Carrie Destruction- Page 2

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 4:22pm

Don’t you know that in this joint, you can never say the name YOUTUBE?! I mean…Charles Kringas.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 4:26pm

/ EL OH EL

And I ain't mad. I was just curious why people do it.

As for the video, I thought it looked pretty good with the blood projections.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 4:27pm

Using blood may be cheaper, but it's certainly not easier. It would get everywhere, including possibly on the audience. All the kids prom attire would be coated, not to mention the floor. So when Carrie returns home her house would already be covered in blood. It wouldnt work.

Did you get a chance to see Evil Dead at NWS? They certainly used more than a bucket. Even if the purpose was different, it can certainly work if staged by someone who has worked with liquids onstage before. Heck, if they did it in the 80's...

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 4:36pm

I had an idea about the destruction: There should be a mic cap that covers her mic when they put the crown on her. She should then be hit with water and red lights simultaneously to create the effect. When she crouches down all she has to do is cover her face like Sissy Spacek did in the movie and remove the mic cover to begin singing. It should all happen further upstage so that the water won't become a problem.

Updated On: 3/5/12 at 04:36 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 4:48pm

The bucket of blood is actually tricky, but not an impossible effect. If the performer was placed backstage exactly where the liquid can be drained as it falls and cleaned right after, it is not the end of the world.

The scene itself has the easiest set up to be done onstage - a single bucket of liquid falling on a single person that is located on a specific spot - truly a lot of the work is done for them. We are not talking about a 12 bucket war being spilled around the set by the whole cast.

As I said before, they just couldn't be bothered by using stage blood or simply didn't want to. I am shocked that anyone thought that animated projections were a better idea.

I see they use still images projected throughout the show, do they use animated ones anywhere else?

Updated On: 3/5/12 at 04:48 PM

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 4:57pm

This might sound silly, but my biggest gripe with the scene is that her crown is still on for the entire scene. There is no way that crown wouldn't have been knocked off with the force of the blood hitting her head. When I saw it, that's what kept me from letting my imagination give into the projections. It seems small, but it's the little things that make all the difference sometimes.

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 5:05pm

I actually thought they pulled off the Destruction. I was surprised how effective it was.

What surprised me is Arima didn't isolate what happened to individual characters. Was Tommy and Miss Gardner killed? Did Chris and Billy get their just deserts? I'm sure the answers are yes (except for Miss Gardner, she was killed in the film bu survived in the book so who knows in this version of the play) but I would have liked to have seen this happen.

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 5:12pm

Gardner's death stuck out to me the most, she hits the floor and is being dragged, and then disappears. Tommy dies like everyone else, as you can see the bucket doesn't strike his head. Chris and Billy walk off stage in nobody's character.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 5:15pm

"Did you get a chance to see Evil Dead at NWS?They certainly used more than a bucket.

Yes but with Evil Dead, the first four rows of patrons were covered in the fake blood. For those who wanted them, plastic ponchos were provided. However, there were lots of young people who wanted to be covered in the blood, so they turned down the ponchos.

Even more difficult was cleaning up the large pools of blood on the floor, the trouble in covering every single seat (in four rows) with individual plastic covers, which had to be collected each night, and replaced with a fresh one.

You can only imagine the work that the ushers had during this run!

But the show was so good that no one minded.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 5:22pm

My point with bringing up Evil Dead is that the blood effect can be done if needed. A single bucket of blood on a performer all the way up stage wouldn't need to cover the first few rows with plastic.

Yes, I know the ushers had some cleaning to do (believe me, I do...) - but the result was worth it. It never came off as lazy or inconvenient.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 5:30pm

I see they use still images projected throughout the show, do they use animated ones anywhere else?

Yes, actually. When Carrie first demonstrates her powers to her mother, the shutters that she slams shut are animated projections.

I thought the destruction worked well enough. Because they had used the projections throughout, it fit, and the red light they bathed the stage in really made it look as if everything was covered in blood - of course, with some imagination.

I'd be really interested to see what a company with a much larger budget could do with that scene - in fact, it's one thing my friends and I said as we left. However, what we saw onstage at MCC worked.

I went in with the knowledge that the purpose of the production wasn't the effects or the visuals; it was the text and the story. That's clearly where they were spending their money and efforts. I expected that and understood that, and maybe that's why I was more willing to suspend my disbelief for the destruction scene.

[sassylash3s]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 5:56pm

While I tended to agree with the criticisms of this production, I thought the destruction was well-done. I think this is definitely a case of "Bootlegs can't capture the effect of live theater."

