The Broadway Show that Closed in 3 DAYS: The History of Carrie the Musical
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Carrie the Musical is known as the flop to end all flops. Lasting only five performance, the mystery and lore surrounding the Broadway production of Carrie has kept it in the minds of theater enthusiasts for the past 30 years. In this season finale of WitW, the true story is finally unveiled.
Works Cited: drive.google.c...
Thumbnail Design: Brendon Henderson
Executive Producers 🎭 ($20+ on Patreon):
Defunctland
Musicals with Cheese
The Kid Tested, Mother Approved Podcast
Brent Black
NoxieZeBat
Nate Gardner
Ethan
Julian Dene
LAZTM Productions
Tommy Kindall
Abigail Verzella
John Fogg
Autumn
JC
Chase Eujene McCants
Katherine Esperanza
Briana Michelle Meyer
Schaffrillas Productions
Melissa Marquette
Aidan Lam
Justin Lawrie
The Drawer Kring
Sammi Kornecki
Musicals with Cheese
Sebastian Canino
Emily Charouhas
Marc S.
Best in the Biz 🎟 ($10+ on Patreon) :
Sarah Hammer
Max Rohtbart
Anon
Clarissa Wee
Malpertuis
Nicofo
Todd Ramsey
Ann
Rose S.
Ruben Esquer
Harry Thornton
Get your name on the list and help make it easier for us to make videos!
/ waitinthewings
Special thanks to Carolee Beck for the perfect song to end the season. Go listen to her stuff and fall in love with an artist that truly deserves more recognition. Tell her that WitW sent ya! ua-cam.com/channels/BJhRUwHrbuIgSHotzjI3Ng.html
OMFG ... the musical, not the country.
I doubt he still didn't know what they were talking about, Grease not Greece
That's what happens when ... I've done Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
One does, Merry Wives of Windsor, the Play That Shall Not Be Named.
One DOES NOT do, the rendered fat of animal parts.
The sum up, that even a commercial flop is a success. Wrong, it's an everyone gets a participation trophy. It's not reality. If it's a flop, and shuts down. That's not success. If it's closed its not paying the people that were employed, who need to pay bills and feed families. You can't eat "at a boys"
Unless its a Bob's Big Boy.
Then you need money.
From a job.
Not from the warm fuzzies, of feeling good about your flop. Especially if the train wreck could have been mitigated
Yes, theater changes, and there's no true measure of whether a good show will, be a hit. But you can tell a turd, and that reeked. The minute the director confused Greece for Grease, that was the moment to pause it, and get someone else. That is someone who's concrete in their thought process. That does not inspire confidence, when what you really need, is outside the box thinking. Especially if you're attempting to reinvent the wheel, and bring it to Broadway. The final iteration, isn't togas and crap. It did what the original didn't.
The original is a horror, that took itself way too seriously.
It needed a tongue planted firmly in cheek, that the 2nd had.
You're not going to get that from a self styled auture.
what is the name of the song?
Please do a video about Ragtime :)
Knew they were going at least mention Spider-Man 😂
...I cannot believe the problems with Carrie started with someone confusing Grease with Greece.
It probably also doesn't help that Hands knew nothing of American culture or pop-culture and likely never even saw Grease, so it's no wonder that wasn't even the first thing that came to his mind.
EllieC I totally agree with you. 😂 It is so random. I guess if I closed my eyes and tried really hard to picture it, I could see Carrie as a Greek Tragedy. Actually, no..I can’t. LMAO.
@@Chrisyt272 Maybe some drama the gods got in to that had some kind of "don't steal your neighbor's pigs" moral.
I can! xD What's surprising to me is that he wrote the whole book in 2 weeks!!
@@wareforcoin5780 That's entirely possible. 😂😂
"He saw the musical as a modern greek myth " ... Spiderman flashbacks
They should make that a warning in theatre: if your creative director starts talking about making something that is not a greek myth into a greek myth, run for the goddamn hills
I guess that's why Hadestown is so good. They went, "hey lets take this Greek myth and making it something else instead."
More like “flashforwards.”
Literally! Like what’s up with THAT obsession, not everything has to be like a greek tragedy 😂
Wasn't it Greek tragedy. Interestingly, a Greek tragedy is exactly what DePalma said he was going for in the film. That was his justification for Ms. Degardin/Gardner dying whereas she lived in the book.
The Grease vs. Greece element is THE best part of the entire history
I’m really torn on that. I always thought it was an urban myth meant to make Terry Hands look like a bigger buffoon than he already was?
@@giovannirastrelli9821 Apparently not! 🤣
I literary said OH NO when that started hahaha
Now there needs to be production of Grease using greek gods and goddesses 😂😂😂 and the jokes are based on the mythology and the music covers is reminiscent of the time period. Grease lighting could be like a chariot of horses 😂😂😂
@@jamesbearvr There was a joke about that in the Disney show ANT farm. Not sure why I remember that.
I love this! But one correction: When people boo when the curtain goes down but cheer when it goes back with the principals taking bows, it means they hated the show but liked the performers. I saw the 2012 redo at the Lucille Lortal in the Village. It was pretty good!
My teacher who saw Carrie told me about this! He said the loudest applause was for the mother
@@NeonCherryBlossum I think they do.
People from the 20th century were wild, they would yell their Dislikes out loud to actual people on stage who just performed for them. Imagine being so flush with entertainment content but having no internet that you're loudly booing live shows, instead of just leaving and being like "huh, I won't be recommending that one to my Twitter followers..."
"Joey Tribiani was not the worst part of this show"
@@GlennDavey Live shows still exist, yo. The performers are right there. It would be pretty weird to carefully avoid betraying any opinion as you quietly leave the theater, then post your review to all 12 of your followers and tell yourself the performers will check the tags.
Maybe go outside.
"THE SHOW- NOT THE COUNTRY!"
