mean people under twenty five who grew up watching "Grease" over and over were never curious what other movies Travolta made? Believe me "Carrie" is hardly a lost forgotten movie. Don't ask me, ask King or Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, P.J. Soles or William Katt. I know, because I'e met them all within the last five years and we talked about the wide range of fans "Carrie" has.

It might be an American thing, but I'm 18 in Australia and I can absolutely guarantee that in my age bracket and below 'Carrie' IS almost unheard of and is not as popular as you guys think it is. It probably is to do with region though...since Stephen King is some kind of 'staple' of American horror movies I guess.

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I wouldn't go so far as to say that the younger generation isn't aware of Carrie. I'm aware of and have seen such classics as Casablanca, From Here to Eternity, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. You get my drift.

I think all generations are aware of classic art that came way before them.

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CARRIE is now a piece of "classic art" *and* it's "mainstream" ?!?!? Oy. Who comes up with this stuff.

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No, I'm genuinely shocked. And I'm not in the younger demographic - I remember CARRIE well. Both as a novel and movie.

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Then, don't be shocked. Classics don't have to be Greco-Roman in origin.

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You don't know HOW excited I am that all of this has come around again, though naturally I'm devastated at the same time because I wanted to direct it :)

I wholly believe Carrie can become a successful, brillianty heart-wrenching musical unlike anything else seen to be quite honest.

I fell in love with the story and films a few years ago because it plays so brilliantly with cruelty - characters are positioned to be the most finitely cruel to Carrie without taking it to an unbelievable edge. Watching her Mother deny her any love during her most vulnerable womanly time made me cry buckets. It strikes a powerful emotional chord if done correctly.

It is this that needs to be played on. These delicate emotional chords need to be plucked. Noted THIS IS NOT EASY. It is so much easy either to satirize the story or else push it beyond believability. Who's to say these emotional pangs cannot be accessed by music? I don't think "Eve was weak" was 100% perfect but damn it came pretty close, and not much else would be needed to get it there.

Carrie was ill-fated from the start. Slightly hypocritical, being an English guy myself, but handing it to the RSC was probably not an inspired choice. I think, in fairness, nowadays you'd have better look if they would turn to a British directer as we've had much more exposure to these matters than in 1980s; sticking with an american-at-heart director is always going to be best because

...this production should be reproached as a RETALIATION of American values, and a complete BITE BACK to most campy musicals. The destruction of a high school prom is highly symbolic. It is a mixture of everything Carrie aspires to, everything that oppresses her, and how many other lost young children. Its what Grease, Fame, WSS don't show you.

With new technology, they could have real real fun with the destruction. Actually make something terrifying and jawdropping.

Another gripe: Carrie as a character was poorly written. They'd softened her edges to make her more presentable to a broadway audience...if they were going to do that, why not skip the period scene and have done with it? No. She cannot be the simple figure innocence, fancying a boy, like a Disney princess. There needs to be evidence of psychological damage. We need to feel sorry for her in spite of all her social short comings. This is another challenge. The beauty of books and films allow us to see "inside their head". On Broadway they have to be more insistent on their emotions enough to sing about them. A five minute solo of overwrought babble was not how to combat this.

I'm not surprised they've kept In. The kids should be presented as being under this immense pressure. I actually rather liked the opening scene and painful dance routine of the original. It summed it up well

"I go crazy, and nobody cares what it does to me..."

I think it will appeal to a new generation of audience. Look at how popular Wicked is, it will usher in the fans of a Tim Burton audience - an emotionally versatility is much more popular than what I dub as "classic" broadway.

I believe this, more than anything, was what killed off Carrie the first time round. The creative team had an idea, a good one, but new it was risque material. Their plan to make it applicable to paying audiences was to force it into the mold of other musical successes, instead of respecting the essentials of Carrie. What they got was a mismatch of ill-fitting Broadway-sounding stuff with a load of unfulfilled plot. Stick to the plot, stick to the characters and the musical will take care of itself.

That book is genius. I don't care that it didn't win a Pulitzer or wasn't on Oprah's book club. It's a classic and a fascinating observation of human behavior. In fact, I think it should be required reading for High School kids. While it is fantasy, its depiction of the pecking order in schools in spot on.

Good luck at getting that past a school board!

Did you READ the novel MISERY, TH, or only watch the movie?

In the book Annie cuts off his foot with an ax, among many other MUCH more gruesome acts (lawnmower anyone?) not in Goldman's screenplay for the film. It's a great film, but the novel is one of King's best and if any deserve a more faithful film adaptation it would be that, particularly all the Misery Chastain period-specific stuff that isn't in the film.

There, I used "period-specific" so we are still on track discussing CARRIE,

P

I myself have never been to a reading before. I have a few questions.
How can i get tickets.
It is just a very basic version/ beginnings of the show so there is not much to it except the actors themselves?(Not asking in a bad way just wondering)
Thanks

Tickets were not available to the public. Part of the staged reading guidelines under Equity stipulate that it is open to industry members and invited audience only. Tickets are not allowed to be sold.

And yes, andsym, readings are very bare bones. Actors in chairs and at music stands holding scripts. No scenery, no props, no costumes, no choreography, as set down in the staged reading guidelines.