I saw the show yesterday and thought I would chime in with a report.
The place was reasonably full, but not a sell-out. I don’t know how much of the creative team was in attendance, but I saw Stafford Arima and Dean Pitchford. I also happened to spot Pitchford getting some feedback from Stephen Schwartz during the intermission.
So, as for the show itself. Here’s my preview review:
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I’m not new to Carrie. Is anybody anymore? I read the book twice in high school, and I’ve seen the movie probably half a dozen times. I’ll even watch the barely-related 90’s sequel when there’s nothing else on. I’ve been listening to the Broadway soundboard for five or so years with a regularity that might actually border on obsession. It’s not the best version of Stephen King’s story, and it’s certainly not the most competent, but it is also my favorite for all its ambition and wildness.
Maybe all of this makes me a poor judge of Stafford Arima’s production, but I was certainly looking forward to being surprised by his approach, and I was really hoping for the best. Arima wanted to make the story contemporary. I graduated from high school just half a decade ago, and an update didn’t seem like a bad idea to me. Arima wanted to make the relationships realistic, and I’m always for approaching extreme material with sincerity.
The show opens with a device from King’s book: Sue Snell is questioned by the police following the events of The Destruction. Not a bad place to start, especially for anyone in the audience who (amazingly) might not know what has happened. In theory, I suppose, this creates a tension and a sense of building dread. But the device continues throughout the show, and it eventually fails to justify its existence because we don’t learn anything through it. By the second act, it seems pretentious. I also have to wonder why the police seem so angry in their pre-recorded dialogue, or why one of them sounds authoritatively British. This device might have worked better if the director had a couple of ensemble members speak for the police from the shadows; the pre-recorded dialogue is very awkward.
From here, we go to the opening number, which is, as in the original Broadway production, “In.” I thought that this was a pretty terrific number, especially compared to the show’s other “teenage” songs. It really establishes the endlessness and over-the-top magnification of everything in high school. I think that it is a little more ridiculous than it intends to be (in context of the dead-seriousness of everything to follow), but that totally works for the material and matches the tone of the book and film. The song also works much better than the original version, and the lyrics are notably improved (even since the 2009 workshop). Great harmonies, too.
In fact, most of Act 1’s first half runs quite well. It feels pretty rooted in what Stephen King wrote, and it mostly works. The new lyrics on existing songs clarify the original, and there is some clever staging. I loved the ensemble singing along to “Open Your Heart” as if on a religious radio station, which was the song’s original intention.
But then, as Carrie tells her mother about her period, and the show theoretically crosses over into the real domain of Stephen King, the production first shows some major cracks. Arima seems terrified of allowing the audience to have any reaction to Margaret. Any line that might have gotten a laugh or a shudder has been cut since the 2009 workshop. This doesn’t just go for Margaret’s first scene, it goes for the entire show. “And Eve Was Weak” is directed to be underperformed, which is not just a tepid little disappointment, but a real failure as a creative choice. The static staging creates a huge dissonance with the song’s darkness and musical build that doesn’t make ANY sense. This remains one of the show’s central problems.
Much of the rest of the act focuses on the teenagers. Some of the new musical material is, frankly, atrocious. “The World According to Chris” is one of the worst numbers that I have seen in a musical, and it tells us nothing. Here, Chris is portrayed as something of a punk girl, which is a clichéd choice that, again, makes absolutely no sense. She’s meant to be a popular “mean girl.” If the director wants to make this a contemporary story about bullying, then he should recognize that bullying really starts with conformity. Any actual young person today who has been bullied would recognize this, but the creative team’s idea of “updating” the material usually amounts to tossing in more profanity.
The saving grace of this section of the show is Carrie’s developing telekinesis. There are some small, nicely done effects. I have no idea how they achieved a scene in which Carrie lifts a tiny figure of Mary without any visible wire. She also moves chairs around the stage (magnets?), which is very effective. There is a lot more life in these small moments than in the high school musical numbers, which are either static or do their best to emulate Spring Awakening.