I died
😂 Terry Hands should’ve been fired because of that
NEW T-SHIRT PLEASE?
I literally spit out my drink
This is so MEATIER, NOT METEOR
Poor linzi hateley, carrie was her first and only broadway show and it closed so quickly and she was only 18.
Man, THAT is just a cruel fate! Unlike a LOT of these train wrecks, this didn’t even last a week!
She was in the smash hit Mary Poppins on the West End, so she is still getting work at least.
@@ajitter89 She also was the narrator in the 1991 revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so it didn't hurt her career for very long afterwards in her home country at least.
I’m sure it was a disappointment for her at that age, but it turned around very quickly: Cameron Mackintosh saw her in CARRIE in NYC, and offered her Eponine in Les Mis immediately afterward. Since then, Linzi has had a pretty enviable career on the West End. Just from the top of my head: Secret Garden, Mary Poppins, Joseph, Mamma Mia, Grease, On Your Toes, Chicago. She even was called in for the film versions of Mamma Mia and Les Mis, and for the latter she actually dubbed Eponine’s scream. I hope she realizes Betty Buckley was right: whatever went wrong with CARRIE, it wasn’t Linzi’s or Betty’s fault.
But how many eighteen year olds can say they've been on Broadway anyway? I'm sure she was disappointed at the time, but she seems to have happy memories of the show and looks back on it fondly. She did it; that's what matters!😊
The director sounds like a piece of work: bullying actors he doesn't like, warping a story beyond recognition just so it fits into his comfort zone, shoving the rest of the creative team aside... I mean wow. It's a shame they didn't have the power to pull the plug.
Also being completely out of touch with contemporary theatre. If your first instinct to being told "make it like Grease" in a theatre setting is to assume they meant Greece the country, you need to resign immeadiately.
@@jazzycat8917 When the togas were still in the show on opening night in the West End, I wanted to yell. It's so stupid.
@@RobertJW Star
Stratford is in the county of Warwikshire not the west endthe west end.
@@RobertJW I feel like he was too embarrassed to admit his mistake and prioritized his pride over the success of the show lol
"Carrie wasn't the first show to fail on Broadway nd it certainly wouldn't be the last" *shows footage of The Great Comet* oof you didn't have to hurt me like that
Same even that 3 second clip brings out so many emotions😂
Oof same
I felt attacked
That one hurt 😔
Great comet was actually good though. It didn't get 12 tony's for nothing. OG Carrie the musical was just a dumpster fire.
So what I’m getting out of this is that Betty Buckley was a pretty good sport about the whole thing? Signed up knowing that it was a mess but to keep people from losing their jobs? Comforting her young co-star and assuring her that the disaster was not her fault because it would be very easy for someone on their first big gig to worry about that?
I like her even more now
@@tatemitchell1479 Same❤
What a class act!
Why are you ending every sentence with a question mark?
@@BassGal92Because he/she wasn't sure whether people would agree with his/her opinions.
“...but Terry Hands had other plans” is the phrase that best summarizes the whole boondoggle.
Right?
Hardly a collaborator.
Not to mention it rhymes beautifully
Boondoggle 🤣 I didnt even know that word existed until now and im definitely adding it to my favorite word list
@@nomdeplume2213 It's one of my personal favorite uncommonly used words along with hinky and hullabaloo lol
That sounds like a dr seuss line from a book where the villain uses their numerous mechanical hands to like, steal cookies or something
Not to self: When making a musical from scratch, know what everyone's doing, don't have too many cooks in the kitchen and (most importantly) MAKE SURE YOU'RE SPECIFIC WITH THE WORD, "GREASE"!!
💭 _Did I pack my copy of The Big Book of Homonyms?_
Too many chiefs... not enough Indians.
Too many crooks
@@youtubehastakenovermylife4979 😬
I would KILL to see Fosse's Carrie. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it would work commercially, but I think it would be weird enough for ME to like it lol
The choreography would have been insane, and I would have loved to see Fosse try out some creepy choreo. At the very least it would have been interesting
It certainly would have been VERY visually interesting with some fantastic dances.
I could imagine that The Destruction scene would actually work really well with Fosse's choreo
@@imdyingfromhype6037 oooo that's a good point
@@wickedfeylady It would definitely be a fascinating show to watch!
What I've learned from this series:
- An insane idea isn't necessarily a bad idea if it's executed by the right people.
- Things don't always flop simply because they're 'bad'.
- It takes multiple factors for something to turn out 'bad'.
- Flopped/'bad' things might still have potential when executed differently and by the right people.
To your first point: I remember hearing some girls talking about "a rap musical about Alexander Hamilton" back in 2015 and thinking, "Wow, that sounds like it'll be a tremendous flop." This was before I'd heard the musical or even before it became popular in the mainstream, I think.
Hamilton is an insane concept that was executed so, so well.
and
-clarify what you mean. "Greece" and "Grease" are two *very* different things lol
this is such a great summary of...kind of a lot of things actually! brava 💜
This story of the production was such a trip that THIS could be turned into its own musical.
Ryan Murphy is the one to direct that!
Ohhh, kinda similar to what they did with Smash!
@@kallen868 I want to watch this now!
Sounds like a ready-made for project for a Mel Brooks.
Why not?
It sounds like Terry Hans single handedly ruined what on paper was a great show. It just proves that every one involved matters. A director can really make or break a show. It sounds like Terry's ego got the better of him.
I like Carrie the musical( well the soundtrack) and I was always bummed it never got it's true chance. I know this will sound strange but thank God for shows like Riverdale deciding to do musical episodes and doing an episode about Carrie. It probably brought a whole new audience to the little known show.
I very much agree.
