Emily Milledge as Carrie. Image via Facebook
Carrie doesn’t work as a musical. The stage adaptation of horror master Stephen King’s novel about a misfit teenage girl’s telekinetic powers and her bloody revenge against her classmates on prom night was first staged at London’s Royal Shakespeare Company in the late 80s before transferring to Broadway. The show was a disaster; the reviews were scathing, audience reactions were passionately divided and the show closed after five performances when the financial backers swiftly withdrew their funding. At the time Carrie was the most expensive flop in Broadway history and the title become the butt of many a joke, although it did gain a cult following through bootleg audio recordings and grainy YouTube clips (you can watch the entire original production online – do it, it’s hilarious).
A dramatically revised version of Carrie opened Off Broadway in 2012. The more epic elements of the previous incarnation were significantly toned down and the plot was lazily contemporised for modern audiences by pushing themes of bullying and peer pressure to the forefront. However, this was still essentially a musical about a girl who moves objects with her mind and her crazy religious zealot of a mother. No highlighting of social themes could cover the fact that the show is, well, pretty crazy. Ghost Light’s premiere Melbourne production now playing at Chapel Off Chapel is a classy presentation of a highly floored piece.
Director Terrence O’Connell and his team have created a very slick and attractive Carrie. The charred school lockers that dominate Jacob Battista’s neat set design offers the audience a chilling premonition of the destruction to come while also echoing the narrative structure of the show; the story is presented in flashback as good girl Sue (Hollie James) recounts the tragic events to an imperceptible police detective.The colour palette for the costume designs by Battista and Kim Bishop are all stark black with clever splashes of bright colour seeping in as the show progresses. Jason Bovaird’s lighting is effective and suitably dramatic. Glaring spotlights are used for the aforementioned interrogation scenes, insidious floor lights bathe the ensemble in an eery glow during the opening number ‘In’ and crimson reds are used for the prom destruction. The five-piece band play the score well under Andrew Leach’s musical direction, however they aren’t significantly amplified so the vocals of the cast drown them out at times.
The special effects in the production, incorporated to show Carrie’s (Emily Milledge) supernatural abilities, aren’t very successful. We witness a photo frame shake and a book fall off a table; that’s about it. The climactic prom massacre is also underwhelming. The famous drenching of Carrie in pig’s blood happens off-stage and the murder of the teenagers is represented by lighting cues and some contorted choreography by Lisa Minett.
There are some extremely talented young performers in the cast of Carrie. Chernae Howlett and Ross Chisari are fantastic as the evil teenage power couple Chris and Billy; each actor brings personality and strong vocals to their respective roles. Kathleen Amarant as Miss Gardener has a commanding voice and her rendition of power ballad ‘Unsuspecting Hearts’ is a highlight of the night. Hollie James plays the role of Sue competently, although she seemed a little affected by nerves, while Jack O’Riley as Tommy has a natural likeability and an attractive voice.
Chelsea Gibb’s portrayal of Margaret doesn’t really take off until the second act. Once she realises that she must sacrifice her daughter, in the face of revelations about her supernatural powers, the character becomes almost believable and even strangely sympathetic. This transition is signified in a gorgeous song called ‘When There’s No One’ in act two which Gibb performs with passion and skill.
In the titular role we have Emily Milledge. Carrie White is a tough character to play, especially when Sissy Spacek’s performance from the 1976 film version remains so indelible, but admirably Milledge dives in headfirst. Ultimately, it’s a bit hit and miss. She certainly has an intense stage presence, there’s a lot of highly emotive facial expressions and idiosyncratic physicality in Milledge’s performance, however I never really felt sympathy for her Carrie. She seems to enjoy being different from her peers as opposed to desperately trying to fit in. This goes against the text of the show and makes it hard to connect to her character on an emotional level.
The problems that have plagued Carrie: The Musical throughout it’s painful past have not been resolved. The opening night audience laughed in all the wrong places and the whole thing still comes across as more of a ridiculous oddity than an intelligent horror story of the devastating ramifications of persecution. Ghost Light’s production is slick and features a great young cast, it’s just a shame the show itself doesn’t live up to the talent on display.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Carrie: The Musical
Music By Michael Gore
Lyrics By Dean Pitchford
Book By Lawrence D. Cohen
Based on the novel By Stephen King
Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran
www.chapeloffchapel.com.au
25 September 25 – 12 October
