CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Theater Review: ‘Carrie: The Musical’ is Surprisingly Serious
CHICAGO – Some people spend the rest of their lives trying to compensate for slights felt in high school – that social jungle is staged in “Carrie: The Musical.” Based on Stephen King’s novel, the story of Carrie White is presented as an adversarial tale by Bailiwick Chicago at Victory Gardens Theater.
Play Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
Say the words “Carrie: The Musical” and the first reaction might be a preparation for a campy romp. The Stephen King story is best remembered in the Brian De Palma film of 1976, starring Sissy Spacek. Although the film is serious, the disco-era styles and graphic ending of that version could easily be sent up. But this stage adaptation – in what began as a 1988 straightforward Broadway musical – is more interested in exploring the bullying torture of the main character, and the consequences for her persecutors. This Carrie is serious business about high school rejection, and is brought together by a production that wants that message to be clear.
Callie Johnson is the Title Character in ‘Carrie: The Muscal’
Photo credit: Bailiwick Chicago
And that message kicks off with a song called “In,” lamenting the situation of trying to fit within the hierarchy of high school. Carrie White (Callie Johnson) goes through a horrific experience in the girl’s shower, which brings some sympathy from Sue (Rochelle Therrien) and more vitriol from Chris (Samantha Dubina). Carrie’s home life is no better, as her uber-religious mother (Katherine Condit) wants Carrie to remain an outsider. When a sympathetic teacher (Kate Garassino) bars Chris from the prom for her actions toward Carrie, the stage is set for a revenge scenario. But what Carrie’s rivals don’t know, is that through her vengeance she can control objects using only her mind.
The company is strong in this one, especially Callie Johnson as Carrie. She captures the innocence, embarrassment, faith and anger of the character, and through each transition alters her look accordingly. The sweet and naive side of Carrie is unerringly brought to life, but most impressive is her reactionary anger and the deliverance of the chaos in accordance with those emotions. This is especially heartbreaking because it comes right after her “acceptance” at the prom, in which Ms. Johnson skillfully communicates the glimmering hope of the outsider.
The rest of the cast compliments the story, with standouts including Rochelle Therrien as Sue, taking on the guilt of an entire high school society in her empathy with Carrie. Katherine Condit is properly stiff as Carrie’s mother, and is strong in her main song, “Open Your Heart.” The younger cast as a whole are still close enough to their school days to remember some “Carrie scenarios,” and their authenticity in playing high school politics is fairly in-your-face within the confines of the upstairs Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens.
Confrontation from Mother (Katherine Condit) in ‘Carrie: The Muscal’
Photo credit: Bailiwick Chicago
The songs in the musical – with music by Michael Gore and lyrics by Dean Pitchford – are on the whole are not that hummable, and are mostly used in an operatic style of story drivers, with the exceptions being the incendiary number “In,” the poignant “Open Your Heart” and the comic “The World According to Chris.” The songs come to life through the cast, even though the tunes themselves are not as flashy as other Broadway style shows.
The stripped down stage, which lights up and comes apart depending on the setting and the scene, is a nice metaphor for the character of Carrie White, fragile and compromised on the inside, and ready to be destroyed by the outside forces both beyond and in her control.
By PATRICK McDONALD |