She's Back! CARRIE - First preview !!! - Page 8
She's Back! CARRIE - First preview !!!
#175Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 5:14amWhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel (what a name) basically reviewed the show I was hoping this would never become. Hrmm. Well I guess there's time for improvement.
#176Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 6:38amSorry to hear it's not living up to everyone's expectations. Perhaps they were too high for this "sow's ear" to begin with. Still, it sounds like they could have done more and didn't.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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#177Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 7:39am
To answeran earlier post questioning whether this production fixed the problems with the book and score- I would say to a certain degree- they do. I would say that the piece on paper is now perfectly respectable, though I would never say any of it is great - I blame most of the problems in this production on the creative team-- Carrie needs a visionary director to make it exciting; if anything, after being burned by the original's surrealistic take onthe material, they have gone too farthe other way and are trying now to give us something too realistic.
People came away from the original feeling like the mother daughter material was thrilling but in this production even that now just feels conventional.
So while on paper the script and score are no longer embarrassing they also never excite- So is that truly fixing anything? Or is at its heart Carrie really a directors magic show?
Updated On: 2/1/12 at 07:39 AM
#178Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 8:03am
I do agree with many of you that striking the right tone is so important. I don't believe you get that "on paper" either.
DePalma did it perfectly in the film, still my favorite screen adaptation of any of King's horror works.
It manages to be deadly serious, campy, sad, and trivial, all at the same time.
The thing that ultimately makes "Carrie" work is if it evokes conflicting emotions in the audience during the climax of the blood spilling down. Do you both "laugh at" and "feel sorry for" her when it happens? Is this a "monumental event" or "a dismissible prank?" In the DePalma movie, that was definitely the case. It was funny AND horrifying. It was trivial and monumental. It was the fantasy of her prom and reality of her life colliding.
All of it happening when the bucket spills.
I think that's why the movie and the book worked so well. In the end, they show us, the audience, that we are capable of feeling those emotions simultaneously about Carrie and her "predicament." If the direction, the cast, and the writing can get us to that point, it succeeds beautifully.
If all we do is laugh at her, or feel disinterested, or if we just feel sorry for her, or we're genuinely horrified (only) by this spiteful act, then it failed. We have to feel all those things at once.
The real "horror" in "Carrie" lies within us, when we realize we have just a bit of this monster inside us ourselves.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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Updated On: 2/1/12 at 08:03 AM
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#179Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 8:43am
To clarify about the camp aspect of the show- I did not go in expecting all the camp to still be there. I knew those songs/moments were cut. What I was expecting in place of the camp was something equally as thrilling that could have gone the way of brilliance or camp.
Camp in its purest form is always unintentional and often results when great risks are taken that don't work. The original Carrie is a great example of that. Debbie Allen and others took huge risks and they turned into camp.
If this current creative team had "included" the camp it would only be a parody of the camp and not actual camp itself. I wanted them to say, the previous fantastic take on the material didn't work- what new fantastic take might fix that and make it explode in brilliance.
Think about something like War Horse. On paper it sounds SO campy. People dressed up in horse outfits trotting around the stage?! In wartime?! This is supposed to be serious and make the audience cry tears of genuine compassion?! Good luck! They took a big risk and it paid off in spades. War Horse is anything but camp, although that same idea presented in the wrong way could have gone that route.
Carrie must be audacious. It must be fantastic. It can't be run of the mill and safe. Safe is actually the worst thing something like Carrie can be. This material screams "Go big or go home," and that's exactly what the original team did. It backfired, but created one of the greatest cult musicals of all-time.
The job of this creative team is now to have the spirit of the original team, but not to fall in the same traps.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#180Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 8:51am
'The real "horror" in "Carrie" lies within us, when we realize we have just a bit of this monster inside us ourselves'
So true
WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel - I don't think the material screams 'Go Big or Go Home' at all, it does of course say you should take some chances, hopefully the creative team will look at that aspect (though this Carrie really sounds like the kinda of Carrie i was hoping for)
Someone said in their review earlier that it really made them think about the bullying thing a lot, that's fantastic, that is what i always wanted Carrie to do, as well as give people an entertaining night.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#181Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 8:58am
The current Carrie, as seen last night, reminded me of Debra Monk's performance as Joanne in that simply awful Roundabout production of Company - she was trying so very hard NOT to be Elaine Stritch, she forgot to try to BE anything at all.
Carrie Lite, as we can call this revision, is trying so very hard NOT to be the laughable mess Carrie was, it forgets to be anything at all but dull.
Aiming for a negative goal never works well in theatre.
#182Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:04amOh I totally think its a "go big or go home" type of show - not in terms of actual size or budget but in theatricality? Absolutely it is that kind of material. If CARRIE can't be thrilling theatre, the story shouldn't be done on stage.
#183Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:05am
This is definitely "go big or go home" material. Like Michael Bennett said, not in let's spend 50 million or nothing at all, but in the theatricality.
"Carrie Lite, as we can call this revision, is trying so very hard NOT to be the laughable mess Carrie was, it forgets to be anything at all but dull."
^completely agree
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#184Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:13am
I didn't think WhizzerMarvin meant "go big" in terms of budget and production. I thought it was in terms of heightened reality, theatricality, and above all else, risk-taking. There should be a dangerous feel to it. You don't have to spend more money to do that (although, for crap's sake invest in some fake blood already!).
The whole show should seem like it's teetering on the edge, without going over ... kinda like that bucket of blood in the gym.
"Excess within control."
