Considered one of the biggest flops in Broadway history, Carrie the Musical came to the University Centre as the second year musical theatre students of Blackpool and the Fylde College take on this immense endeavour. Considering the popularity of this musical on Broadway I can say that I thought that the students did a fantastic job, bringing a very emotional and well thought out piece of theatre.
Carrie the musical, based on the novel by Stephen King, is quite a challenge to bring to live stage as you can imagine. But as the script is said to give each company as much artistic interpretation as they choose, it is quite refreshing to see a horror musical envisioned in a way that actually provokes people into a sense of unease and nervousness. As soon as you entered the theatre you entered the post-traumatic existence of Sue Snells life, surrounded by the personification of Carries powers. The show was highly immersive with the actors being so up close you never knew what to expect, from the beginning number I knew this was going to be a great bit of evening entertainment.
I had the pleasure of seeing Charlotte Scorrer play the part of Carrie White and I must say I found her quite phenomenal. Her acting and vocals brought a lot to what can be considered probably the hardest role in the show. Through the show she managed to build the character perfectly, right up to the final scene where she broke down returning to her mother after the disastrous and murderous prom night. The scene was favourite part of the show, and is a testament to Charlotte as an actress, as she was able to evoke pity from the audience, even though she had just murdered most of the school, leaving you ultimately feeling sorry for her because of how she had been treated her whole life.
This fantastic portrayal was also hugely helped by having an excellent co-star in Rosa Maria Alexander, who played Margaret White (Carries Mother). Hers and Charlotte’s relationship was electric. They really seemed to have the mother daughter relationship down to a tee, no mean feat as she is ultimately part of Carries downfall.
One of my favourite songs from the show was The World according to Chris which was performed by Chris Hargensen (Georgia Barker) and ensemble. Playing the school bully can be both fun and horrible at the same time, and Georgia did this brilliantly, impressively backing up her performance with sultry vocals. You best believe that after hearing this number I have it playing non-stop.
The ensemble didn’t drop the mark either when it came to making this show a success. Every individual actor seemed like they had their own backstory that could make up a completely new show if you were to follow them along on their journey. If I was to give any critique I would say that there were a few mic issues (not the actors fault) and a few of the cast could do with working on their accents a little more. Unfortunately I only got to see one cast, something I really regret, as I heard through other audience members that the other cast were equally brilliant.
Overall I was thoroughly impressed and I think everyone involved should be extremely proud of themselves. As this is only their second year production, I really can’t wait to see the shows they produce in their third year, which I am hopeful that I will be invited to.
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