Especially the part about Riverdale: it got really "attacked" but i defend it for exactly the reason you stated ---- it spread the awareness. It introduced brand new eyes and ears to the work. 🏆 ❤
For me, the saddest part of this entire story is that the 3 writers gave up all of their control over it to an insane power-hungry man. If they had insisted on their contracts allowing for oversight into the production itself, it probably would have been so much better. Of course, it didn't help that they had chose to hire someone desperate for fame.
@@darrenhales6094 well said
@@darrenhales6094 my friend found a version of it on here as well it was a very poor quality video but it was with Betty Buckley. I watched it about 4 years ago now and that is how I found about it. He was like, "you have to watch this is. It is insane. It is campy and fun and right up your alley." He was right.
@@carveylover Yeah I have seen clips of that version as well. Here is the link to the Moore Theatre (Seattle) version as well as the 2012 Off-Broadway revival. Video quality is much better on the Moore Theatre production but I think the look of the show is better on the Off-Broadway production.
ua-cam.com/video/xEYjZB0K5sI/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/hhQebfxD3kc/v-deo.html
Man, when hearing how all those directors coming in heard the demo and script and told the trio how good it was makes me wish we could see a version of the show as it was originally intended before all the cuts and changes 😞
I agree with this. I don't think the revival was their original vision;.
The new version that’s available for licensing is close to what they originally intended.
I cannot express how frustrated I was hearing about the cup of blood in the original!! I was yelling at my computer "RED SPOTLIGHT!! STROBES!! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!" So happy to see the 2012 version got it right!!
Ikr it actually looked like blood from a distance. I was confused thinking “wait is that fake blood? It looks like it.” Then realized “Oh its lighting, looks cool.” Btw I prefer the 2012 revival I LOVE IT!!!
When I heard, "Think Grease," I thought, "Haha, that sounded like Greece. Imagine Carrie done as a Greek Tragedy," and was subsequently suckerpunched by what happened next.
The new version of the show has a much stronger book and concept but I feel like "Carrie" should be set in the 70's when the book was written, and the high school numbers should reflect that, so the school scenes don't feel too dated too quickly. The high school stuff from 2012 is going to seem VERY DATED in another couple years. it's not their fault, that's just the nature of changing culture.
It’s been only eight years and it already feels dated, very “High School Musical” with a (literal) bloodbath.
@@giovannirastrelli9821 I agree. It feels very much like they are TRYING to be like Spring Awakening/ 'emo' and just didn't get there.
@@wickedfeyladyI was shocked by some some of the new songs they claimed were “improvements” over the cut material. “The World According to Chris” and the new “Prom Climax” were pure cringe and not a patch on the songs they replaced and it made no sense to cut most of Margaret’s arias and duets with Carrie to ribbons; “Open Your Heart” lasts for about a minute with whole chunks missing and don’t get me started on the new orchestrations and tempo. At least keep songs set in the White home gothic and operatic to contrast the energetic pop music set in the high school, keeping the sound the same throughout robs Carrie’s sense of isolation through the language of music.
@@giovannirastrelli9821 That's a good point about Carrie's isolation and how the music reflects it. The new tempo of Open Your Heart is not my favorite either. I really did not care for "World According to Chris" or "Night We'll Never Forget".They were bland and forgettable like middle of the road pop. In my ideal version I think the high school songs should evoke the 70's but be simple in their orchestrations; these are average kids and Carrie is not living in that world, her world is centered on religious guilt and the 'fire and brimstone' imagery her mother puts in her head. For a 70's version I would like not ACTUAL rock music but something reminiscent of angry stripped down rock, similar in tone to Cheap Trick or early Ramones. The 80's school numbers like "Don't Waste the Moon" and the original "In" have great camp value and sound like things kids in the 80's would have listened to, but their MTV nature makes them feel less sincere.
It’s to dangerous to dance in bell bottoms.
In the future, I would love one of these just on Starkid and how they’ve changed/developed over the years from college parodies to original musicals. That would be really interesting.
Yeah Starkid video would be really interesting; probably hard to do research on, though.
yes! i love starkid so much
@@madeleine.exists9207 could probably just ask them
@@MadameCorgi true! What if they did a collab or something?
I'm sure if he ever did it would be AVPM (or TGWDLM since it is a horror show and it clearly did better then most braudway horror shows)
Tbh u don't have to pour actual liquid over the actor to get the blood scene. It can be done with cloth, a curtain, other visuals and a quickchange into red clothes or something. Use creativity. It doesnt have to be exactly like the movie to be good. Someone else mentioned Starkid here and imma say they are masters of using everyday stuff to make us understand what's going on in what could be a complicated scene. If you've seen the musical Spies are forever, by Tincanbros, there is a motorbike chase-scene with two desk chairs. It's genuis. In Sweeney Todd they use red cloth as blood. Use the stage as a stage, not as a movie set. That's the magic of musical in my opinion.
honestly a quickchange into a 'blood soaked' dress and a red strobe light could do the trick, maybe even use the slo mo in the og movie to their advantage with a quick change
I hope Steven truly appreciates that his wife convinced him to finish writing that book. It is a classic.
She's such a real one for convincing him to finish it. I imagine the world of pop culture and horror (and Stephen King's life) would look incredibly different if the draft had been left in the trash. From the interviews and the fact that they're still together, I'm sure he appreciates her. It's probably also hard to win an argument when your wife claps back about how she was the one who made you publish the book in the first place lol. Though it seems like he treasured her far before that as he took her ideas on board and listened to her.
@@draconiusultamius 😸
"the most expensive flop in Broadway history... until now" yeah Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark had that beaten by far
Spider Man had a run. Carrie didn't.
@@kallen868 It also sent multiple people to the hospital...
@@kallen868 well it had people run to the ER
@@KingOfGaymes comment of the month
It feels like all of these people really wanted to do essentially Heathers, except that one dude who wanted to do More Shakespeare but his Own Musical. Actually it was kinda funny that Fosse saw it as a dance musical, it’s like all of these people follow that one saying: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” Maslows hammer.
