TribLIVE: Stephen King's “Carrie” gets yet another life as the season opener for Bricolage Production Company's “Midnight Radio” series.
You may already know this much-bullied teen from King's 1974 thriller, director Brian DePalma's 1976 movie, the 2013 film remake. Or, perhaps, the live-theater appearances as a monumental 1988 Broadway flop, a reworked 2012 off-Broadway production or the unauthorized spoof “Scarrie! The Musical.”
4 comments:
I like that this poof on the Broadway flop has adapted its own style. This makes it much more appealing than the other million horror spoofs out there in the world. Yes, I am saying there are too many of those out there. I like the idea of incorporating the radio style and rock music into the show; it kind of reminds me of Hedwig in a way as it pushes an envelope with its portrayal of a story. (Not just because it uses rock music.) I wonder how far they take the spoof, but to be honest the picture provided in the article just looks stupid; it looks like that run of the mill spoof I was talking about earlier. A full grown man playing a little girl is one of the most unoriginal ideas to be put into a movie. Also, I am acknowledging that this comment may sound like I am contradicting myself. The reviewer actually says that he feeling uncomfortable laughing at the main character of the spoof; that does not sound right to me.
Carrie seems like a rather odd story choice for comedic adaptation to me, just because of the extremely dark nature of the original. I imagine it would be difficult to do justice to the story without seeming overly irreverent towards a subject that might be very sensitive to some people. There's nothing wrong with parodies and dark humor, and a lot of times it's relieving to be able to laugh at subjects that are treated so seriously all the time, but hopefully there is some level of caution that the producers are taking. It sounds like the radio show style of the performance provides a lot of opportunities for a very unique take on the story, but it would probably be easy to go overboard.
I mentioned this in the last article about SCarrie on this website, but I actually have very fond memories of Carrie the Musical. While the original story and movie are heavy on the camp you'd think a musical would only amp up, I was blown away at the weight of the tale onstage. Parody and satire are well and good, and from the article it seems like Bricolage does it well, but I'm most pleased about the knowledge that they don't simply play it for laughs. At it's heart, Carrie is about teens who feel lonely and scared, who are told that everything they are doing is wrong. Teens are told from every side what to do with their lives, they are bullied by their peers, and at some point, every teen, no matter where in the social sphere they occupy, feels completely alone. Carrie feel a little silly at times, but beneath all of that is a truly human story about a girl who broke under the pressures. Parody is fun, but its a lot more interesting to think about the characters as teenager, (kids, really, on the verge of adulthood) rather than over referenced jokes.
I have to wonder what it is about the story of Carrie which has made it continue to be adapted despite it's failures. It has become such a part of pop culture that most people know the basic story, and know what happens and how it ends. One would have to do something special to it in order to make it your own. 'SCarrie' seems to have done that, though I rather hope that they have decided to make it a dark comedy in the vein of things like Shaun of the Dead, instead of trying to make it a straight up comedy, as I think that a straight up comedy would be far too flippant considering what has happened.
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