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saleintothe90s · 5 years ago

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422. ”Carrie” (May 12 - May 15 1988)

I adore reading about flops. One of my favorite flops to read about is Carrie the musical. A doomed production from the start. Millions of dollars wasted. Bad costumes. Filler songs.

Similar to my Simpsons season 10 review, I wanna give something to the worst aspects of the show. With Simpsons, bad episodes were awarded Marge’s homemade Pepsi. For Carrie, I think I’m going to give the bad parts the “Vending Machine Maxi Pad” award.

As most anybody who follows Broadway flops knows, clips from Carrie are scarce and are in poor condition on YouTube. Most of the actual clips are from when the show was in test productions in Stratford Upon Avon, but the music has been replaced with the Broadway soundboard. So, keep that in mind. Most of the time you can’t even make out what’s going on. Here’s the closest copy of the entire show I could find on YouTube, from the Sratford Upon Avon production.

I know people bash the musical, and sometimes it’s rightfully so, but two things are consistent: Linzi Hateley who played Carrie, and that orchestra that is on.point. Check out the overture.

(source)

The show begins with girls cheering in gym class in the beginning of an aerobics lesson? The white gym shorts look like diapers. That’s the first of many costume mistakes.

The song is a banger, I love Darlene Love playing the gym teacher, she’s my favorite part of the song. The only part that is cringey to me is when the girls sing “I go CrAzZyyyyy” and they get on the ground and dance like a toddler having a temper tantrum in a Toys R Us. Since the audio quality is so bad in these clips, I thought at one point the girls were singing about not being caught picking their nose, no, the lyric is:

Bought the clothes, did my nose,

Near the end of the song, the girls are on these rising rafters? It took me for-ever to realize that they were simulating a cheerleader pyramid, and that Carrie had snuck in near the end of the number to be on the bottom of the pyramid. Oh, and she causes it to fall and someone tells her to eat shit.

“Dream On” is the song that the girls sing while in the showers. Why yes, it does look like they’re in the nude due to the poor quality of the video. The song is ok, it gives total night driving home from the mall in the late 80s early 90s vibes. Although one girl says the line, “Six foot three and he's in his forties!”. WHAT.

Carrie breaks those vibes at around 3:44 by screaming that she’s bleeding. When Miss Gardener slaps Carrie, a cymbal plays. I love it.

I like to imagine that when the girls threw the tampons and pads at Carrie, some flew into the audience.

“Carrie” is shrill at first, and then it turns into a bit of snoozefest. Linzi sings the name “Carrie” about 458 times.

Betty Buckley who previously had played the original Grizabella in Cats. and who played the gym teacher in the original movie plays Carrie’s mom. Her song, “Open Your Heart” is pretty good. It’s a nice little break before mom goes bottoms up on Carrie for getting her period (”And Eve Was Weak” [Stratford version with Barbara Cook]):

Carrie: I was in the shower and...

Mom: You’re forbidden from showering with the other girls...

Carrie: I started to bleed!

While Carrie spends the rest of the night in a cellar, the popular girls are at the drive-in. Now, this musical cost over $7 million dollars 1, but yet this was the best set they could think of for a drive-in movie theater:

It looks like something out of a high school play -- which I guess makes a little sense since they are high schoolers? I’m grabbing at straws here. It cost so much money to put Carrie on, what’s a few more dollars to have two real hollowed out cars on stage, one with Chris (in the red) & Billy (in black) in it, and the other with Sue (pink leggings) and Tommy (purple windbreaker)?

“Don’t Waste the Moon” is the song sung at the drive-in, with Sue having regrets about throwing tampons at Carrie in the beginning of the song. The song is very 1980s, and it kind of doesn’t fit in the musical. Gene Anthony Ray’s (Billy) talent is wasted here.

It’s time for some “Evening Prayers” for Carrie where she discusses with God her new telekinesis powers. Meanwhile Carrie’s mom is being a worrywort. During the Stratford production, Carrie’s mom is in a rocking chair over there looking like Whistler’s Mother.

