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Broadway Rewind: CARRIE Raises Her Blood-Curdling Voice Off-Broadway
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Oct 27, 2022
Today we rewind to 2011, when Carrie returned to the off-Broadway stage with MCC. The reworked production opened March 1, 2011, with a book by Lawrence D. Cohen, music by Academy Award winning composer Michael Gore, and lyrics by Academy Award winning lyricist Dean Pitchford.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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One of the most talked about shows in town is MCC Theatre's new production of Carry the Musical
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which has been fully reworked and reimagined by the original creators. Under the direction of Stafford Arima, it stars Maren Mazie and Molly Ransom
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And I caught up with all of them here on Opening Night. It will be great
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It's great. I am never. It will be great. And I will never, no never, we'll never forget
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And I will never forget. Congratulations. Thank you. You made it. Yes, we did
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How does it feel tonight? It feels, you know, it's a catharsis in so many ways
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We had 34 previews, and we gave birth tonight. And it was an exciting..
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The show was on fire. We had such a wonderful, supportive audience
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And there was a crackle in the air. And that crackle was really exciting
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And I was so pleased that the actors and the authors got a chance to experience that crackle on an opening night
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and to give birth in a really exciting, visceral way. The last time you and I spoke was during your tech week
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so previews hadn't started. What was the whole preview process like for you
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You know, previews are such an amazing gift because you get a chance to basically
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in a strange way, get feedback from the audience. Not literal feedback, but you can tell when an audience is there
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or slightly straying, and it gives us an opportunity to continue to fine-tune
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rewrite, scenes were in, scenes were out, you know, re-choreographing this, re-staging that
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So we used those 34 performances to really kind of get to the core of this piece
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and to fine-tune it to the best possible way that we could over our four weeks of previews
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What attracted you to this musically original, originally Stafford? Talk about why you wanted to do this originally
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I think, you know, one of the most exciting aspects of Carrie
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is the idea of the outsider, of the person who, the underdog
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the individual who is not of the mainstream. And I think so many of us are not part of the mainstream
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And the question is, what is the mainstream? Who is the mainstream? And so for me, understanding the potential of a story
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that could unearth these themes was really, really exciting to me. And I think Stephen King wrote a very powerful character
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that over a number of years and decades still is kind of part of our culture, our kind of pop culture world
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So it felt it was time to give birth to her again for a new generation
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And sadly, to realize that the piece that was written back in 1974
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still has relevance today in 2012. When we were working on the original, which we were basically shot out of
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And Michael Iberis and I would go to the theater in the evening to see what had been wrought on our production during the day
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And we'd stand in the back of the theater and we'd get to a point where we had to run out in the lobby
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And we would find each other out in the lobby at the same time. We'd go, you two, you two
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This show, we never want to leave the theater. That's the bottom line
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We never want to leave the theater. You know, I always say timing always comes when it's supposed to come
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So MCC came to you. How did it all work out with this production? You know, we had Bernie Telsey cast a reading that we did back in 09
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And he, as the casting director, he ended up coming to the reading
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And he was so moved by it that he called us, you know, a few days later and said
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would you consider coming in and talking? I know this will sound crazy, but we have MCC and we're downtown
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And there something about the venue that feels right And would you guys talk with us about it And at first we thought I don know it New York we want to go kind of you know far far far away to do this work again and then he really
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convinced us that they had this space and they had the talent and they would give us what we needed
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a lab and a workshop whatever we needed in order to work the piece and that's what won us over and
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more than anything else I think it was Bernie's enthusiasm his passion for the piece he just spoke
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from the heart. He didn't talk about commercial potential or anything. He just
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talked about the humanity of the piece and he spoke to what we wanted to hear
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For you to re-enter the picture. Say again, Richard? For you to re-enter the picture again
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Were you sold on all the same things? I was. I think what Michael
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and Dean are saying is correct, which was when the offer came up
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and we had a lot of offers to do it in regional theaters at that time, which we
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were thinking seriously about entertaining, Bernie made an address to us that absolutely
