NPR: Broadway history is littered with flop musicals — but if some shows are bombs, then Carrie, based on Stephen King's best-selling 1974 novel, was kind of a nuclear bomb. The story of a teenager with telekinetic powers who wreaks bloody havoc on her small Maine town had already been successfully adapted as a film starring Sissy Spacek in 1976. But as a musical? Frank Rich was theater critic for The New York Times when the show opened in April 1988. He called it a musical wreck that "expires with fireworks like the Hindenburg."
Friday, March 02, 2012
'Carrie' Creators Resurrect A Legendary Flop
NPR: Broadway history is littered with flop musicals — but if some shows are bombs, then Carrie, based on Stephen King's best-selling 1974 novel, was kind of a nuclear bomb. The story of a teenager with telekinetic powers who wreaks bloody havoc on her small Maine town had already been successfully adapted as a film starring Sissy Spacek in 1976. But as a musical? Frank Rich was theater critic for The New York Times when the show opened in April 1988. He called it a musical wreck that "expires with fireworks like the Hindenburg."
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3 comments:
Maybe it's just that I like Carrie, but I still think that a staged version of the story has potential. None of the complaints were really about the story, it just seems as though it was poorly done and poorly adapted. I would guess that a musical was a completely unnatural choice for the story and characters. I can barely imagine that. But a staged adaptation as a straight play? I could see it being successful. Unless I'm wrong and the story itself is just dated and no longer desirable, I really do think that something good could come from this huge flop of a piece.
These people really have some guts. While I understand that some reinterpretations of old flops have worked in the past, I think that like the articles states, this is the nuclear bomb of flops. Now I'm in no way saying that I think this show is going to be bad. On the contrary, I feel that the story adapted into a musical may indeed have some potential (I mean come on, if Spider-Man can get funding and hype, so can this). I actually hope this production succeeds past everyone's expectations. I think that the underdog would be a breath of fresh air if it could really fly away.
There are times when you just need to walk away. If the first version was a complete flop and was a disaster just let it go. The fact that they scaled back the venue and changed the script means it could have a life in the off-off broadway realm but it will never be what they wanted it to be with the original iteration.
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