She's Back! CARRIE - First preview !!! - Page 28

[supportivemom]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 11:10am

bwayluvsong- My daughter and I got the impression that Molly is very nice in person. She is so beautiful up close. So she basically started working right after high school? There was a girl at my kids' high school who was cast in everything- she was the lead in three shows in a row. However, she didn't make good grades and didn't get into any college programs. She lives in LA and takes classes and has leads in many community theatre shows. She's beautiful in a very unique way and has a British accent that she can turn at any moment. I always look at the colleges that the cast has studied just out of curiosity. Anyway, Molly has an amazing voice for a drama major. by the way- how are you doing? What are you up to? You can pm me if you want!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:10pm

I understand all the reasons why she does it, but to remove these impulse killings that have no direct bearing on her circumstances cheats the audience of an added element for them to consider while they root for her.

It works quite well for Phantom of the Opera. The romanticism and sympathy for the character has always outweighed his murderous actions. Same for Quasimodo.

And killing her mother doesn't count, since in context it's self-defense. In fact, if this were her only visible "crime," she would be found innocent by a jury and released on those very grounds.

Given that Carrie's rampage is triggered by such a malicious and traumatic event, and how her vengeance is conveyed to the audience, she would be the poster child for a temporary insanity plea. The entire story builds her up to be the sympathetic monster in the tradition of characters such as the Phantom and Quasimodo. It is only Carrie's death that allows the audience to reconcile their compassion for a murderer. They never truly have to contemplate the morality of her wrath.

[Idiot]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:38pm

This thread has sort of become living testimony as to what happens when you talk about a fairly simple story in depth for too long. This is what probably happened with development of the show itself. Eventually, everybody starts taking a fun horror story too seriously.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:40pm

I think the problem is the reverse, actually. The novel was always this complex. It's the film that somewhat reduced it to a fun horror story. The musical is trying to balance the two, hence the discussion.

[Idiot]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:44pm

I'm not saying the discussion is 'wrong', MM. I'm making an observation. Fans of the current version of the show are bound to disagree with me.

I read CARRIE when I was young and didn't find it particularly complex. I have not read it as an adult, though.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:45pm

This thread has sort of become living testimony as to what happens when you talk about a fairly simple story in depth for too long. This is what probably happened with development of the show itself. Eventually, everybody starts taking a fun horror story too seriously.

Gee, I'm so sorry we ruined the "simple story" for you.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:45pm

I agree, Matt. I just started reading the book. After only 22 pages, I've learned so much more than I knew from the film, and of course from the show.

[Idiot]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:49pm

No, best12, the only thing you've ruined is my formerly warm opinion of you.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:53pm

Idiot - Revisit the novel. I still find it King's most efficient and effective works of writing. I don't have a problem with his huge epic novels or anything, but his work on Carrie was so concise, there is nothing to pad the material, yet it is rich in characterization and psychology. It's not a simple story at all.

Honestly, it is so refreshing to have such an in-depth discussion and logical debate regarding a musical that isn't Follies. And I think if Carrie were so simple a story and dismissed as nothing but a standard camp horror flick, none of this discussion would even be taking place.

Jane - I'm actually excited for you to be reading it for the first time! I think I'll pick it up again. I've read it so many times, but I never tire of it.

Updated On: 2/9/12 at 02:53 PM

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:55pm

Yep- she went to NYU- Cap 21 for a semester but left to do August: Osage County and has been consistently getting work since.
I'm well! I'll pm you when I have time to write a lot.

[Idiot]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:56pm

"Honestly, it is so refreshing to have such an in-depth discussion and logical debate regarding a musical that isn't Follies."

This made me laugh out loud. I hear ya'.

I'm such a horror fan. I've just always thought of King's horror stories as very straightforward with a couple of exceptions (i.e. THE STAND).

I think I just might re-read the novel. Should be fun.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 3:01pm

"Honestly, it is so refreshing to have such an in-depth discussion and logical debate regarding a musical that isn't Follies."

What I love most about this board and in real life too, is having an in-depth discussion of any art.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 3:06pm

" I've just always thought of King's horror stories as very straightforward with a couple of exceptions (i.e. THE STAND)."

I think THE STAND is one of, if not the, best book I've read. Granted, I read it in the 80's but I'll never forget how totally I was transformed out of real life and into the book. Couldn't put it down.

Then the disappointment with what they did with it on tv.

I'm glad I missed the tv version of Carrie.

