‘Carrie’ smartly-produced musical based on Stephen King classic
Cultural Park Theatre brings Carrie: the Musical to the stage October 25th through November 3rd.
Set in the present in the small New England town of Chamberlain, Maine, Carrie is a multi-layered coming-of-age story dealing with feelings of isolation, religious fanaticism and bullying. Substitute an AR-15 for telekinesis, and the show provides fresh insight into the uniquely American phenomenon of school shootings. From that vantage, it truly is the epitome of the Halloween horror genre.
Carrie White is the penultimate outsider. Her domineering, ultra-religious mother, Margaret White, repeatedly tells her that she’s special and the kids at her school represent a danger to her soul and spirituality. Nonetheless, Carrie desperately wants to be liked and accepted by her peers. In spite of the understanding, sympathy and best efforts of her teacher, Miss Gardener, her classmates ridicule and torment her for being different. “Scary Carrie” is their constant refrain.
In reality, Carrie is different. She possesses the ability to move things with her mind. She’s intrigued by this ability, known as telekinesis, but struggles to understand and control it, particularly when – a’ la Robert Bruce Banner – she is angered. It’s not just that Carrie’s mother doesn’t like her when Carrie gets angry. She views her daughter’s evolving telekinetic abilities as a sign of evil. Taking a chapter from the playbook of Abraham, she vows not to “suffer a witch to live.”
But she’s too late to prevent the senior class and the entire town of Chamberlain from experiencing Carrie’s wrath and retribution, which occurs during the senior prom, when the popular kids play an unimaginably cruel joke on her. The culprit-in-chief are high school queen bee Chris Hargensen (Shaelyn Crabtree) and schoolmate Billy Nolan. With the joinder of most of the senior class, the popular twosome orchestrate the bullying and stage a prank designed to humiliate and destroy their unsuspecting victim. Little do they realize that they’re no match for Carrie’s telekinetic powers.
The story is narrated through the cross-examination of Sue Snell, who discovers compassion and empathy for Carrie, albeit too late.
“What does it cost to be kind?” she asks in a lyric in the musical. Conversely, are you prepared to pay the price of being cruel and hateful to the least among us?
Music is by Academy Award winner Michael Gore (Fame, Terms of Endearment), with lyrics by Academy Award winner Dean Pitchford (Fame, Footloose). Together, they integrate high energy pop songs for the ensemble with more power ballads for the mother-daughter relationship fashioning Carrie into a powerful, modern, pop-rock musical with amazing ballads and energizing moments.
Go here for play dates, times and ticket information.
October 22, 2024.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.