I totally saw the similarities to Heathers in their original script/concept too! It's so disappointing that it got absolutely butchered, because Heathers has shown that it absolutely had the potential to be incredibly successful.
Carrie’s mom line of “THEY ARE GONNA LAUGH AT YOU” turned out to be quite meta for the production team 😅
What is it with bad theatre shows and nearly killing their actors?
Spider-Man, Starlight Express, and now, Carrie.
Actors, stay safe out there! No award (Tony or otherwise) is worth this!
Because the Phantom is real and whenever there is trash on Broadway's stage he manifests ready to start dropping people
I'm just grateful no one had died yet!! In movie production, people aren't so "lucky", and time and time again I hear/read of someone passing because they did something unsafe. (Plus I used to work in a prop house, so I would occasionally hear of unsafe conditions and warn the renters that if anything ever happens, it's on THEM, not us; they were the ones renting the wrong thing to save a buck or two.) So ya, performers, entertainers, crew, ANYONE: You don't feel safe, DON'T DO THE THING. YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH THE THING. #StaySafeOutThere
.....Starmites
Steven Spielberg once said, “No movie is worth dying for.” That applies to all forms of performance arts, including stage productions.
it's like construction sites. the danger is always there, but you only hear about it when the parts get moved wrong
Fun fact: Carrie was holding auditions at the same time as Star Wars (A New Hope) & I believe they were being held in the same studio, so all young actors from both movies auditioned for the above mentioned flicks.
I would love to see the alternate universe where Mark Hamill was cast as Tommy Ross and William Katt cast as Luke Skywalker.
@@TheLowBrassDude This is Carrie Fisher as Carrie White erasure and I will not stand for it.
Also John Travolta as Han Solo erasure which I will ABSOLUTELY stand for.
There's a universe out there where Carrie Fisher played, well, Carrie, and where Sissy Spacek became Princess Leia.
You may already know this but there are videos online of William Katt reading for Luke Skywalker, and Amy Irving reading for Leia. Both obviously went on to be cast in Carrie. One exception was Nancy Allen who had moved to LA from NY the week of the auditions and only heard about them when she ran into a casting director she had known back in NY from her TV commercial work. The friend suggested she run over to the audition though warned her it was the last day, everyone in town had already read, and her chances of being seriously considered were practically nothing. She was too late to read for Star Wars but read for roles in Carrie and won the role of Chris.
Honestly, they should’ve known Hands was sus when he thought the og producers meant “Greece” instead of “Grease”
how did he even make that mistake, and how did no one correct him, maybe go "hey are you sure they meant the COUNTRY GREECE?" the time he was coming up with concepts???
Myth. False. Untrue anecdote. Misinformation.
@@ErikChampney there are literal togas on the stage
@@ARS1508 yes. The vision, agreed upon by ALL, was Carrie should be a neoteric Greek tragedy, as the story aligns perfectly with that genre. The structure of the production was a modern adaptation of the tragedy structure, created by Aeschylus. There was no misunderstanding.
Idk I feel like that's an understandable mistake they're the same word just different spellings and ones a musical comedy like the exact opposite of Carrie
I am still heartbroken about Natasha, Pierre and Great Comet of 1812.... the clip at the beginning of this one reminded me.....
@@aimeewaterhouse5426 it shouldn't have laddered what the casting was since they apparently did non traditional casting for that musical as well as for Hamilton and some others that year. so it didn't need to close the way that it did.
What if he’s trying to say that that’s the next musical he’s gonna cover? 🤔
@@waterlemonandfriends Yes I'm hoping that was like a teaser
I honestly think that Great Comet never should have gone to Broadway. Or they should have staged it in a smaller place. It was too weird for regular people to gain a huge following. And all the cast shenanigans with “we cast the dude from Hamilton. Oh wait. No.” certainly didn’t help matters. Still a better score than Dear Evan Hanson and should have won the Tony for that.
@@aimeewaterhouse5426 Wasn't Oak meant to be temporary anyways? I thought he was just supposed to be interim between Josh Groban and whoever they had in mind for the next casting and Oak blew up about it bc he didn't read his contract or something.
"Think Grease!" I can't think of a movie more different from Carrie than freaking Grease.
The original script sounded amazing and I wish we could see it on stage. It's really amazing how one single person can up and ruin an entire production like that. Also what cruelty to tell your crew you found the funding only to abandon them with a closing notice. Like... wtf...
Please do Love Never Dies. As an OG phantom fan I’d love to hear how that show came to be, especially since it’s disliked by many phantom fans (including myself haha)
"Love Never Dies" is based on a book called "The Phantom of Manhattan" by Frederick Forsyth. It basically has the exact same plot and began with a foreword by Forsyth himself that said to the effect of, "Gaston Leroux was a shitty writer and got his novel, the original novel, of 'The Phantom of the Opera' all wrong. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical is the true version, which is why my book is based on it rather than Leroux's work."
Forsyth wrote a book based on Lloyd Webber's musical and then, years later, Lloyd Webber wrote a musical based on Forsyth's book. Artistic incest, essentially.
^^^^^^^
ohhh i'd love to see that
If you're still interested in a video about this Lindsey Ellis just released one a few days ago! :)
I always wanted to see phantom and now they have a sequel WOW
Betty is a freaking warrior and legend. those words to the young girl was amazing. I hope her career got better after
Oh. My. God. The director ruined the show but that backer who got everyone's hopes up and then left is the most evil person in this story. HOW could you get the ACTORS and CREW so excited like that?? Take out your failings on those who actually ruined the show, or tell them you're out! How CRUEL!
It takes bravery and commitment to stand by a messy show. And this backer only covered his tracks before making a run for it. Like a coward.
I really like the revival, but some of the stuff they cut from the music of the original is so good!!! Best example for me is the “Eve was weak” reprise in the destruction - one of the coolest and most fitting reprises I’ve seen maybe ever, and they cut it!