Not just reckless "excess," but not just safe "control" either.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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#185Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:13am
WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel - Sorry i thought you were talking in a big OTT production away.
Newintown give us some of your thoughts and scenes, songs, set etc, i would like to know.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#186Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:17am
Excess in control is a great comment and again something DePalma did brilliantly during the destruction scene at the gym. There is a sense of bedlam in Carrie's mind, but the filming of the destruction is meticulous and exact. Every little detail is shown. Its clean and its scary in showing Carrie's methodical one by one method of disposal.
This production falls into the trap of just having utter chaos. Here we have the red light on Carrie, the door slams and everyone writhes around the stage. I don't think if I wasn't familiar with the story I would really have understood what was going on.
#187Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:26amI'll be seeing it again in a few weeks, and will post in more detail then. But I do doubt, from what I saw, that the change in tone will be significant.
#188Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:30am
You know what else really helps the movie is its score.
I'm thinking in particular the moments leading up to the blood spilling. It was orchestrated in such a way to almost (and I say "almost but not quite") have a cartoonish feel to it. It could be the score to a dastardly melodrama when a maiden is tied to the railroad tracks. Or even a Saturday morning cartoon.
It starts with a "Karen Carpenter"-style '70s Love Theme (genuinely beautiful though), and then keeps getting interrupted by the cartoonish but sinister music.
This is where the horror lies. Do we laugh? Do we cringe? Is this kind of abuse funny or terrible?
The music helps it SO much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XFbAINOlnY
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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Updated On: 2/1/12 at 09:30 AM
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#189Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:49am
One more thought about "excess within control" ...
The scene before the blood spilling when Carrie and Tommy dance and talk together is shot by a spinning camera. Nonstop, and it goes on for a LONG time. What should be seen by the audience as the most beautiful moment in Carrie's life, so far, instead makes the them dizzy and physically nauseous because of the way it was filmed.
That's a great example of creative risk-taking. It didn't need a huge budget and more "production value" thrown at it to make it work. It needed the creative vision and perspective of DePalma to know that even while Carrie is having the time of her life, things are spinning out of control all around her. It's enough to make us all sick.
Brilliant work.
EDIT: Conflicting emotions: the scary scene has cartoonish music. The sweet love scene makes us nauseous because of the way it was shot.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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Updated On: 2/1/12 at 09:49 AM
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#190Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:02am
OK this is brilliant.......we have been parodied......all of us, it's so good
http://soundcloud.com/lance-jonathan/lance-chat-9-carrie-out-of
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#191Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:08am
LOL
I like the voices he puts on for some of us. Mine sounds like I need another martini, pronto.
And who's to say I don't?
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
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#192Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:10am
I like that i'm British.....and from what would appear to be from a posh public school lol, well they got the British bit right
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
Updated On: 2/1/12 at 10:10 AM
#193Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:13amThrilled to be Schwarzenegger!
#194Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:19am
Okay so going back this morning and looking at the clips of the original, you can say what you want about Terry Hands and Debbie Allen's vision - it may have been ridiculous, it may not have made a lick of sense, but they totally went for broke and a lot of its visually stunning.
I mean, that staircase descending at the end of the destruction may be completely random but at least its an exciting theatrical moment.
#195Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:25am
OK yes the staircase looks great, really impressive, as a kid when i watched it at the RSC i thought that moment was incredible......however it made no sense, much of what was on stage made no sense. It was ill concieved from the moment the girls (ladies) came on in white togas and performed an over the top dance routine to IN.
Yes the visulas may have looked impressive at time in the original (much of it also looked a hot mess) but the look was all wrong for the show. And they went for broke because they had 8 million to throw away on the show (oddly enough it looks much cheaper than an 8 million dollar show), the new show was never going to have that.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#196Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:27amAlso i remember talking to one of the lead cast of Carrie a few years back when we were both doing shows in London. We got talking about the staircase and she told me that so many people on the production team thought Hands had lost his mind, even he couldnt come up with a convinicing story as to what it was supposed to mean.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#197Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:33am
I still maintain you can go for broke and do something visually interesting with a budget of 100 dollars. My bigger point is that you really do have to take risks with something like CARRIE.
I know that the original creative team felt like doing a really realistic version of CARRIE on stage was important because they felt like the horror came out of a realistic situation. That's all good and well, but unlike a movie, you can't ever do a realistic depiction of the final 20 minutes of the story on stage. So that approach to the material is ultimately just as flawed as what Hands and Allen tried to do.
There has got to be some way to create a production of CARRIE that combines realistic characters with heightened theatricality.
#198Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:58amI can't even lie...the discussion on here is only making me even more excited to see the show tomorrow night.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
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Featured Actor Joined: 8/25/11
#199Less than a week until CARRIE comes back to NYC
Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:58am
OK - some specific questions for those that attended last night:
1) did it get a standing O?
2) how were the reactions to certain songs? (particularly some of Marin/Margaret's more showy numbers)
3) how was the curtain call - did Marin come out last, or Molly?
4) what was the "buzz" in the audience afterwards... excitement or disappointment? I know some of you obviously have strong opinions of it - but did your general feeling translate to the crowd?
5) some cast members (or fans) tweeted that Piper Laurie was in attendance? Was she? And did they acknowledge her?
6) can someone describe the final scene in the White home? Was it similar to the OBC? (reprise of Carrie followed by the knife.. followed by... heart attack? followed by Carrie in Sue's arms?)
I did hear that La Buckley sent the cast a huge bouquet of yellow roses as good luck. Nice.
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