“You’re going to tell Carrie that you’re sorry!” belts out Miss Gardner. In the musical, Chris seems more obsessed with torturing Carrie than in the movie or book if that’s even possible. Sue is like, “What did she even do to you?”. Even Billy asked earlier, “Who the hell is Carrie White?”.

Oooof. Seeing the gym teacher try to cheer Carrie up by singing a song about the prom (”Unsuspecting Hearts”) and how she could go too is patronizing. Even if its sung by Darlene Love.

“Do Me a Favor” might be the most infamous song from the musical. It’s the song I see referred to the most when I read bad reviews. For some reason Chris is wearing a metallic red bodysuit and Sue is wearing a light pink bodysuit. Are they supposed to be that cliche devil and the angel on the shoulder thing?

Chris looks like Evil Homer!

I’m going be the unpopular opinion here and say that I love the song! The erratic dancing also fits with the song.

Carrie tells her mom before “I Remember How Those Boys Would Dance” that Tommy is sweet and polite, but the audience doesn’t know that. Tommy is barely a character in this production. In the end, Carrie uses her powers to shut her mama up.

From what I gather in “Out for Blood” (audio) where Chris and Billy go looking for a pig to kill, the chorus dancers are the pigs? The video quality is so poor. Chris had another crazy ass red outfit on, some sort of shiny red skirt and a crop top. The costumes in this are just horrible. It was like the wardrobe budget was $50.

This song is so.so.bad. It reminds me of whenever Rocko from Rocko’s Modern Life would see a movie trailer or a parody of something on TV for some reason?! Or the “gotta get that Reptar song” from Rugrats when the kids saw Reptar on ice. Especially when the chorus tells Billy to kill the pig:

CHORUS Cha! Kill the pig, pig, pig! CHRIS Go! CHORUS Kill 'im, kill 'im, kill, kill! We'll make him bleed! CHRIS Go! CHORUS Get the blood, blood, blood Oooh, blood! CHRIS Oh, baby show... CHORUS Kill the pig, make 'im bleed Let's get the blood, that's all we need!

Sue’s song “It Hurts to be Strong” is a bit of a throw-away. It gets a vending machine maxi pad award. Moving on. It’s filler

In “I’m Not Alone”, Carrie sings while using her powers to move things around in her room. What things? I don’t know the video quality was so bad. That’s another thing! The sets are nonexistent! I wouldn’t know we were in Carrie’s room unless the Playbill told me. It’s another forgettable song. Three in a row!

Betty Buckley saves the day in, “When There’s No One”, a sad song about facing life without Carrie being her subordinate.

I don’t understand the prom dresses in “Wotta Night”, they’re all garish giant white numbers that make the actresses look about 20 pounds heaver. The guys look like that Rio doll from Jem. The costume designer couldn’t just go to Alexanders or A&S and buy prom dresses? You know, why am I even asking at this point. We all saw what Chris has been wearing this whole time. There is a disco ball thrown aside in the corner instead of hanging up. More on that later.

The song sounds way too much like that song “Rock on” by David Essex. Automatic Vending Machine Maxi Pad.

Here’s a cute rehearsal clip I found of “Heaven”, the song sung while the Prom Queen and King ballots are being counted. Unfortunately, the audio is bad. Chris is there to remind us that she’s still out for blood.

Finally, finally it’s time for Carrie the prom queen to get drenched with blood -- but the thing is, due to microphone technology back then, Carrie really couldn’t have blood dumped on her. Chris and Billy just run up to her and half ass pour the bucket at her. Could the set designer not suspend the bucket from above the stage? Is that also why the disco ball is thrown in the corner? I don’t even think she has stage blood on her during “The Destruction”, (which is the best song from the musical). I think a red spotlight over Carrie signifies the blood.

I think Linzi is really only truly covered in blood for press shots.

Anyway, the Destruction, I love it when she screeches “DOESN’T ANYBODY EVER GET IT RIGHT??! DOESN’T ANYBODY THINK THAT I HEAR?!” It’s the best. I could listen to it all day and I almost did the other day.