I will forever be sad that they cut that bit out of The Destruction, it's so chilling
I’m glad some subsequent productions have brought it back.
the LA production brought it back in 2015 and it was SOOO COOOOLLL
YES I agree 100%. I fell in love with the Revival, but I wish they kept that part in.
Heaven should've been kept. It was really sweet
Ya know how a lot of kids shows have that one episode where they try to "modernize" their Christmas play by having Mary and Joseph be space aliens or Ebeneezer Scrooge rapping, only for them to decide "This was getting away from the message, we should go back to the vanilla version"?
This feels like that, except if they didn't get rid of the revised version.
"The revival never made it into broadway"... this broke my heart :(
I believe it was planned only as a limited run.
Now I really need a Top 10 video of the greatest musicals that never made it to Broadway.
local theatres do it! my community theatre did a production about ten years ago that was quite good
God, I feel for the original creative team. I've written a couple plays, and it can be painful to see directors or actors completely misinterpret what you wrote, but what those guys went through was brutal! And Barbara Cook :( She was such an incredible singer, I never really thought about how she must have fared in post-60s Broadway. Thank God she survived Carrie!
But what really intrigues me is that, with a more competent (and actually moral) producer, could the show have made a comeback as a "so bad it's good" kind of show? At the very least, it sounds like the infamous 3-day run wasn't entirely based on the quality of the show alone, which I never knew before.
it has made a comeback actually! much better regarded the second time
@@sillygoose420 I mean I'm aware of the Off-Broadway revival, but it's very stripped back and updated to modern day, right? I'm talking about the 80s version - the way Brendon frames it at least, it might have built a following even back then if the backer hadn't pulled out so quickly.
What makes me sad about Carrie is that it has good bones but the director kind of killed it. I've heard the music from this musical and it's not bad at all. I feel like if the script was fixed a bit with better direction this could be a hit
"Not Since Carrie" made me wish I had a time machine to see the original production, and this just made that desire stronger, along with the desire to see the revived version.
This is the greatest documentary on Carrie the musical we'll probably ever see.
You're too sweet Chris. Thank you so much. Thanks again for having me on your I Pod What I Like podcast to talk about it!
What Kurz did was completely sociopathic. Why would you do something that cruel and underhanded instead of being honest?
That’s how greed and con artistry works. Have zero empathy and a bad relationship with the truth.
The worst part is him giving them that rallying speech about turning things around. If you're going to bail out and leave people in the lurch, DON'T give them (a lot of) hope just before you make your getaway! 😡
Agree.
I'd known he bailed.
But i hadn't known he gave them that pep-speech.
Well, he’s German, so...
Leave it to the Germans I guess. Same country that apparently teaches future psychologists to diagnose patients they haven't even met. If that's not sociopathic, I dunno what is.
Carrie was the first musical I was ever in, it was my first year of high school and of course my introduction to musicals ended up being the controversial one lmao. I’m excited to actually learn about its history 6 years after I was in it since it’s what brought me to my love of musicals 💜
The story of Carrie’s production actually gave me an idea for a concept I could work on. The main concept is based on three different kinds of people: The Artist, The Composer, and the Producer
"you said, think Greece!"
"the SHOW, not the COUNTRY!"
that cracks me up
I really wish they had done the original Broadway cast recording, even listening to Betty Buckley in a bad bootleg singing any Carrie song gives me chills
so the great Betty Buckley was GUILTED into doing Carrie. OMG
My animation/storytelling professor was a huge fan of the original Carrie film and always had a lecture going over its cinematography, which also included an extra talk on the musical since he and a group of his colleagues were there on that first Broadway opening night. Its interesting hearing someone's first-hand account of how much of a disaster it was-people laughing, some appalled, others leaving, he was sat near this duo of well-dressed old ladies who had no idea what Carrie even was, so he had to explain to them the story. One of their reactions was funny since she didn't believe him when he said that Carrie gets a bucket of blood dumped onto her, and made her friend stay till the end just for that XD
When you like the video beforehand because you know it'll be that good😀
already in my likes too. carrie is one of my favorite musicals and i’m fascinated by its history
Finally!! Someone ELSE pointed out the similarities between 'Carrie' and 'Matilda'! I thought I was the only one who saw that! ( although, I wouldn't call Roald Dahl a "master of the macabre"...) That being said, I could TOTALLY see this show being revived in today's trend of emo-rock operettas, in the vein of the 'Bloody Andrew Jackson', or 'American Idiot'. Maybe with a dash of something like 'Rent'...
Those who don't think Dahl is a master of the macabre should read his short story, 'Lamb to the Slaughter' ;-)
@@Charharr I am familiar. Even his children's stories are pretty dark! (some film-critics even consider 'Willy Wonka' to be a kids-horror film! =)
I can see what you mean now. =)
@@Charharr hell just read or watch the witches.
Dahl was extremely controversial back then for his ideas and thoughts that he put into his books,
People-eating aliens
The abusive Twits
Hunters digging graves
Principal Trunchbull
Animal abuse and shooting children
The ending to the witches isnt even a "good ending"
Psychological abuse between spouses
And more
We tend to think of Dahl as a whimsical childrenbook writer but aloooot of his stuff is just outright dark and scary, he is a fantadtic Macabre writer and earns his spot easily in this video
I tried to look up "Carrie musical greece costume" on Google and I got "Did you mean: Carrie musical GREASE costume?" Even Google knows. 😅
This is heartbreaking. The original concept seems like it was such a good idea. They could have had the Rocky Horror effect decade(s) before Rocky Horror. I'm gutted we missed out on such a great show.
Rocky Horror came out over a decade before Carrie the Musical.
Book!Carrie was published 3 years after Stage!Rocky happened.
