CARRIE THE MUSICAL to premiere in Los Angeles- Page 3

[gleek4114]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 4:35pm

This is turning into the Rebecca of LA.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 12:45am

The second act is still unsalvageable.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 8:14am

That's why LA added strobe lights and nudity, Namo. Someone's blood-stained ass is gonna blink.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 9/6/14 at 11:56pm

I want to go but this "LA premiere" production but is NOT even in LA.. it's in La Mirada. I'm a student who lives here in LA & I see every single show presented at the Pantages, Ahmanson, Mark Taper, & Kirk Douglas being musicals & plays. They are all around 30-50 minutes on bus from where I live & 15-30 minutes in car (if I get a ride, which is almost never). Looked on google maps & it would take me 2 hours & 30 minutes (with traffic)... yeah sadly skipping.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 12:55am

um... where in LA are you because it does not take 2 and half hours to get to La Mirada.... unless traffic is REALLY REALLY REALLY bad... I lived in Burbank and it usually took me one hour to 90 minutes (in REALLY bad traffic) to drive to La Mirada...

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 1:17am

Oh, sorry. I meant that much time if I were to take the bus!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 2:14am

Nudity?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 10:39am

"The second act is still unsalvageable."

The same could be said for my tolerance of you.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/20/14 at 7:53pm

Audition information:

http://www.experiencecarrie.com/cast.html

[gleek4114]

Posted: 11/20/14 at 8:59pm

I remember hearing about auditions for this a year and a half ago. I wonder if these auditions are just a formality. What has stalled this production for so long?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/9/15 at 2:53pm

Cast announced.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Emily-Lopez-Misty-Cotton-More-Will-Lead-Reimagined-CARRIE-THE-MUSICAL-in-Los-Angeles-Complete-Cast-Announced-20150209

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 2/9/15 at 3:01pm

Michael Bennett, are you involved with the production? Would you be able to tell me how the production is so "immersive"?

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 2/9/15 at 3:49pm

the cast is unknowns?? skipping.

[missthemountains]

Posted: 2/9/15 at 5:30pm

Revised book? I'm intrigued. Is Margaret less white washed? *fingers crossed*

[Pauly3]

Posted: 2/9/15 at 5:59pm

"Would you be able to tell me how the production is so "immersive"?"

From what had previously been communicated by the La Mirada folks, the audience and actors would all be on stage. I think they are selling only 250 tickets per show. From the most recent info posted on the website, it appears the entire theater is being transformed into the high school.


Important Info (From the website)
CARRIE THE MUSICAL is an audience-immersive theatrical event.

Audiences will stand and move with the actors. Comfortable shoes and clothing are recommended. Wheelchair guests will be accommodated.

The show contains the use of smoke and haze, strobe lights, special effects and loud music.

CARRIE THE MUSICAL contains adult language, themes and nudity and is recommended for mature audiences.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 2/9/15 at 7:49pm

That just sounds so wrong. Carrie is not a story I would want a full immersive experience with .... but the possibilities are laughably horrific.

Maybe the audience goes in the showers and gets to throw tampons on Carrie.
Maybe they get to kill the pig and drain it of blood.
Maybe they get killed by Carrie at the Prom.
Maybe somebody teaches them the amateurish choreography of Debbie Allen from the original production.

[MadAboutTheBoy]

Posted: 2/11/15 at 10:04am

From Playbill.com:

According to press notes, "La Mirada Theatre will be completely transformed into Ewen High School, putting audiences, for the first time ever, at the center of the action in this bold and thrilling twist on the now-classic musical."
Two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producers Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman (Pippin, Clybourne Park, On The Town) are working closely with Brian Kite, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and the creative team on this developmental production, aimed for major productions around the country.

Producers Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman added, "The story of Carrie has endured in the popular consciousness for decades, but no one has ever experienced it from this point of view. The idea of placing the audience in the center of this world was just too tantalizing to resist. We are working closely with the creative team to present an exciting new production of this reimagined, environmental/immersive staging of Carrie the Musical. If all goes well at La Mirada, we are planning future productions for cities around the world, probably kicking off with Las Vegas, New Orleans and Toronto. It's going to be a thrilling ride."

