She's Back! CARRIE - First preview !!! — Page 7

It's certainly what this board has done to people.

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I'm waiting a few weeks until they sort everything out, but it's nice to read people's opinions here.

Does anyone remember several years back when there was a play version of Carrie at P.S. 122 with drag queen Sherry Vine in the title role? Camp is what makes this work people.

I don't really have distaste for the show. I just have the experience with seeing it. I don't think it can work as a musical. I have also discussed this with Auggie, who argues strongly that it certainly could work as a musical, and though he made his points well, I just can't see it.

The aforementioned Ryan Landry produced an unauthorized non-musical a few years back called "sCarrie," (get it? Stephen King knew about it but looked the other way) and it had laughs as well as chills. I would understand if the creators of the musical are laugh-shy after their previous experience, but it's kind of hard to produce a thriller in a live show, audiences WILL laugh, out of nervousness, after having been "fooled" by a scare or an effect. That's natural.

I believe someone, somewhere could put a scary Carrie onstage, I just don't think it's ever going to be Carrie The Musical.

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My fav comment so far was about the carny folk and the knife throwing.

I was there tonight (did anyone see me? I was the only male usher)

I have mixed feelings about the show...

Bad
-No Blood
-I may be one of few, but I still think the original "In" is the best one
-Marin's transition into Eve was Weak was non existent, and she was "screaming"/"talking roughly" (lack of better phrase) through most of it.
-The Prom Scene doesn't have enough kids and it looks silly.
-There are some really cheap lines in there. (Norma's crush on the teacher is an example)
-I felt like the ending was WAY too rushed and left a lot out. I want to say she was crowned, killed everyone and was killed in about 5 minutes.
-The destruction shouldn't be choreographed it should be dare I say messy. Having everyone do the same thing doesn't work.
-A lot would have been hard to follow if I didn't know the story before hand. It's missing a lot of exposition.
-We don't see or even know if anything happens to Chris
-The character of Chris is too overdone. She doesn't need to be overly developed. And this whole punk rock thing that they're making her into is unnecessary. I see people characterize teenagers like that too often. She doesn't have to be a motorcycle riding bad ass. The character is way too typical in this production. She can still be the most popular girl without all that, and she has been. The punk rock thing doesn't define this generation. It's just one of the easier stereotypes to draw from.

Good
-Molly was great though her singing was a bit off in places.
-Even though I wanted the blood, I thought the lighting in the destruction was very cool. I didn't like the idea, but I appreciated the execution.
-I actually liked Tommy
-I liked JeAnna's singing.
-I think You Shine works, it's just too long. I like the idea of Tommy taking Sue to the gym beforehand though.
-The moment Molly walks out in the pink dress all done up is heartbreaking. Something about the way she did it, made me seriously tear up because I knew what was coming.
-This production really made me think about bullying more so than the two films. In the films, I felt bad for Carrie and I was scared. In the musical I saw tonight I walked away thinking about the effects that bullying has on people. I think that's what good theatre does. It made me think about the issue as a whole, and question my role in it. I know from some of Strattford's interviews that he wanted to highlight a message like that, and I think he succeeded.

Other things
-Essentially all of Ms. Gardner's scenes are verbatim from the movie.
-This production really shows that Margaret loves Carrie and it also shows her desperation to do what she thinks is best for her daughter.
-I know a lot of people said that Sue's motivation to give up prom, and her boyfriend seems somewhat unjustified, I think that it comes across well in this production. I would have liked to have seen Sue overhear Carrie's conversation with Ms. Gardner before Unsuspecting Hearts, I feel like that would have justified it even more. Small staging thing, but it could add a lot to the story.
-I thought the second act was incredible, until there was no blood which took away from how good the rest of it was. There was a constant build and I actually had a feeling coming up in my chest, and I was waiting for that moment to I guess in a way purge it. It didn't happen which left me unfulfilled. They did such a good job at rising the action from intermission on and then it fell flat. Very disappointing!
-I hope no one ever misses the show because there are no swings so if an understudy has to go on, there'll be even less people in the prom scene... Yikes!
-I got a lot of information about Sue. I connected with Carrie, but it was nice to be more involved with another character and see it from that perspective.
-The slaps REALLY need to be worked on. Gosh there are SO many in this show, I never realized. Sadly they were all off. Then again it was first preview so it wasn't a huge deal.
-The set design is an incredible idea, but they need to go further with it. I like the idea of having it in the burned down gym.

I have a friend working on this show, and he said they don't do the blood because they don't want to clean it up every night. I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough at that!

Updated On: 2/1/12 at 12:57 AM

-I hope no one ever misses the show because there are no swings so if an understudy has to go on, there'll be even less people in the prom scene... Yikes!

Ouch.

I have a friend working on this show, and he said they don't do the blood because they don't want to clean it up every night. I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough at that!

Please, we are asking for ONE bucket. Evil Dead at NWS used gallons and even threw it at the audience! And, yes, they managed to clean it every night to get the result they wanted.

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If they were smart they'd have the first row called the "splatter zone". Seriously, people aren't going to CARRIE to be charmed or see a nice little musical. They're not taking advantage of a small space at all it seems like. Especially for a a"horror musical", a small space is a God send! Think of all the atmospheric things you can do to reach every person in that audience and scare the shlt out of them. From the sounds of this, they really just screwed the pooch on what people have been waiting 24 years for.

Play Dead! Man, just IMAGINE what they could do with this if Teller was asked to work on it.

If only William Castle were still alive...

Thanks for the snaps Fame.

I still want to see the following ads:

CARRIE WHITE BURNS IN HELL
Nightly. At the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

HERE, PIGGY PIGGY PIGGY
Carrie: The Musical

You're right, Jordan. To clarify, I also want to see the show that those ads represent. (So does most of its built in audience, I'd think.)

RECENTLY MENSTRUAL AND MAD: THE MUSICAL has a very different audience.

Why don't they use a double for the scene with the blood? With fantastic , special lighting, and the transition/switch back to the real Carrie with a dress that is pre-stained red (the wet look, you know) would work and let the body double stand in a plastic swimming pool-like thing that could be masked by the prom decorations. Heck, I'd would rather see red silly string pouring from the ceiling and cover her up...then we would get a blood AND guts effect (LOL!)...I want blood...Why I saw a young guy do "Singing in the Rain" on Britain's Got Talent on a very simple,small circular slab, with rain pouring down on him and the rain (heavy, too) did not even escape that fixed area...he was soaked so it was no optical illusion...So doable and use the red lights to intensify the effects...