Due the poor video quality, I can’t really tell how the prom-goers are dying. They’re kinda just twitching there in the laser light or slamming themselves against the clear barrier that descended from the stage to signify Carrie closing the doors to the gym.

After Carie kills everybody, this giant white staircase descends and covers up the gym. I read somewhere, I forgot where, that its supposed to be the school stairs? We’re led to believe that Carrie’s crazy mom ran to the school. The first time I saw it, I thought that it was Carrie and her mom getting ready to go to heaven. I thought maybe someone over at the set department took the classic song too literally.

It appears that while the stairs are descending, Carrie smears stage blood on her.

The reprise of “Carrie’ is so much better than the original. Carrie stops her mom’s heart cold mid song. Then she slins down the stairs and Sue catches her. In an interview on playbill.com, Betty Buckley says that on opening night (I don’t know if she meant the first preview, or the official opening night), there were boos from the audience at the end, but cheers for Linzi and herself. I believe it. Betty and Linzi were amazing. Darlene Love was amazing. The rough scenes are the scenes with the school kids. They’re awful, in the words of my boy Jay Sherman, “they’re awful I tell you. aw.ful.”

(relevant prom .gif)

1. Rothstein, Mervyn. “After Seven Years And $7 Million, ‘Carrie’ Is a Kinetic Memory (Published 1988).” The New York Times, May 17, 1988, sec. Theater. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/17/theater/after-seven-years-and-7-million-carrie-is-a-kinetic-memory.html.

New York City Broadway reviews on the news in NYC for Carrie. That first reviewer, Stuart Klein, I love him. I’ve watched several of his reviews on flops on YouTube. Joel Sigel who was the Good Morning America film reviewer is here too.

Archive of Betty Buckley interview.

#carrie #carrie the musical #1988 #betty buckley #linzi hateley #charlotte d'amboise #broadway #musicals #broadway flops #flops #the 1980s

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hecatescion · 5 years ago

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Random questions about your muse

Copy and paste. Do not reblog.

Name: Clyde Black. Victor Vescovi

1. Do they believe in true love?

He does but he doesn’t believe in it for himself. Or more so, he doesn’t believe that he deserves it. Clyde’s had a string of really bad luck when it comes to love. All the bad people he dated messed him up in one way or another, and all the good people he’s ever loved met a tragic end.

2. Do they believe that their life has meaning?

He’s not sure, but he thinks that humans themselves create that meaning and no one else.

3. What first impression do they give when they first meet someone?

Clyde’s a very dark and brooding guy. He’s dressed in dark purple, black and gold, and has a huge as trench coat on his shoulders. Most people would think that he still works for the mafia so they tend to avoid him. However a lot of girls like the dark and mysterious look so he gets his fair share of attention from women. Depsite this, Clyde’s actually a lot more laid back than he appears. He’s been through so much in his life, the only way to hold onto what little sanity he has left is to take things not so seriously.

4. Do they believe in heaven/hell?

He believes... in a version of them. It’s complicated.

5. Five things that irritate them?

Ignorance. Quickest way to piss him off.

Adults hurting children. He’ll go ballistic.

People questioning his bisexuality.

Talking about his abusive family.

People who misuse certain magical practices, like necromancy, for their own selfish desires.

6. First kiss?

Clyde’s first kiss was with his first girlfriend he had in 8th grade. Sadly her and her mother were kidnapped by a rival gang and after she was rescued her father didn’t want her around him anymore, so they moved... Not before her father kicked the crap out of Clyde. He doesn’t like telling that story very much.

7. What do they find funny that others usually don’t?

Depends. He has a dark sense of humor, but he finds it really funny when kids try to act tough. He’s also a sucker for puns.

8. Biggest regret?

Letting his late fiance Charlotte tag along during The Ivory City Massacre. Clyde tried to convince her to stay home but she wouldn’t relent.... If he only he had tried harder. Maybe she would still be alive.

