NYC Theater Troupe Attempts A Production Of Famed Broadway Flop 'Carrie'

Carrie may have another chance to be prom queen -- alright, not really -- but she may have a shot at being a successful musical. This comes as a surprise, given that the musical version of Steven King's quintessential horror novel is infamous for its failure. In 1988, the musical adaptation took the Broadway stage and was panned by critics, closing after only five performances. It has, however, managed to attract a cult fan-base.

New York theater troupe, MCC Theater is including a revamped version of the musical in its 2011-2012 line-up. Molly Ranson (currently on Broadway in "Jerusalem") and Tony-nominated actress Marin Mazzie play Sissy Spacek's and Piper Laurie's roles, respectively. Additional casting has not been announced.

MCC Theater Artistic Director said in a statement: "What can I say about Carrie? We've been in love with this piece since we heard a reading two years ago. It's so moving and Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson are going to knock people out."

The new production of the musical has been reworked by the creators (book writer Lawrence D. Cohen, composer Michael Gor and lyricist Dean Pitchford) in conjunction with the musical's director Stafford Arima. This new version will be comprised of about half new songs and half songs from the prior version.

Preview performances will begin at the Lucille Lortel Theater, in the West Village, on January 31 2012.

Comments

[3fingerbrown]

02:29 PM on 06/08/2011

Seems like a perfect place to mention Ken Mandelbaum's hilarious yet highly instructive book "Not Since Carrie," a compendium of Broadway's greatest disasters that uses "Carrie" as the yardstick against which all musical fiascoes are measured. If someone were to ask me to recommend good books on how to write a musical, I'd say Sondheim's book "Finishing the Hat" is the perfect "how to" book and "Not Since Carrie" is the perfect "how not to" book.

[BuckyJamesDio]

11:55 AM on 06/06/2011

Still way better than Langoliers: The Musical.

[dorzic]

08:54 PM on 06/05/2011

My favorite song: After the blood comes the boys.

[benskelly]

10:39 AM on 06/06/2011

No no, the big showstopper is "Dirty Pillows". I've been humming it all day.

[SeanMartin]

06:03 PM on 06/05/2011

I've often felt that, buried under all the layers and layers of bad, there was a decent little show in CARRIE. Who knows, maybe this time they'll get it right.

They're gonna have to do a lot of digging though to get it out.

[alsm9]

12:48 PM on 06/05/2011

Some things should never be made into musicals. This is one of them.

[SeanMartin]

06:07 PM on 06/05/2011

Sorry, I dont necessarily agree. The original novel and the film both played off something that the musical completely missed: Carrie's frightening transition from girl to woman, from child to adult, and the awesome power she obtained along the way. Throw in the whole aspect of ir.rational religious fear of se.xuality and a parent who will stop at nothing to keep her child "pure". That could be very powerful, if properly handled.

[babby201]

10:41 PM on 06/05/2011

A better court defense than PMS.

[jcarterla]

12:45 PM on 06/05/2011

Is there a song about her dirty pillows?

[arrgh]

12:19 PM on 06/05/2011

I thought I clicked on The Onion for a second there.

[sba710]

12:13 PM on 06/05/2011

Come on. The author's name is "Stephen King," not "Steven King." And the spelling is "all right," not "alright."

[Josie Burton]

07:43 PM on 06/06/2011

No excuse for the Steven snafu, but "alright" is an acceptable alternative spelling.

[MikeDu]

11:47 AM on 06/05/2011

Is this what Broadway's become? A venue to recycle kitch to fat tourists? Heaven forbid they stage a production that the audience doesn't know all the plot points in advance.

[SteveDenver]

12:32 PM on 06/05/2011

Some of us tourists aren't fat.

[eek]

11:43 AM on 06/05/2011

We have been keeping our eyes on news about the re-Carrie for ages; having caught the fever from my dear friend who'd managed to track down a bootleg copy of the Original Bway cast Recording.

[Pax Romano]

10:15 AM on 06/05/2011

It's "Stephen King" not Steven.

In the original production, Darlene Love played the gym teacher, and Betty Buckley (who played the gym teacher in the film), played Carrie's mother.

[dngrwoman]

10:13 AM on 06/05/2011

I hope to get to see this play.
DANGER WOMAN

[Chrystal Ji Davey]

08:20 AM on 06/05/2011

Molly Ranson and Marin Mazzie are the only reason this MIGHT not be a flop. People will go see it for more than 5 performances for sure, but reputation is nevertheless a very hard thing to just wipe off.

[citywoof]

03:53 AM on 06/05/2011

I saw the 1988 production from row A dead center. I actually loved it, maybe because it was my FIRST time in a Broadway theater, and I absolutely love the story. Still have my program - signed by Betty Buckley, Lynzie Hately, Gene Anthony Ray and Darlene Love.

I'm glad they have reworked the show and are trying it again. Might have to make another pilgrimage to NYC to see this one!

By the way, it's STEPHEN King, not Steven!

[eucharius]

02:38 AM on 06/05/2011

Hopefully some heavy editing has occurred. The climactic scene was laughably bad. (Stand stock still with arms outstretched, as dancers pretend to writhe in agony. Add a few lasers and some weak pyro.)

[SteveDenver]

12:35 PM on 06/05/2011

Sounds like some production designer had NO vision. It would be interesting to see what Taymor could do with the visuals (not the direction or story).

[SeanMartin]

06:01 PM on 06/05/2011

The "set", such as it was, was a big white box, with a large movable staircase the width of the stage. The opening number, which was supposed to be a high school girls' PE class, looked like a rehearsal for a bad Las Vegas showgirl revue. It was one incomprehensible director and designer choice after another, all coupled to a score that was laughably bad.

If you look around the net, there's a few places that have a video of the entire show, probably one shot from the lighting booth as part of a performance archive. Although it's pretty rough (we're talking video from the 80s), it'll convey to you something of the monumental trainwreck that this show was.

One of the reasons it's never seen a revival, by the way, is Dean Pritchard, who was so embarrassed by the production that he refused to allow anyone to touch it. Maybe now he needs the money.