Things really bounce back when Carrie is invited to the prom, and Marin lets loose for a moment with “I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance.” This number is probably the highlight of the production, and the moment after it finishes, as the lights begin to dim, features an effective little piece of direction. I wish that I could have occasion to use that phrase again.
I won’t bother with being so thorough about the second act. The problems are the same as with the first. Margaret barely registers and her scenes are rushed through, despite some terrific singing from Mazzie. There are a few moments of intentional humor with the teenagers, and I wish that there were more. A horror story needs some release time, but I suppose that since this is no longer a horror story, it is no longer allowed to be funny either.
I should take a moment to say that, despite all of our speculation and worry on this board, The Destruction is one of the highlights of the show. Yes, I would like to be pushed a little more, and I would like it to take a little longer, and I would like some individual "punishment" of her tormentors, but it does work. It is genuinely exciting, which came as a huge surprise at that point in the production. The lack of blood is fine: the projections, sound, and lighting actually do the job pretty well. Maybe I was just happy to see a moment that remotely resembled the tone of the original story, but I enjoyed the hell out of it while it lasted. Some more practical effects like the ones we saw in the first act might have been nice, but I did not feel cheated as an audience member for that scene.
The following scene, however, is nothing short of preposterous in its incompetence. There is NO precedent for Margaret’s knife to come out. Nothing has prepared us for that moment, because this production refuses to acknowledge that Margaret is a disturbed woman. Of course, Margaret can be an extreme character and feel real, because the world is full of religious fanatics who are both ridiculous and frightening. Shirley Phelps, anyone? But no, here, Margaret has been a slightly concerned mom up until now. Ranson is heartbreaking in her last scene, as she is throughout, and Mazzie is still doing her best with what she has been given to do. But the scene earns sn*s. And I do mean “earns.”
I haven’t even mentioned the closing number, in which the entire cast invades Margaret’s living room and sings about how once you “See” Carrie, you can’t “Un-See” her. Margaret casually gets up to join them, and in this final moment, the show feels like an SNL parody of what a Carrie musical might be like. Which just goes to show that you can’t keep all of the camp out of this story. Why not use the story’s extreme nature and inherent humor to your advantage, like the film so smartly does?
I’ve pointed out places where the writing is weak, and yes, it probably always will be problematic in spots. But I don’t think that the writing is what's really holding this production back. Likewise, the performances (with the exception of Chris) are pretty terrific. Molly Ranson gives the show a center that, at times, makes the whole thing come frustratingly close to working. Mazzie shows so much potential, and I know that she could create a memorable, frightening, entertaining, and moving performance if she were given the chance. The ensemble has some real talent and personality. I may pine for the outsize weirdness of the original production, but the technical elements are often strong…especially for such a small production.
The real problem with this production is the cowardly direction by Stafford Arima, who has steered the show’s revision for several years. I have never called someone an artistic coward before, internet anonymity or not, but his work here cannot honestly be described any other way. I appreciate his supposed passion for the project, but it does not show for a moment. He seems ashamed of the story. He seems embarrassed by it. He seems to want to turn it into an episode of Degrassi High.
And that is not Carrie.
The efforts of the company cannot overcome Arima’s disastrous handling of the material, his banishment of every memorable story element, his largely flat staging, and his utter dearth of imagination. I do realize just how harsh and mean this sounds. I don’t say this lightly about a working artist. But there are countless other directors who would love to work with this material. We know that the writing team refused many of them before settling Arima. And yet, this director seems to have active contempt for the real essence of Carrie, and his interests and abilities seem better suited to daytime soap operas. I don’t know why he decided to touch this show.
I am glad to have seen some semblance of this legendary show, and I enjoyed some moments of it. I am just disappointed that this is where it landed after twenty-four years.
Updated On: 2/5/12 at 07:10 PM