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against all logic, will and brains, we went no, no, no, no, no and he said
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yes to each thing that we countered with until there were no more objections and we
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all sort of joined hands and took a giant leap together because it felt right
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and he delivered, MCC has never not delivered on everything that they promised us, the support has been
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Not wavering. That's incredibly supportive. That's not my name. Doesn't anybody ever get it right, Carrie
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Why don't they remember I'm Carrie White, Carrie? Is it any harder to say than goddamn total
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Stuck and weirdo and dumb . Doesn't anybody think that I can hear
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I hear. Especially when I've got him screaming in my ear. I feel so excited
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It really is such a dream. It's so incredible. The audience was fantastic tonight
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and it's just everything we all could have hoped for. What has it been like working on this show
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Talk about that, the whole experience with the original creators, with Marin. It's been unlike any other thing that I could possibly ever do in my career
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I mean, the bravery of these writers is so inspiring, and it's just been non-stop amazing from the beginning
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It's just, for the two years that I've been with it, it's just been such an amazing journey
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And working with Maren Maisie? Working with Maren Maisie has been absolutely incredible
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She's the most incredible person you could ever meet and she's so talented and always there for me every single night
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She's just amazing. Do you want to put her coat on for a second? Wrap it in for a second here
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Put that on. We're going to dress you for a second. Here we go. Talk about this remarkable score that you get to sing to night after night
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The score, oh sorry. We'll start again. Talk about the wonderful score that you get to sing night after night
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The score is absolutely incredible and has come such a long way from the original
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and even from when we started two years ago. It really has just grown and deepened and is so rich and just a joy to sing every night
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And working with your director Stafford Arima. Stafford is just such a visionary person
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He's incredible and a kind soul and just everything you could ever want in a director is Stafford
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He's the best. You and I spoke before previews had begun. You just started Tech Week
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So what was it like adding the audience into the mix? It was definitely an interesting element to put into it
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We definitely learned fast what worked and what didn't. And during the month of January, or during February
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we made changes to the show and formed kind of a set show that we just put together and it worked
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and the audience has been loving it and it's constantly changing but now it's finally set
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so it'll be interesting. Talk a little bit about the role that you play
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Well I play Tommy Ross and Tommy Ross starts the show as kind of like the stereotypical football jock
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you know he's the boyfriend of Sue Snell and they're kind of the golden couple going through
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high school and Tommy Ross also has this secondary passion in literature and
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writing and he tells this to sue not sure what she's gonna think and then she
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supports him 100 and he kind of connects to Carrie that way in the way that he has this hidden desire and she has all these hidden talents and aspirations that she hopes to pursue And so Tommy when he finally takes Carrie to the dance because Sue asked him to
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he kind of connects in that way with her during prom, which is kind of a cool element to the show that Tommy and Carrie share the same sort of feelings
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An eagle's just another bird Until he can spread his wings
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A river's just a sheet of ice Till winter turns to spring
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And though the clouds may block the sun Don't mean that it's left the sky
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Just when you think you've seen it all There's more that meets the eye
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What's it been like working on the show? It's been a really long process, but one that I've enjoyed
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I've learned a lot. I've actually never spent so much time working on rehearsing a show to this degree
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And I think that, you know, there were a lot of things, a lot of people, you know, walking on eggshells because of the history of the show before
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So it took, it was a very long process and it was a very, it was a very much a learning process for everyone involved
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Talk a little bit about the gym teacher. She changed during the process of working on her
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She did. Well, in the 70s, in the movie and in the book, she slaps Carrie at one point, you know, get a hold of yourself
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stand up girl deal with your period um sorry can i say that um and then another scene she shoves a
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girl up against the lockers and and so at one point you know in the book was i was still dealing with
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that and so i thought well this is a teacher that has a lot of anger management issues to deal to go
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through and and so i was approaching her from a different angle because of this day and age you
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I thought, well, she's a little bit crazy. But now they realize that the actual sane person needs to be me