9. Three words that best describe them?

Witchy, Illusive, Haunted

10. Their most attractive feature?

Clyde has the face/build of a vampire living in his manor for 2 centuries, lamenting about the lost of his bride. Does that count?

11. The feature that they find most attractive

He really does like people with a more chubby build or people who are REALLY tall. He also likes people with really sharp canines, but mostly, he’s not too picky. He cares more for personality.

12. Favorite song lyric?

“In other words, please be true. In other words, I love you~”

13. Best advice they’ve ever received?

“Stop livin’ your life for people who don’t give a shit about you! Who cares if they’re ‘family!’ Everything you’ve ever done is for the family, but what have they given you in return?! Huh?! Nothing but shit! Fuck ‘em! Leave ‘em behind! Abandon the Vescovi family name and don’t look back! Please... live for yourself for once.”

14. Worst advice they’ve ever received?

“Everything you do, you do for the family. Got it? Without the Vescovis, you’re fucking nothing. Understand?”

15. What makes them cry?

While Clyde feels no shame in shedding tears, he doesn’t like crying. Mostly due to the fact that he’s spent his whole life crying and he thinks he has no more tears to shed. Honestly, talking about Cherri or his mom, being praised for being a good father by his children, or hell someone telling him that his trauma is valid and that he’s doing a good job making his own path in life will make him shed tears ever time.

16. Hardest decision they ever had to make?

Betraying his family. At first he was terrified but after the lost of his beloved Charlotte along with his uncle, he had nothing left to lose. A high gamble that came with a high reward... his freedom.

17. What makes them fond of someone?

As sad as this is, genuine kindness, and bravery, and sense of family. Virtues that he’s really seen in others in his time in Ivory City. When you spend your entire life around Assholes, you’ll want as many kind people in your life as possible.

18. Do they believe in forgiveness?

He does but he believes it must be earned. However, no one is entitled to forgiveness, and some crimes are unforgivable.

19. Biggest turn on?

Soft hands and neck kisses.

20. Biggest turn off?

Entitlement & Immaturity.

21. Any fetishes/kinks?

He’s a huge bottom that loves to be pampered and praised. He also likes to be bitten and clawed at.

22. Do they have a perception of god?

He’s polytheistic but the goddess he worships is of course Hecate.

23. A memory from their childhood that shaped them?

Quiet summer afternoons in the gardne with his mother. Those days were great as his father was too busy to come home most of the time. She would braid his hair, teach him magic/potions and sing to him all under the cherry blossom in their yard.

24. Birthday and zodiac sign?

October 31st Scorpio

25. Do they agree with said zodiac sign?

He doesn’t care either way.

26. What is one thing that they wish they could change about themselves?

We could be here all day. However if he could change one thing and one thing alone, he’d probably make himself a bit taller. Being short does have it’s disadvantages.

27. A dream that they have never told anyone?

A BUNCH. Clyde will often have nightmares about very aspects of his past, but he just brushes it off and thinks a cup of coffee will fix it.

28. Do they believe in fate?

He does but he believes people have the ability to control their own fate.

29. Favorite season?

Autumn & Winter

30. Five favorite singers/bands/performers?

Fank Sinatra, Freddy Mercury, Lindsey Sterling, Horizer, Caravan Palace

Tagged by: @cosmicstardreamer (Thanks~!)

Tagging: Go ahead and steal it but I’m goona taaaaaag @polaroidxcamera

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don1y · 5 years ago

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do you know if kosuke is still a trainee?

he’s not a trainee at the moment since he had to go back home due to corona, but he has said multiple times that he wants to go back to Korea and has no intentions if giving up on his dreams

he has also said that he’s thinking of starting youtube and software programing all of a sudden, but he also seems really into candles (?) and gardning these days so tbh I don’t know what he’s up to exactly ahbdhkajsdgk

#I'm trying to keep up but he's all over the place #the scorpio fool moon getting to him #the scorpio full moon getting to him #ask #anonymous

