Thursday, October 27, 2016
Carrie: The Musical
Pittsburgh in the Round: There is something inherently disconcerting about going to see a theatrical restaging of the 1976 film Carrie, and finding out the theatre it’s presented in is a rustic barn. Seemingly bucolic, the seclusion, the intimacy, and the—not to spoil the film’s explosive finale—flammability of a quiet country barn seems all too creakingly eerie to keep someone at ease. But whether intentional or not, the setting of the Split Stage Production’s Carrie: The Musical only serves to augment the deliciously unsettling air that hangs over the dramaturgy.
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3 comments:
To preface this, I have not seen the movie or the musical before. This review makes me want to go see the musical so bad. To have it be located in a farm house is so unique and spooky. It feels like another example of how emersive theatre is becoming fairly popular. I, like most people she mentioned, thought that this musical was just a 2013 revival much like Heathers. It was astounding to me that it had not had major spotlight coverage from 1971 until 2013. The audiences seemed to love it when it was off-Broadway, much like Heathers, but it had a short lived run. I have seen more regional/community theatres producing it recently. I think having the production come into view in 2013 allowed more people to se its passionate message. I also loved how the author discussed how the musical humanize the jocks who seemed very charactiture in the movie. I think many films have the tendency to do that and live theatre tends to allow for more intimacy and the character's true colors to shine through.
It seems like I’m on a roll with these adaptation musicals (And once again the Heathers musical is brought up). Never have I read a review that praised a musical adaptation for complimenting the feel of the original movie (which is adored my many), but added something that the original movie lacked! Right from the moment that I read that where they were producing the musical was in an old barn house, I became interested. How creepy is it too see a show in a ‘rustic’ barn? At least for me because well I don’t think I’ve truly spent any time in an actual barn, not that I can remember at least. The rest of the musical excites me, as it just praises the musical, which makes me think why isn’t it big/ why didn’t I hear about this musical beforehand. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see it as, I just found out the last performance started at 8:00, today, but if there is an opportunity t to see it, I will definitely take that chance.
This sounds like a terrific production. Carrie is a great story, and I would think it would transfer well to the theatre. It's really too bad that the 2013 film remake of it flopped, because it will take quite some time before a large company/Broadway decides to pick this story up. However, it's great that a local company decided to produce it in a barn. That setting works very well for the story, so I'm sure it helped the production out a lot. I like that this production didn't deviate too much from the original novel, which is very well-written. I'm a big fan of companies who embrace the darker works of musical theatre rather than producing big, happy musical after big, happy musical. Carrie is certainly a great piece to produce in the theatre simply because of its inherent theatricality. The plot is pretty crazy. It's a great story though, and I would love to see it in the theatre sometime.
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