CARRIE: Finding the Natural in the Supernatural.

Every since my senior project for musical theatre class in highschool, I have been obsessed with the CARRIE the musical. The music is horribly wonderful. I mean if you’ve seen the movie, you already know about the pig’s blood that gets dumped, so imagine that moment theatrical on stage. Incredible.

Unfortunately just because the movie’s a hit, doesn’t mean all spin off material or stage adaptations will be too. Carrie: The Musical is a prime example of that. When the musical hit broadway in 1988 it was a complete flop. The creators felt that the book wasn’t ready, and all audience/critics knew is that they thought it was a technical disaster. Since its epic fail, the creators have decided to go back and redeem their work.

As I have been living in MONSTER land for the past 2 months, everything seems to be centering around the relationship between creator and creation. Posing the question, what happens when you abandon your creation?  Stephen Sondheim seems to believe, “‘musicals are never really finished; they’re simply abandoned.” With the chance to reclaim their creation the creators are leaning to exploit the more naturalistic elements and thoughts of humanity, as opposed to the supernatural elements they exploited in the 1988 stage-version.

Could it have been that the American Theatre wasn’t prepared for the Carrie, and that a newer audience might receive it better?  I don’t know, but I’m curious to see what the re-work brings. And to see if there truly is something intimate, and fragile at the core of this bloody mess.

One Comment

sbmeyers posted on March 24, 2012 at 12:29 pm

I saw this article and thought about this post. It’s funny since Betty Buckley was just here working with some of us!

http://www.playbill.com/features/article/160573-Tony-Award-Winner-Betty-Buckley-Looks-Back-at-Carrie-On-Stage-and-Screen

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