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THEY'RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU! WELL, MAYBE NOT: CARRIE:THE MUSICAL Goes Back To Broadway
By THE FAN GIRL NEXT DOOR There's only one! Come say hi to me on Twitter!
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Feb 21, 2012, 7:47 PM |
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Ah, the 80's. We had skinny neck ties, Jelly shoes, pet rocks and CARRIE: THE MUSICAL!
Say wuh? Yeah, you read me right. A musical was based on Stephen King's masterful book CARRIE and Brian DePalma's 1976 big screen adaptation. Someone actually thought the Broadway set would shell out their hard earned green to sit through musical numbers such as "And Eve Was Weak" (performed by Carrie and her bible toting mother, Margaret) and "Wotta Night" (performed by the ensemble cast before they turned into charcoal briquets).
According to The New York Times, the musical, which boasted an 8 million dollar budget, was the "was the most expensive quick flop in Broadway history." By TODAY'S standards that would be a big chunk of change let alone back in the late 80's. The ONLY good thing said about the 88' production was regarding the role of Margaret White, played by actress Betty Buckley, who, it should be noted, played gym teacher Miss Collins in the film.
That one decent performance aside, CARRIE: THE MUSICAL opened on May 12, 1988 and closed three days later. It is somewhat easy to imagine why, given the subject matter, the critics would try a little telekinesis of their own to get the production to burn up faster than a high school prom full of mean kids. Before you knew it, poof, CARRIE: THE MUSICAL was nothing more than a distant memory.
Enter some twenty or so odd years later, the powers that be have dusted off Margaret's old bible and that darned silver bucket to give it another try. Theater director Stafford Arima has given the failed musical the biggest 'do-over' in history and brought the ultimate misfit, Carrie White, back to life, in all of her pig blood-covered glory.
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| Molly Ranson as Carrie White |
How could this happen? Simple, this time the production is less camp and more human tragedy. Star Molly Ranson, who plays the title character, thinks that this time around the story is a bit more relate-able, "People are relating to Carrie as a story about the outsider, which is also what I connect to," Ranson says. "From teenagers to older people, everybody seems to be moved by it."
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| Original "Carrie", Sissy Spacek |
People are relating to the revamped production in such a way that early industry buzz has been very favorable. Ticket sales for the test run (CARRIE officially starts its run on March 1st) have been brisk but, hey, this is a horror website and the question on our minds is: How are they going to handle the famous pig blood scene? Ranson gives very little insight into this. "They all want to know about how we deal with the blood," she says with a laugh, "because blood is such an integral part of the story."
I guess we'll all have to wait and see, and shell out between $89.00-$115.00 a ticket, to find out just how much blood there will be. I am curious, but skeptical. The theater program describes the Margaret White character as "cruelly over-protective" but "loving". Loving? What movie did they see? Did anyone pick up the book?
It got me to thinking though, What other Stephen King books could we turn into a toe tapping, emotional experience? Maybe Annie Wilkes could tap dance while BBQ-ing Paul Sheldon's book in MISERY. Come to think of it, I always thought THE STAND was missing a splashy dance number.
Until next time....
CARRIE: THE MUSICAL is currently running between now and March 25th at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in
New York.
For tickets visit Broadway.com
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