Here Is What You Have Been Waiting For, Girls!!!!!!!!!

Darlings, I know, I know, you all want to know what "Carrie" was like. Let me start by saying the entire audience, including yours truly, and Monsieur, entered the Lortel Theatre last Saturday night on an anticipatory high. But just what were we anticipating???? A campy send-up, recalling the 1988 Broadway original, a serious straightforward masterwork, or a little of both????? Speaking for myself, I would say a little of both. And what one ultimately gets is serious and straightforward. Unfortunately, it is no masterwork.

There are several reasons to see "Carrie." Let's start with three excellent performances by Marin Mazzie, Molly Ranson and Christy Altomare (who SO recalls Amy Irving), in the role of Sue Snell. And the Prom Sequence. But more on that later.

"Carrie" starts with Sue, stage right, a harsh light on her, being interrogated by an unseen voice, about the Prom Incident. So the show follows the concept of Stephen King's original book, which was written in an epistolary style as a series of book excerpts looking back on, or analyzing, the Prom Incident. And it ends like it begins, with Sue in this pose.

In the pivotal mother and daughter roles, the Misses Mazzie and Ranson elevate this show to Grand Opera, whenever they are onstage alone or together. Unfortunately, the score does not support them; they rise above it. Everything fits the story and characters, but there is too much of a sameness to it all. Whatever passion that breaks out comes from the acting of the two leads.

I know you all want to know about the Prom, and I promise I WILL tell.
But let me first say that, as talented as the Ensemble is, they suffer the same fate as the music. They are all stock Mean Teens, whom we have seen before--hell, if you have gone through high school already, you've KNOWN them!!!!--so that when the time comes and they get their comeuppance, who can care, as these are more caricatures than characters. So one is never able to develop any emotion--even hate--for any of them.

Nevertheless, the Prom Sequence is stunning; a series of lighting and choreographic feats I can only call Robbinsesque. When it concluded, it got a deserved round of applause from the audience. For a sequence that necessitated scaling down, the creators found ways to still preserve its dramatic impact.

Which had to have been hard, and I am sure this was worked on a long time. If only the same could have been said of the music. For with its two leads, and skillful staging, having a luminous score would have made this, if not one for the ages, then one for the Season.

"Carrie" instead is merely good, rather than great. And it has to have one of the most unsatisfying endings ever. This poor girl gets brutally tormented by her peers, with no solace at home, due to a fanatically religious mother, who is trying to assuage her own sexual guilt. The girl gets a taste of acceptance, only to have it literally splashed in her face, goes berserk, destroys her classmate population, only to return home, get stabbed by her mother, and die.

I don't know what Stephen King's original intention was here, but one comes out of "Carrie" with no sense of hope, only overwhelming sadness. Even the darkest of musicals offer something. Maybe my age is showing here, darlings, but I just cannot invest myself in an entire evening, without some kind of redemptive factor. "Carrie" provides none. Yes, it is good Sue survives, but one wants something more from the ending. As we do from the show.

But see for yourselves, darlings!!!!!!! As long as the Misses Mazzie, Ranson and Altomare are onstage, one is in good hands!!!!!!!!!!!!

See you at the Prom, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!