Carrie Sept 20th? — Page 2

I think "The Destruction" scene could be pulled off very well in the hands of a capable director. The first thing to do would be to douse Carrie from the rafters instead of having Chris and Billy run on and dump a bucket on her. They could include the part from the book where the teacher attempts to help Carrie, only to be thrown to the floor by Carrie's powers. Then you could fly Carrie so that she hovers menacingly over the proscenium while at the same time strobe lights are on going off on stage to create the illusion that people and objects are being thrown about, along with various pyrotechnic explosions.

After a minute or two of that, there could then be blackout with screaming or something to indicate that all promgoers were killed. Then the final scene could commence in the White residence instead of on that awful giant staircase.

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Updated On: 9/9/08 at 06:39 PM

Several good ideas for the destruction scene came up in this thread, and some combo of the three is worth it.

First of all, are any of Carrie's lines in the scene really necessary? I mean, think about it, she's already a fish out of water who's become the geeky-girl-turned-prom-queen of so many teenage movies (witness "Not Another Teen Movie" to prove my point). Why would she want to say anything? "If it's just a dream, I don't wanna wake up!" is the catchphrase here. Maybe some voice-overs, however cheesy that sounds in theatre when it works so much better in film, if she has thoughts that REALLY need to be expressed. So no mic hooked on at that time, and therefore no risk, as would have been inherent with Linzi in the original run. Having eliminated that, we move on to the blood itself.

Okay, someone running on stage with cherry ice cream topping and dumping it on her head is out like Sebastian Bach's theatre career. Dousing her from the rafters is key, and since there's no way for the liquid to interfere with any wiring because she's not wearing a mic, it's all set. No problems there, aside from potential lack of visibility, and even that can be fixed by including the gym teacher trying to help her, and maybe getting a little out of the actress' field of vision before the teacher is "pushed away by Carrie's telekinesis".

The need for a more realistic destruction scene than Carrie's laser delirium is immediately apparent. Strobe lights were suggested to convey the feeling that people and objects are being thrown about, but a) strobes look too close to lasers to completely live the previous staging down, and b) any way you try to stage that would be unrealistic. Putting the actors on wires and flinging them about would not only look silly, but one glitch in the programming or rigging could spell disaster in any proscenium theatre.

That's why I say the sequence of events fall like this:

1. Blood dump
2. Teacher tries to help Carrie, is thrown back (entirely different hurdle introduced if we can't fly her)
3. Carrie reflects for a moment (i.e. "They're all gonna laugh at you!" bit in the film when she goes crazy-eyed and silent)
4. I-beams go off, rigged to allow drop
5. Pieces of the walls blow away, with accompanying pyro effects
6. Disco ball "drops" into crowd
7. Black-out with screams, and Carrie in a pin spot smiling with a demented look in her eye

Exact blocking during the scene is someone else's forte, but the way I see it, this is the easiest way to work it out without introducing anything more embarrassing or overdoing it. And even then there are still holes in it.

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James885, it is not an opinion that the staging of the destruction sucks, it is a fact

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Just a bit to add. .

For anyone who was worried about the actors slipping in on-stage blood.. they could just keep Carrie on a slightly elevated platform with a border around it (she's supposed to be on stage anyway). . to keep the blood from the stage. Carrie doesn't need to leave the platform at all. . she is telekinetic

Pre-record the few line she sings during that scene and remove her mic right before the dump.

It wouldn't be that difficult.

With the advances in technology to allow actors to get wet while wearing mics, I'm *Sure* someone could come up with something for a blood drop.

And the shower is a bit different than one set amount that falls. It's not like it rains blood, it falls. And, if it gets on people other than Carrie, fine! It does in both movies.

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So say Carrie does come back...who should play her? Nevermind I'm sure it's already been discussed....

Let me go search....

I'd like to see an unknown play her. Actually I saw a girl in "bare" in Sacramento who'd be a FANTASTIC Carrie.

May I be the first to say that I would die if they got Linzi Hateley to come back as Margaret White? Cause I would.

That said, is there an actress who can sing the score and be as terrifying/brilliant as Betty Buckley? One that's a bankable name?

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The original idea for the Destruction (before the RSC became attached along with Kutz) was very different.

The music was pretty much the same but the back wall was going to be a gymnasium wall with 2 sets of doors that would slam shut.Carrie would stay on a platform (it wasn't a raise it was an actual podium) and fire grids were going to be used along the front of the stage and behind her, Tables were going flip and blocks would fall from the roof (im going to guess they were foam unless they wanted to kill the cast each night lol).

The ending also did not end on a staircase.

Trevor Nunn thought the only way the show would work is to do it as a morality story, a Greek tradgedy almost, that why we ended up with the very basic staging etc.This is a move he now regrets and wishes they had gone all out with the show (interestingly Debbie Allen always thought the show should be set against a real american small town backdrop)

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"That said, is there an actress who can sing the score and be as terrifying/brilliant as Betty Buckley? One that's a bankable name?"

I don't know about bankable but I'm thinking Alice Ripley.

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If they do the show again (which unless the writers are totally brain dead will) i would only want to see betty back in that role

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My idea of the destruction was rather simple and was actually inspired by an element in the original set design (though not from the destruction sequence) and a moment in the Tommy prologue (paratrooper sequence). Remember in Out For Blood (which desperately needs to be replaced with a book scene), the moment when the stage split open? For the destruction, I visualized most of what has been said: blood dump, doors slam shut, fire, pyrotechnics, lighting, etc. But if the stage were built so it split open down the center with lighting and fog within, and the left and right stage pieces began to lift and tilt towards the center with the actors safely choreographed to slide into the traps below. Sort of Mouth-of-Hell imagery swallowing the victims. Something along those lines, anyway.

I am definitely a Carrie enthusiast. I love most of the score. I think In is a great opening number, though the lyrics could be cleaned up. The melody really does fit the scene and the characters perfectly: high school girls doing calisthenics in a PE class with their coach barking orders at them while worrying about their status in the social heirarchy. It may be cheesy, but it's not unrealistic. Not then and not now in an age where teen and tween girls are beating each other unconscious to film a YouTube video. That's what makes Carrie such a classic story. It has always remained relevent.

Don't Waste the Moon is a decent scene (raging hormones), but not a good song. Could be replaced. I'm Not Alone is the other number than needs work. Like most of the show, it needs to be completely restaged, but for me, it just doesn't work. Is the song about her powers (as it is staged)? Or about her newfound friendship with Tommy? The latter makes more sense dramatically and should be staged as such. It's a strong song, but it completely stopped the action. Put a new spin on the lyrics and it drives the story forward.

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