Broadway Producers Putting Together Fall Reading of CARRIE: THE MUSICAL

Variety is reporting that producers are putting together a 29-hour Equity reading of CARRIE, the musical that had a notoriously short 3 night, 5 performance run on Broadway in 1988.

Variety reports that "Producer Jeffrey Seller won't say much, except that the tuner's original creators composer Michael Gore, lyricist Dean Pitchford and book writer Lawrence D. Cohen are revisiting and reworking their script." No production plans are yet in place past the planned reading. 

With original music by Michael Gore (Fame) and Dean Pitchford (Footloose) and a script by Lawrence D. Cohen (who wrote the 1976 film as well), CARRIE: THE MUSICAL is often considered the biggest Broadway flop of all time.

The show had its first four-week run beginning on February 13, 1988 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Directed by Terry Hands and choreographed by Debbie Allen, the cast included Broadway veteran and cabaret singer Barbara Cook, Charlotte d'Amboise, Gene Anthony Ray, Darlene Love, and Linzi Hateley, in her stage debut, as Carrie.

The show transferred to Broadway at an expense of $8 million and Hateley (who ultimately won a Theatre World Award) and other members of the UK cast remained with the show, but Cook was replaced by Betty Buckley (who had played the teacher Miss Collins in the 1976 film version). It opened on May 12 and closed a mere 3 nights later after only 5 performances.