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myownikigai · 4 years ago

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as a person who’s been wanting to get out of my parents house and be on my own since my freshman year of hs, heres my fucking List

my own decorations. MY OWN DECORATIONS THST NO ONE JUDGES ME FOR.

more room to spread out, let MY things become my home

BEING CLEAN HOLY SHIT my moms house is SO hard to clean in because of how dysfunctional it is for me

big bedroom that isnt overcrowded with shit im forced to keep that i dont have room for

AN OFFICE SPACE AN OFFICE SPACE ILL HAVE AN OFFICE SPACE

having consoles and a computer set up without judgement being passed upon me

having barbecues and get togethers and dnd nights and dinners in the comfort of a space i can dictate without issue

GARDENING GSRDENING GARDNEING

being able to walk in, plop my bag down, and NOT be greeted with “dont put that there thats my cooling rack!!”

being able to open my home finally to people i love without worrying about gross it is

sleepovers and get togethers where everyone’s allowed to feel so comfortable in my house, there’s no question as to what they’re allowed to do and not. just respect my home and my personal belongings.

my own fucking washer and dryer where i only have to worry about MY shit, no more “no theres towels in there” or “dads laundry is in there sorry”

having pets that i decide the cut off point for

decorating :^) i know i said this before but the space im in right now i cant decorate much so im excited

painting my walls ugh omg im tired of my musty dusty crusty walls at my moms

holiday decorations and lights :)

space for my crafts, diy projects, and whatever else i enjoy doing

purchasing my own groceries and only having to worry about my own meals and snacks

again: functional rooms that work for Me

what’s the thing u guys are most excited for ur future house/apartment/etc

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krenvs3000-2018-blog · 7 years ago

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The Freedom of Multi-dimensional Beauty

I found the two questions posed in these weeks prompt deserving of significant and individual attention, Thus, my response has been split into two sections. This first section addresses the question who are you to interpret nature through art?

The capacity of art to be a form through which nature can be interpreted lies in a commonality shared between both art and nature: their procurement of beauty. Beck and Cable (2011) point out, beauty is personal and subjective, thus it follows that beauty is necessarily multidimensional and inclusive. Boeckel (2015) posits that arts-based environmental education does not rely on pre-established knowledge, but rather, involves a “groping forward.” This free and uninhibited process allows multiple meanings to be interpreted and accepted. The multiplicity of beauty, seen in both art and nature, permits a diversity of perspectives, and therefore anyone can appreciate nature through art because both nature and art procure beauty and there is no succinct definition, no right or wrong, to what beauty is. Given this, I believe everyone, including myself, has the right to interpret nature through art. We need not rely on pre-established rules or notions, rather we can simply give ourselves over to the experience of viewing nature, similarly to the way we can give ourselves over when viewing a painting in a gallery. As interpreters we can acknowledge that everyone has a different notion of what beauty is and rather than insisting to our audience that a given environment is beautiful, we can facilitate an atmosphere of acceptance, mindfulness, inclusion and focus. If we encourage our audience to slow down, to not only look at an environment but to be immersed in it, fully and completely, taking in its details through all the senses, the multi-faceted nature of this experience may allow them to sense at least a component of the environment as beautiful and meaningful. In this way the beauty of nature may actually be more accessible than that of conventional art – for it allows for all, not just one, of the senses to be activated. However, the concept of viewing a piece of human-made art is one that may be more familiar with the general public, thus by drawing the analogy between art and nature, we can illuminate audiences to the unlimited meaning and beauty of their natural environments.

Our visit to the sculpture garden was illustrative of this characteristically free process. None of the sculptures had signage indicating the title or offering any background information on the piece. While some audience members found this limited their ability to interpret the pieces, it also allowed for increased freedom in gleaning meaning and perceiving beauty. All we had was our own physicality and the opportunity to relate ourselves to the piece in front of us. Through conversation with my classmates it became apparent that many of us understood and related to the pieces very differently. However, one interpretation was not superior to the other, rather they both were personal and meaningful to their respective observer.