As I recall from when I saw it a few weeks ago, the production used projections throughout, but they tended to be minimalistic suggestions of location (the outlines of lockers for a school hallway, some windows for the White home, etc.) rather than full-on depiction of scenery.

On the other hand, the destruction projections were quite vivid in color and detail, which (For me, at least. I'll confess to being easily impressed) created a striking, dramatic moment that was completely unexpected.

[Idiot]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 6:08pm

Much to my surprise and despite vehement reservations, the blood drop projection is kinda great.

I still need there to be blood ON her in that scene for some reason - a combination of actual blood and the other visuals would be intense - but the projections are very well done.

I do agree with the other posters here who want to see characters singled out during the remainder of the destruction. Not sure why they chose not to do that.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 6:38pm

Surprisingly, the effect of the blood looks pretty great to me, but the timing and focus of the scene are largely driven by the music, which just isn't very good here.

It's underwritten (and pretty trivial), so I don't think there's a lot you can do with it unless it's expanded and focused to build. I like the idea of featuring individual characters. But I wish the score was better. I also think the moments after the blood is spilled should be very private and almost silent. Then bring the music crashing in. But it all happens so quickly here, there's no time for any impact. It just sort of washes over you (pun intended), like it's in a hurry.

[Jamesilsley]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 6:43pm

EXACTLY. There needs to be a very uncomfortable silence where we see her sopping wet. Let her process the humiliation. Let the kids go "Omg" THEN let it unfold.

[binau]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 6:43pm

I miss when Carrie sings "They will burn you" in the destruction....the melody is memorable cause of EVE WAS WEAK, it has nice puns and obvious parallels to her crazy mother..

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 7:16pm

I'm still not crazy about the projection concept, but agree with best12 and others who say that the real issue is that the scene lacks focus and seems incredibly rushed-- I mean if you weren't familiar with the source material would you have any idea what's going on? Without the specificity the same scene has in the book and film versions it's just a "wash"

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 7:29pm

I dont see how you could not know what is going on, you know they are gonna drop pigs blood on her from earlier in the show and its quite clear she has powers throughout the show and its pretty evident that she burns the gym down and kills them.

I agree that it would be good for it to be longer and to show the leads deaths, but i think this stands head and shoulders above the Broadway Destruction (not a laser light in sight lol)

Also i have to disagree with the music, i adore the music in this scene, and i always thought if they changed the music from the Broadway Destruction i would be crushed, but i really like this. The sound effects throughout the destruction are great as well.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 7:52pm

But really, you don't need to defend the production in every post. It must be draining.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 8:15pm

Looks like no cast album here.

[CatsCarrieandOz]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 8:19pm

Chris doesn't just walk off the stage. Obviously, as you can see even in this video, while they are all being controlled by Carrie. Carrie forces Chris to Break her own neck.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 8:21pm

YeA, she's needs blood on her for that scene. Put her on a grate so the blood just drops into that.

If she were covered in the blood, then the pause before the destruction would work, but without the blood, the pause would mean nothing. She's would just be standing there acting like she was covered in blood. Not very threatening...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 8:42pm

I also really miss the "he will burn you" part of the destruction. I hate that they cut it. You can't say that it's due to the camp factor. Even without the lasers and pyrotechnics the scene is still pretty campy even as staged in this production with the illustrated bucket projection and the slow mo choreography. It still looks high camp to me.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 8:50pm

'blaxx' I said what i liked and what i thought i wish they would have done, it aint defending it's simply stating i like the Destruction but wish we could have had it longer and showing individual deaths.

Cats i also miss 'The he will burn you' moment

[Kad]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 9:30pm

I'm all for projections in some cases. They can be used to remarkable effect (such as Georges' sketches coming to life in the revival of Sunday in the Park). But sometimes... you need the magic of an actually executed stage effect. There's something awesome about seeing something impossible physically happening on stage.

I would say that something like Carrie using her powers to close the shutters is something far more effective if it's actually happening (and it's not like that's some crazy difficult or expensive trick).

But the blood drop... I don't know. There is a lot of difficulty of having something like that happen in such a small space. Liquid being dumped is something that has happened before on stage, so I doubt that mics are really the issue (I mean, Wedding Singer aped Flashdance, it has rained on stage in several productions, Metamorphoses had a friggin' pool, though the actors were probably not miced for that production). I think it's really an issue of cleanup and timing, for this production. In a larger production, the blood-soaked set piece could be wheeled off.

This would also be a bitch from a costuming standpoint.