[a-mad]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 4:19pm

I just re-watched some of the film over the last couple of days. I hadn't seen the entire film in many, many years.

A few very random observations:

I had completely forgotten that Edie McClurg was one of the cruel teenagers! Man, what a perfect role for her. DePalma truly nailed the quirkiness of the different high school students. None of them can be fit into a specific stereotype. Even lesser characters like Norma that don't have alot of screen time still resonate as interesting, unpredictable individuals... this is what makes the climax all the more terrifying.

I can't believe that just 10 short years later Edie McClurg was starring as Grace, Jeffrey Jones' assistant in Ferris Bueller! Wow...

A couple other notes - I learned on Wikipedia that DePalma originally wanted Spacek to play Chris. Spacek is such a great actress she would have made it work - but could you imagine anyone else but Spacek as Carrie and Allen as Chris?

Another interesting fact - DePalma ended up marrying Nancy Allen, who would go on to star in many of his future films (including Blow Out).

Sorry to veer the discussion away from the musical... but this thread has had so many different subjects I don't really feel guilty about it.

Updated On: 2/9/12 at 04:19 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 4:37pm

To me, Edie McClurg will forever be Lucille Tarlek on WKRP in Cincinnati. That is when I first fell in love with the woman. I can still hear the signature way she chirps, "Herb..."

Updated On: 2/9/12 at 04:37 PM

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 10:35pm

Yes, I also read the Stephen King novel AFTER I discovered CARRIE the musical and was curious. I was so surprised to see that the novel has Carrie asking, "Jesus watches from the wall/But his face is stone as cold/If he loves me/Why do I feel so all alone?"

I love the way the writers took this and made it into a song!

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 10:36pm

By the way, have you all seen this:

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/molly-ranson/

[Here I Am]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 12:52am

LOVE Carrie! Saw it twice already... but why the new ending??! SO disappointing...

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 1:36am

In regards to "The World According to Chris," I think part of the reason it's landing with such a thud is because of Jeanna de Waal's cartoonish delivery of it. It was a much more dynamic number when sung by Diana DeGarmo in the 2009 reading, where the whole song had a much grittier feel.

Also, while I absolutely love Molly Ranson, I really wish the musical director would get on her about some of her enunciation during the title number. I understand that an open vowel is particularly difficult to sing on a high note, but Ranson consistently sings "Cah-ree" instead of "Care-ee" over and over throughout the song, as if she's using a British dialect. If this is a technique to make it easier to sing (which I imagine it is,) she needs to be doing it a little less emphatically, like singing "Cahr-ee" instead and looping the "r" sound in tonally. What's happening is that same sort of affected dialect is carrying over when she sing other repetitive words too, like "hear" (which she sings like "hee-uh") and hurt (which she sings like "huh-t.") Incredibly nitpicky, I know, but it stood out given that the lyrics repeat the same phrases so many times.

In their refining during the preview process, as others have said, I hope the creative team gives Margaret some of her grit back. Carrie's telekinesis is escalated equally by the abuse she suffers at school and the abuse she suffers at home, and you hardly see any of the latter. Marin Mazzie has been directed to characterize Margaret so meekly that, when she is begging Carrie not to go to the prom and Carrie fights back, you feel sorry for Margaret, who seems to be showing genuine concern for what you know is inevitable. It completely removes the sympathy from Carrie, who should be quite literally owning her power in the face of someone who has caused her unspeakable harm. I am sad to say that, as it stands now, she comes off merely as a snotty brat pushing around a mother who is clearly mentally ill. Perhaps I'm alone, but I found it unsettling (in the wrong way.)

Updated On: 2/10/12 at 01:36 AM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 4:36am

double post

Updated On: 2/10/12 at 04:36 AM

[whatacharacter]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 6:06am

What new ending????

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 9:36am

Little interview with Betty Buckley in the new Entertainment Weekly chronicling her history with CARRIE.

She says that Pitchford and Gore offered her the role initially in 1987 but they couldn't come to financial terms; then it was offered to her again when Cook jumped ship after Stratford.

At the end of the article, she concedes she wishes she was in this production....

I kind of wish she was too!

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 9:56am

I suppose it's biologically possible for Margaret to have been pushing 50 when she had Carrie, but still ...

Updated On: 2/10/12 at 09:56 AM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 10:00am

I would love to see her do this again

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 10:01am

Hey if Ethel Merman could still play Annie Oakley at 60 and if Jennifer Holiday can STILL play Effie White at 52, I don't see why Betty can't bring back the crazy as Maggie White...