Retrieved from: https://upload.org/wikipedia/commons

The following is my response to the second question from this week’s prompt how do you interpret the gift of beauty?

As Beck and Cable (2011) urgently make clear, beauty evades a universal definition. It is a personal, subjective concept that necessarily requires freedom to embody all places and objects. As an interpreter it is our role to unveil the beauty in perhaps the more innocuous aspects of nature. Given beauty’s lack of definition and its elusiveness (resulting from its ubiquity), the task of interpreting beauty in nature presents a significant challenge. In order to interpret the beauty of nature myself, I think it essential to acknowledge the idea that beauty involves more than just looking but rather necessitates understanding and feeling. Ted and Beck (2011) suggest that an interpreter can reference their own journey of understanding the subtle beauties of nature to aid their audiences in perceiving and experiencing nature’s beauty.

I would like to share a journey of my own; I fear it may be a clichéd story, however it is one I have experienced and perhaps the cliché will be an advantage when it comes to interpreting for others. When I was younger, I was terrified of spiders (likely the result of Aragog from Harry Potter). Not so conveniently, my childhood home appeared to be continuously plagued with spider infestations. These eight-legged buggers would scurry across my bedroom ceiling and when they did – well the rest of the house certainly knew! I would shriek and yes sometimes even dissolve in to tears, paralyzed in my spot and terrified no one would come and save me. Typically, it was Dad with his newspaper-sword-of-death. He would come in, calculate his angle and WHACK! A quick unceremonious end-of-life tribute followed with a flush down the toilet. I would be flooded with relief and gratitude and finally be freed from my paralysis. At that time, I saw no beauty in the critters creeping across my walls. Today, however, I adamantly refuse to kill spiders, and that is thanks to my friend Maddy.

Tan-jumping spider (Platycryptus undatus) , commonly found in southern Ontario (and in our office!) https://spiderid.com/locations/canada/ontario/

Maddy revealed the beauty of spiders to me while we were working together in the Rouge. Our “office” was a kind of tent/cabin structure that appeared to simultaneously operate as a popular lodge for spiders. By this time my fear of spiders had somewhat dissipated but I was far from finding them beautiful. Maddy, on the other hand, when seeing one, would lay out her arm, allow it to crawl up her palm and then cradle it between her two hands, peering between the cracks in her fingers to admire their various colours and patterns. At first, I was astonished by her behaviour, but as the summer progressed it became apparent that my new workspace was going to remain multipurposed (ie. office and spider lodge) and so I too began peering through the cracks in Maddy’s fingers. These “peering” sessions revealed to me the diversity of spiders, their character, their uniqueness and ultimately a connection to myself. Their physical characteristics varied (red, gray, brown, yellow, polka-dots, stripes, hairy), their behaviour in Maddy’s hand was diverse (frozen, zig-zagging, circling) and they too were having to share their space with others. Upon reflection, I found these spiders, in fact, were just like my co-workers and I – a diverse group of individuals coming together to interact, work and live. I was thus able to connect with these spiders and glean enjoyment from their company. (Although perhaps my boss would have preferred we spent less time studying spiders and more time completing data entry)! When it became apparent that our workspace was going to be decommissioned and re-located, my co-workers and I earnestly protested. I wanted to stay with the spiders, and the thought of their home being destroyed saddened me. I had not only overcome my fear of spiders, I now cared for them. Beck and Cable (2011) recognize this shift as the result and reward of effectively interpreting nature’s innocuous beauty. When one understands the beauty in a thing, they begin to care about it and care then harbour a sense of stewardship.

Golden-rod crab spider (Misumena vatia), commonly found in southern Ontario https://spiderid.com/locations/canada/ontario/

I believe the most effective way for me to interpret nature’s beauty will be through sharing stories such as these, that trace my progression from aversion to appreciation.

Yellow gardn spider (Agiope aurantia), commonly found in southern Ontario (saw many in the field but they were not common frequenters of our office/lodge) https://www.flickr.com/photos/49503114554@N01/1527631292

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