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because everyone else, even Margaret White is a child. Even the mother is a child, so someone has to be the adult
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and it had to be me. So they had to rearrange the story and the book a little bit
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to suit this day and age because teachers nowadays couldn't get away with those shenanigans
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Sue is really the one that everyone can relate to because she's the one that defends Carrie in the end
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and that's the one that I think everyone wants to be. When they see someone else being bullied
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they want to be the one that stands up and says, no, this isn't right. It's a universal issue
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You see it time again in schools, and it's just great that I get to play that part
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and I get to be the one that kind of is the voice of what everyone's thinking
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Let's talk about what you love about the material and the score. Oh my God, the songs stay in your head for days and days and days
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And it's beautiful, beautiful work. And it's real, you know? Everyone is going to leave the theater feeling like they are a part of these
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they are one of these characters. Everyone can relate to it and everyone can understand it
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And you can leave humming and tapping. It's got the full spectrum
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And what it was like having the creators around. Oh my gosh, they're amazing
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And if you look at their biographies of all the things that they've done, I can't believe it
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I was writing my thank you notes today because that's what we do on our opening night
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And I was just, I couldn't believe that I actually get to talk to these people and hear their feedback
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And every day, it's just been an incredible experience, once in a lifetime
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When there's no one, when the smiles I used to see are not for me, what will I do
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There is no sun when there no How do you feel I feel great I feel cold right now but I feel great I saw you last week
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You were so brave. The choices you make, so brilliant. Tell me what it's been like working on this piece
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Oh, it's really been so much fun, actually. The creative process with, you know, we have our amazing team, Stafford Arima, our director, leading the way
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And Michael, Larry, and Dean, our creators of the story, have come back to this piece with just open eyes, open arms, open ears, open hearts
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and wanted to really rework this for now and re-envision it and imagine it
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So we've just had the greatest time, and it's the best cast, and they're all so brilliantly talented, each individual
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and they have all worked their asses off and it's just, it's really been so much fun
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And working with Molly. Oh my God, I love Molly. She's, how do you not love her
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I mean, she's a brilliant actress and singer and she's also a beautiful human being
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and we have just grown very close over this process and I feel so proud of her
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and so excited and happy to be part of this journey with her
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This piece says so much to an audience of today, doesn't it? Yes, it does
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I mean, you just, you know, look what just happened Monday outside of Cleveland
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You know, it does. It speaks to a lot of, and I think, you know, what Stafford has said to us is
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what we have talked about is everyone at one time has been Carrie. Everyone has felt like an outcast
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Everyone has felt like an outsider. And so I think that people, no matter how old they are, can come to the show and relate to it
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So just sum up tonight what it means to you guys. Just sum up the whole night
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Wow. Trying to sum up, you know, what's now 23 years of the experience
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I'd say to have had a not great experience the first time
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and to be able to go back and work with the people that we work with
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We're very pleased with the result, but I would say the experience of doing it
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and playing in the sandbox with everybody every day, we just had a miraculous group, and the joy has been the process
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I agree. I agree with Michael. The joy has been going every day
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knowing that that's what, you know, give me somebody to dance for, I think Donna McKechnie sang
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Give me a room that I can go into and meet with smart people
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and wrestle over this kind of material. And the Stephen King material just kept giving
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and giving and giving. That was another joy about it. Finally, I'd say the collaboration
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across the boards was a lucky one. We've all done a number of other projects
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some of which have been happy, some of which have not been. But what's rare is that every single person on every side of the team
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with Stafford in the lead, but on every level of the design team
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the music department, and the actors, all felt they were incredibly lucky to be playing in a sandbox together
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and everybody played incredibly well, and no one was throwing sand with their shovel at each other
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It was great. guitar solo
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Thank you
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