I found this musical after taking interest in Christy Altomare and Derek Klena when I saw Anastasia on Broadway. There were parts I didn’t love and parts I was obsessed with from the cast recording. I’d love to see a production of it someday.
I am so desperate for you to tackle the RIDE that is ‘Rebecca’s’ attempt to be on Broadway and all the behind the scenes that came with it.
Tina Marie OMG WHAT
OOOoooooo! Good call!! This!!! ^^^
This would be so good!!
Absolutely, such a good topic. 'leonardo: portrait of Love" also has a great story behind it
YES!!! That'd be amazing.
I got an add for Period undies on this video, and that's hilarious for multiple reasons on this show.
“The most horrifying setting a teenager can imagine: High School”
American Middle School:Pathetic
*American Middle School: “Cute.”
Middle school is so much worse. I sometimes had fun in high school, but hated every second of middle school.
Naw middle school for me was chill I had a lot of cool homies and nobody really bullied
@@realhuman4396 Good. For me, it was the first time I was ever punched, which the school did nothing about. I was also mocked every day while making 0 new friends.
I'll settle on the entire American educational system being altogether terrible tbh
screaming over “think greece”
Honestly it kinda seems like every director was telling them to make the show scarier, or wanting to give it a new interesting angle (ie: Fosse with a highly choreographed show) and them not wanting to compromise their vision. It just sounds doomed from the start to think it could have worked as a classical opera and Greek myth/a pop high school opera those are two very wildly different artistic visions. Even now I feel like carrie’s biggest issue as a musical is that it doesn’t commit fully to being a horror show and to me the High school scenes just bring it down. My favorite production is the immersive LA one, that one at least feels like it’s trying to amp up the horror elements. At least the show is watchable now and was able to redeem itself a bit.
If they had to pick a side, I'd honestly want to see the Greek Myth take on it because that interpretation could be so cool in the right hands.
I completely agree. You can't ignore the source material. And I'd go even further to state that Carrie isn't about bullying. It features bullying, but the story is about the horror. It's Stephen King.
@@Kahtisemo the myth take on it sounds actually really interesting, quite frankly all their options sounded very intriguing, to me the least interesting one is the “high school musical” angle which is the one the latest revival goes with, but I mean at least it’s more cohesive and consistent now
@@iniuppa exactly! To me Carrie is more interesting when it focuses on the mother/daughter relationship anyways. The story is set in high school yes, it features bullying, but above that its about womanhood, about religion, sexuality, parental abuse, revenge...Carrie is a horror novel that uses real life issues to enhance the supernatural elements of the story, when writing the musical that kinda got lost
Ironically, it did turn out ol to be a highly choreographed show, just as Bob Fosse envisioned, perhaps even more so, thanks to Debbie Allen.
Never have I rolled my eyes so much at someone’s name than I have when you mention Terry Hands. The guy sounds insufferable and his ego cost them the entire show and more
my heart was breaking in the middle of this with the breakdown in communication and creative takeovers. so glad they had that 2012 off broadway run closer to their original vision!
10:46 Sissy made me feel so sympathetic for her, like please everyone, just take care of this girl, don't hurt her, don't break her spirit...
A- thank you for reviving my Carrie obsession B-Carrie is a weird show, I've seen intimate small productions styled after the revival, and large productions styled after the original. much like the story of goldilocks and the three bears, for me the best experience was a small cast with no ensemble, but a powerhouse of bending the fourth wall. It was a small maybe fifty seat theatre in the garage of an abandoned firehouse in my town. Everyone had the same basic costume ( black jeans, black t-shirt, shoes from the period, and maybe a black jacket) for when they were the "ensemble of this show with only actors playing principal roles. They also each had their character costume Ex: Carries school outfit, and they had their prom outfit. I'm telling all of this in hopes that you can visualize what I saw , smelled, heard, and felt. The set was much closer to the revival, looking like a drained swimming pool in an abandoned highschool, a dense smell and a light fog in the house( they had a fog machine running in the house before they opened it ( I had cast friends in the cast). when you entered the house you felt unsettled, you could feel the thickness in the air. I remember very distinctly, the amount of pure fear I felt in the room as the first guitair chords played opening the show. One thing to note is the how much more involved i felt in the story when i was in a small theatre, when carrie's eyes are constantly moving and she makes eye contact with you , but quickly looks away you feel the same way sue does later in the show. the next thing to note( i just realized how long this comment is omg im sorry, but im too invested now to stop) is the destruction, as for the blood drop, due to the set up of the theatre it would be very difficult to do a literall blood drop. This directors response was, to do a red light sweeping onto carrie and the it spreading over the cast, then when carrie exits the stage, her switching to a plastic dress covered with fake blood. As for the destruction- the cast is flung onto the floor and then lifting up their bodies to carries whims, and as Carrie leaves the stage their bodies start lifting themselves as though they are being pulled up by a string tied to their waist, reaching out to the audience on the front row, getting impossibly close , making you think they will take you with them. Just as they are an inch away... their bodies drop to the floor .Then a blackout and you don't even notice them leave. Lastly Carrie(reprise/ Epilogue, all i'll say about this, if you've watched the pro shot of sweeney todd, think of the very beggining of the final reprise of the ballad of sweeney, almost if out of character but not entirely Sue rises , the others enter. They sing , blackout , *name please*, sue screams ,curtain falls. One of the most bone chilling experiences of my life. Carrie is one of the best shows i've seen, better than some one broadway today.
thank you for sharing your experience i hope to see the show live someday no matter who does it
We did Carrie in high school and it was my absolute favorite show to work on. We did it in a black box theater which made the fire scene so much fun, the actors would run into the audience and beg for help or go to the actual exits and tug on the doors, and the music is actually so good!