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/immersive-carrie-will-put-audiences-at-the-center-of-high-school-complete-casting-announced-for-l.a.-premiere-341325

It sounds to me like the immersive aspect is just the set. Perhaps the kind of immersiveness that characterized the CATS musical set?

[missthemountains]

Posted: 2/12/15 at 12:09am

Can I also say, completely unrelated to this, just how much potential was shown in the 2009 reading? Can we just talk about how awesome "In" was?
In - 2009 Reading

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/12/15 at 9:55am

I can't get past the fact that it's proudly wheelchair accessible. I keep picturing someone in said apparatus being subjected to "immersion" in the "loud music" or "smoke." I'm sure it's my innate co-dependency, but I'd tell my wheelchair-bound loved one "Please, you want interactive, wait for another sing-along SOUND OF MUSIC."

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/12/15 at 12:44pm

Good on them for trying something new with it.

[binau]

Posted: 2/12/15 at 5:04pm

"Can we just talk about how awesome "In" was? "

I actually would defend the current musical arrangement - it adds some much needed masculinity and sounds incredibly modern and relevant. The line about the boys worrying if they are seen as gay is sorely missed. However, overall the arrangement IMO is far better than the 2009 reading, which sounds too similar to the original version. When I heard them perform "In" for the first time at that MTC preview night thing, I was floored at what they had done to it (back then they even still had the gay lines if I remember correctly, so it was almost perfect). It really sounded like they had saved the show. Unfortunately, I think it peaked at "In".

Marin Mazzie also picked up her game substantially from the 2009 reading. Her performance in the 2009 reading is everything that people would worry about her casting. But in the actual revival and recording she was a ferocious belter. I feel there was some small backlash because the benchmark had been set SO high by Betty Buckley. However, now that it's been a couple of years since the off-broadway revival and there have been a few productions around, it doesn't seem like (from what I've observed or heard) that there are many who can come close to Mazzie's performance. Ripley's performance even (who was one of the early obvious choices) was quite disappointing given the state of her voice these days.

[lambchop2]

Posted: 2/12/15 at 6:21pm

Michigan State did (or attempted) an 'immersive' production of Carrie last fall. They used the smaller intimate theater which was decorated to look like a high school gym, and select audiences members got to sit in the bleachers during the prom and prom destruction scene. Presumably they died, I was too distracted by their version of Carrie's powers to notice. At certain points in the production the actors ended up in the aisles as well. They also tried to immerse the audience through technology but that flopped.

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:00am

Though I ended up growing to appreciate Mazzie's performance, I still firmly believe that lowering the keys for Margaret White was a HUGE mistake, one that makes the music between the mother and daughter half as exciting at best. Carrie and Margaret's music has always been the saving grace of the show. I know stafford was incessant on having Mazzie play the part and to have her sacrifices had to be made to the score. However; I don't think I'll ever believe that those sacrifices were worth it. Mazzie was a huge part of Stafford's vision, which is fine, but I wish his vision and her vocal accommodations weren't such a huge part of the licensing and the way the material is done now with Mazzie on the soundtrack and the show being lincensed in her keys.

The way "But the sin never dies" is sung now, will never pack the emotional punch that Buckley's did no matter how fine the actress is in the Mazzie keys. The Buckley keys lend themselves to the high stakes of the White bungalow and force both the actors and the audience into an emotional place that the Mazzie keys simply cannot.

Updated On: 2/13/15 at 01:00 AM

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 3:04pm

More info on the immersion element at La Mirada

http://playbill.com/news/article/director-says-audiences-will-root-for-carrie-till-she-kills-you-in-new-immersive-staging-342825

"At La Mirada, part of the audience will be in seating units that move throughout the piece, following the actors along. They'll also have the opportunity to get out of their seats and go to the prom. "We're hoping to dissolve the fourth wall so that the audience becomes one with the cast and characters by the end," says Schwind. Those who prefer to watch from a safe distance will also be accommodated. "To me, immersive theatre is about creating an environment in which people can choose their own adventure."

Yay, I'm ready to go to the prom and die when I see it Saturday afternoon on April 4th!

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 3/3/15 at 3:08pm

The prom bit makes me cringe. The seating units sound cool.