Culture
Tantrum’s ‘Carrie: the Musical’ asks ‘what does it cost to be kind?’
By: Emily Votaw
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Tantrum Theater opens their production of “Carrie: the Musical” March 9.
It’s based on Stephen King’s novel about an awkward teenage girl who discovers she has telekinetic powers.
WOUB’s Emily Votaw spoke to Victoria Rae Sook (director); Jessie MacBeth (actor, playing the part of Carrie’s mother); Ryan Belock (projection designer); and Miranda Korieth (stage manager); and Fior Tat (assistant stage manager) about the upcoming production.
Tantrum’s production of “Carrie: the Musical” runs March 9, 10, 22, 23, 24, 25 in the E.E. Baker Theater, Kantner Hall (7 South College Street). Find information on tickets at this link.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Emily Votaw: So in researching to prepare for this interview, I learned — and please correct me if I’m wrong — that the original production of Carrie: the Musical is considered one of the most notable failures in the history of Broadway theater. But, I understand the legacy is a lot more complicated than that. Victoria, could you tell us a little bit about that?
Victoria Rae Sook: Absolutely. So, you’re absolutely right. The original Broadway show closed five days after opening night. So it was a very quick run. Then they revived it in 2012 and it had an off-Broadway production, steering away from the campy horror moments that I think are what closed the show in the ‘80s. They really played into the humanity of the story this time around. They added a lot more from the novel rather than the film, and it made the script a lot more dynamic. I’m very excited to be directing this production. It’s come a long way and the script is very different. The one they licensed for theatrical use is even different than the off-Broadway script. So we’re doing a script that has not been seen by many people.
Emily Votaw: Victoria, why do you think that first production wasn’t so successful? Or is that not so applicable to the version Tantrum will be doing?
Victoria Rae Sook: I think that it didn’t really take off because they really played into the campiness of it and the spectacle of it. There are moments in this script that are really fantastical and you can either play them straight or you can play them as humorous — and the original musical leaned a lot on the campiness of it all. So we’ve tried to go a long way from that <laugh> because everyone has to have a theory of how they’re gonna make something work — especially when the first one is such a notorious flop. We’re really leaning into the stories of these students, the relationship between Carrie and her mother, the relationship between Carrie and her teacher, and just how these are real people. The only thing that’s different than how we interact with one another in real life is that Carrie has telekinesis — everything other than that is just people being honest with each other. So we’ve really leaned into the honesty and are telling a story that will resonate with everyone, because I think everyone has felt like an outsider at some point.
Emily Votaw: Does anyone else have anything to add? Why was this production maybe appealing to you to participate in?
Ryan Belock: To sort of piggyback off of what Victoria was saying, I’m very intrigued by producing Carrie today where it pertains to bullying in schools and the way technology sometimes has a role in that. Just the humanity of these characters and the struggles that they’re dealing with — issues of mental illness. So there’s a lot of things that can be touched on in different layers with this production that maybe weren’t so prevalent in earlier approaches to this material. So I really appreciate and respect Victoria’s awareness of how to bring some of those very deep impactful issues to the forefront of this version.
“We’re really leaning into the stories of these students, the relationship between Carrie and her mother, the relationship between Carrie and her teacher, and just how these are real people. The only thing that’s different than how we interact with one another in real life is that Carrie has telekinesis — everything other than that is just people being honest with each other.” – “Carrie: the Musical” director Victoria Rae Sook
Jessie MacBeth: I could speak to why I was so interested in the project. When Victoria reached out to me about the role, I was really excited because I had read the book a couple years ago. So, I picked the book up again and I reread it. The story resonates with me because, while not to the same extent as the characters in the book, obviously — I have a fair share of religious trauma. So reading through and asking myself, what would this life be like if someone took religious conviction this to the nth degree? How far can someone really rely on faith and on the comfort of having someone else to make your decisions? It makes life a little bit easier in a way, right? There’s a little bit less of gray and it’s more black and white. I was just really interested in how I was going to make the character work and how to make her seem like a genuine person who craves empathy, and who deeply loves — but who is also deeply disturbed.
Fior Tat: I have something a little different as why I wanted to do this project was. I have never actually read the Stephen King book, and I didn’t really know much about Carrie, but I knew there was gonna be a big technical aspect and that would be very challenging for me – which is something I like. I knew this show was going to be big, and I just really wanted to be part of that.
Miranda Korieth: Yeah, I’m in a similar boat as Fior, so far as why I chose to do this production. With it being a huge show, I knew it was going to be a challenge. Even though I’d never read the book or seen the musical, I knew this was something that was going to be very interesting and fun and different.
Emily Votaw: So, would it be appropriate to consider Carrie to be sort of a contemporary fable? Why or why not?
Victoria Rae Sook: I am not a typical horror fan. But, this is my best friend’s favorite movie in the whole world and he told me he would never speak to me again if I didn’t take this job. And so that really got me thinking and we had this long conversation and I was like, ‘well, when you really get down to it, it’s not a horror musical.’ And he was like, ‘no, no, that’s where you’re wrong because you’re invalidating horror as a genre.’ And then I really started thinking about that. The Oscars tend to ignore horror and we don’t have that many musicals that center around things that make us scared. And I thought, well, ‘why?’ And I just realized that just like we can learn from our laughter in musical comedy – what is going to stop us from learning from our fear in musical horror? That’s kind of how I approached a lot of the things that are supposed to be like scary in the production – like, okay, it is scary and it’s supposed to be scary – but that is what helps us see the honesty in it.