Great job Brendon! I really like the nickname of "The Hectic History of..." if you officially choose to change it from What Went Wrong, Hectic History could really work! It's great to learn the history of this musical as the most I've known about it is what was covered in Jess MacNally's "Musicals with Cheese" episode on it, the follow-up episode on it, and the occasional digs at it from Diva, Tommy and Jimi. I did giggle at the notion of the original Carrie musical team being excited to "finally make an authentic horror musical for Broadway" (cue the "Am I a joke to you?" meme coming from Sondheim). I do hope one day Carrie does open on Broadway given it's underdog status and the 2012 revival. I think for me the main thing that breaks the suspension of disbelief for the musical is how they portray Carrie's telekinetic powers in the show. From what I've seen in clips of the original '88 show and bootlegs of the 2012 revival, trying to convincingly portray the telekinesis seems like the biggest sticking point in the show. It always looks hokey, and whether they have the kids do a bizarre dance routine to show Carrie...posessing them(?) or having them laughably run around on stage and pretend to get their necks telekinetically snapped by Carrie, it just ends up falling flat and coming off as too comically goofy. If they ever manage to work that out, I really think the revival could have a chance at a Broadway run.
Maybe for your next WWW/HH video you can do it on Jekyll & Hyde the Musical (because I *really* wanna know how The Hoff got mixed up in that one!), Hunchback of Notre Dame (maybe one big mega episode on ALL iterations of that musical, although I would settle for one dedicated to the Patrick Page one-- but you kinda have to cover all the other ones because there's got to be so much interesting twists and turns in that road that lead to the Patrick Page Hunchback), and definitely one on the Poppy musical mentioned in this video because WOOOOOOOOOW! What can I say but yikes?
I gotta agree on this. I would love for there to be a Wait in the Wings episode on J&H.
Are we all in agreement that Hans is sus
I love that all the S2 episodes are converging and giving context to the ones that come after. It’s clear you put a lot of thought into not only the episodes, but which shows are covered and when. God this channel is so underrated
I'm happy the layout worked! I'll definitely bring it back for Season 3 :D
Horror and musicals are my two favorite things in the world. It sucks that it's a genre that is very, very rarely transfered to the stage well. I would love to see someone tackle this material again. It can work, I think. I just wish I knew how lol
Any good stuff with this horror musical mix?
ever watched The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals? it's a horror/comedy, and I highly recommend it!
Repo! The genetic opera, Sweeney Todd, rocky horror picture show, little shop of horrors, the devils carnival, phantom of the paradise
I liked American Psycho. Not sure if it’s quite horror, but it does involve lots of bloody stuff. So I feel that it fits.
The togas were the true star
You guys should check out the Percy Jackson Lightning thief musical.
Artsy Academic please tell me that didn't happen
@@dillonohlemiller9027 it did and trust me I had your exact same reaction, but it's not half bad- the soundtrack is pretty catchy and has some gems hahaha
Dillon Ohlemiller it's actually quite clever and creative! It's one of my personal favorites, it knows what it is and works with it well.
@@casuallykye5985 I honestly wasn’t a fan. I didn’t like the whole teen rock thing they we’re going for with the music.
oh god it’s so bad. and not even fun to watch bad just plain BAD
I once did followspot for a local production of Carrie and it's one of my favorite shows I've ever worked (can't top Ragtime but it was great) and when I looked into the history of the show I was a bit blown away. The show had so much potential for broadway and the revised off-broadway version is amazing. The production was years ago but is something that stuck with me- something I can't say for some other shows I've worked. Thinking of our Carrie belting "an eagle's just another bird until he can spread his wings" and I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance and And Eve Was Weak still sends chills down my spine. Sucks that basically one man managed to screw over what could've been an incredible success.
I agree with that thought entirely.
i played carrie about 2.5 years ago and it was one of the greatest experiences ever. i’m so happy the show was updated and the rights were available for purchase
Given Broadways weird pension for adapting horror stories into musicals, I cannot wait for a Hellrasier or Candyman Musical.
No joke though, would definitely pay to see ether of them.
I love that I've seen two stagings of Evil Dead the Musical ❤
The Exorcism musicals special effects will be beautiful
A Hellraiser musical would be great, especially if they focus on the human drama of it all and they don't try to make it campy. I know Clive Barker had a background in theater, and some of his stories would be great with the theatrical, Broadway touch.
@@dianakosianka5344 they should use the og hellraiser theme. Half the score could be operatic; the other half 80s glam/punk rock like in 3.
Plot wise? I’d mash 1 and 2 together.
*penchant
idk if the history of it is polarizing enough, but a deep dive into ‘the great comet’ would be amazing
Well, if there's one thing I'll remember from this video, it's that Betty Buckley is not only an amazing and underrated performer, but also a lovely human being and class act.
What an amazing video - thank you so much for this!
As a big fan of the musical (as my avatar will attest), my own "Carrie" story when I called the Virginia Theatre on Monday, May 16, 1988. A male voice answered. I explained that I lived in Florida and was making arrangements to see the show. There was silence on the other end for a few seconds. Then the man said, "I'm sorry, we closed."
Now it was my turn to be silent. I was so shocked that the only thing I could say was, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"
"We are too," the voice said. He then thanked me for calling and then hung up.
As for my "Hindsight is 20/20" moment, I was in such a state of shock that I completely forgot to ask about the merchandising. Turned out it all had come in the same day that the closing notice had been posted. If I was thinking a lot clearer I would have whipped out the Master Card and bought the entire stock. As it is, I have been able to collect "Carrie the Musical" memorabilia over the years. That includes the original NY showcard, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, the Playbill, and the souvenir program. There are two items, however, which I classify as my pinnacle items. Thanks to a short-lived fan club called "Friends of Carrie" I was able to get a cast jacket. The other was thanks to a friend of mine who bid on and won one of the black studded leather jackets worn in the show.
According to "Friends of Carrie" there was also a silver Tiffany pendant that supposedly was given on opening night but I've yet to see a photo of one. Anyway, thanks again for such a fantastic video and for allowing me to share my memories!!
Hey! If you see this, please could you message me about Carrie via my Twitter (@chrisa) - thanks!
If I were directing Carrie I think I'd do the blood drop as a lighting effect and an onstage quick-change with Carrie wearing a blood-soaked dress under her prom dress which would be ripped off her. I don't know what I'd do about her hair and makeup...
Blood slugs in the crown maybe?
you guys should do school of rock next
Either that or the Lestat musical!
@@PhantosTheHedgehog yeah
@@PhantosTheHedgehog def Lesat. I keep hearing things about how bad it was and big a bomb it was.
Dude, the way you make all of the previous episodes in this season connect to this one... you really know how to do a finale!!
Amazing video as always! Loved all the callbacks to last videos! I have so many thoughts
1. Every time Michael Gore is brought up I think about how I so badly want a Leslie Gore Jukebox musical
2. I did not realize Charlotte d’Amboise from A Chorus Line was in the OBC of Carrie.
3. I cried a little at Betty Buckley telling Linzi Hateley that the closing wasn’t her fault.
4. There’s a Carrie 2 musical based off the movie that was performed in concert a few years ago that’s on UA-cam and definitely something hardcore Carrie fans should check out.
Again Bravo 👏👏👏
I saw the RSC Carrie in Stratford. I dont remember much about it except for the staircase and Barbara Cook, whom I was familiar with. I do remember that I liked it but was in the vast minority. As a performer, etc. I recognized that it had 'something.' It was great to see this video and learn more about it. Of all the Playbills I brought back from London and eventually threw out, for some reason I saved the big glossy RSC program and a couple of brochures and have kept them in pristine condition. I thought they might be worth something someday, if only for some morbid reason.
The college I transferred out of did Carrie and I think my favorite thing is you can VERY easily tell which songs were from the original and which aren't. Also Chris's 'bullying' is... dumb. As someone who was mercilessly bullied as a child, I heard worse on the playground in elementary school
SO worth the long wait and the build up to this episode. Noooooow........ where is my "What Went Wrong: Dance of the Vampires?"
It sucks to think that we were THIS CLOSE to getting a cast recording
A hectic history, indeed. Still, I’m glad the 2012 revival was able to redeem this musical. It gave it the dues the original production never did.
This channel is so underrated. Best theatre video essays on UA-cam BY FAR.
The video I’ve been waiting for and it’s even better than I could have imagined. I’m so thankful for your channel! I don’t know how you do your research, but you uncovered stuff I never knew, despite having friends who worked in the NY leg. Bob Fosse’s CARRIE?!? Gwen Verdon hip rolling through “Eve Was Weak”. Ann Reinking frugging her way through “Out For Blood”. I can’t even with this knowledge.
The idea of some hardcore 1950s enthusiast spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and telling a bunch of interior designers they want thier home to be just like Grease then coming back and finding a bunch of marble columns, Corinthian leather and a big stone fire pit in the middle of the living room because they thought they said Greece is hilarious.
Just discovered your channel today and I'm hooked. Great videos, you can feel the passion and love. Also, it makes a great double program along Defunctland 😊
This is still my favourite episode. As a huge fan of the book and film, the musical was on my radar, but I only saw it in 2012. We are currently in rehearsals for a production in Montreal and I spoke to my cast about your show and have directed them here to watch. So thank you!!!
As someone who has actually been in a staged production of Carrie the Musical, it's so wild learning all the history behind it
jesus christ, my heart breaks for the poor actors and creatives who really thought they could turn the show around only for it to be ripped from them
Love this vid! But, to talk about Carrie the musical and not mention La Mirada’s (Los Angeles) production in 2015/16 is a missed opportunity. That is hands down the absolute best production of the show that exists. Practical effects and magic, a 20+ foot blood drop, and the immersive concept are breathtaking. I highly suggest you look it up! There are great clips on here!
Watched a bootleg of La Mirada. It wasn’t my cup of tea. It felt like a showcase of stage effects and the actors… I can’t
Oh wow. I saw this show in previews. It was so bad. I mean, all that tech and they just had Billy run on stage and dump blood on her at the prom. I literally thought something had gone wrong and they just shoved the actor out there and said, "Go dump it on her!"
I wanna see this live or be in this musical SO bad!! I love when I find versions on youtube where they mix in more lyrics from the '88 version; all of Carrie and Margaret's lines, especially The Destruction scene! Ahhh! All of Carrie and Margaret's parts are the BEST in both versions!!
the original destruction lyrics are so much better than the revival. the reprise section of “and eve was weak” is so gut wrenching.
Carrie: Is a huge popular culture musical that turned into a massive financial and critical flop
Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark: Hold My Beer
*dives off stage*
Watching this premiere was the best part of my birthday today. I love your channel. You do such a fantastic job portraying the shows history, quips, and legacy. Thank you!
HEY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACKENZIE!
@@WaitintheWings Thanks a million!
I really appreciate your wrap-up. Validating all of the art and the work that went into them and how even perceived failures have value. And you're right - it is subjective. It's parts and pieces wrapped together with strings of music, in this case, and it's really okay to love and hate a show at the same time. You had great respect throughout this whole thing for all of the people who worked hard and put their hearts into it. Thank you.
my roommate worked in the costume shop for our colleges production and she played 'and eve was weak' on repeat (in all fairness, it is a bop). apparently, our production was also not a good time cause they had to figure out how to clean the blood out of carrie's white dress so it would be ready for the next days performance
Thats why you just have a bunch of them 😂 getting red out of white is so hard, trust me I've tried.
Every episode this season has been an emotional rollercoaster, but I think this one managed to top them all. Was well worth that wait!
And I think the main takeaway I got through this whole season is that the creative process is harsh and uneven, but despite everything, we need to keep making art. Thanks for the inspiration ❤