Adding to last night's story and BroadwayWorld.com's previous breaking news coverage, MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced that they will team with director Stafford Arima (Altar Boyz, West End production of Ragtime) to develop the little seen but widely known musical Carrie for an upcoming season. Carrie features a book by Lawrence D. Cohen (who also adapted the 1974 novel by Stephen King for the 1976 Brian DePalma film) with music by Michael Gore and lyrics by Dean Pitchford (Academy Award winning composer and lyricist for the original film Fame). The upcoming MCC Theater production will be presented at the Lucille Lortel Theater and will mark the first time Carrie has been produced anywhere since 1988, when it closed on Broadway after 21 performances.
"We at MCC Theater are thrilled to bring Carrie back to life in New York City," said Co-Artistic Director Bernie Telsey. "I didn't know Carrie beyond the mystique that had developed around it over the years, but when I saw a presentation of a reworked version of the musical last year I couldn't shake it. The passion, power and danger of this story of a high school misfit grabbed all of us at MCC. We knew MCC had to be involved, and we relish the opportunity to reinvent this piece with Lawrence, Michael, Dean and Stafford. Their passion for telling this story is boundless and we can't wait to work with them to give Carrie its proper due and to afford our audience the opportunity to experience a score and story as misunderstood as its title character."
The new version of Carrie will feature brand new songs and material. "From our perspective," explained Cohen, "we had no interest in seeing a new production of the exact same show that closed on Broadway." Added Gore, "We've revisited the material extensively and embarked on what we're terming a ‘re-imagining' of the musical."
Arima went on to explain, "As our society finally begins to take a serious look at the intense stressors placed upon teenagers and the often tragic consequences of bullying and social ostracism within our schools, the message of Carrie has only become more timely and resonant."
For more information on
MCC Theater, visit www.mcctheater.org.
Stafford Arima was nominated for a 2004
Laurence Olivier Award as Best Director for his West End production of Ragtime. His production of Altar Boyz received the 2005 Best Off-Broadway Musical Outer Critics Circle Award, was nominated for 7 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, and ran for over 2,000 performances in New York City. Other works include:
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Stratford Shakespeare Festival), The Tin Pan Alley Rag (
Roundabout Theatre Company - nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical); Candide (San Francisco Symphony); Ace (
The Old Globe); The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea (San Diego Rep. - nominated for 3 NAACP Theatre Awards); Bowfire (PBS television special/North American tour); A Tribute to
Stephen Sondheim (Boston Pops); Bright Lights, Big City (
Prince Music Theater); Abyssinia (
Goodspeed Musicals); The Secret Garden (World AIDS Day benefit concert); Chef's Theater (The Supper Club, NYC); Marry Me A Little (
Cincinnati Playhouse); and Children's Letters to God (Off-Broadway). Arima also served as associate director for the Broadway productions of Seussical and A Class Act. Upcoming projects and/or currently in development include: A Separate Peace (a new musical by
Warren Leight and
Todd Almond), Somewhere in Time (a new musical by Richard Matheson and
Doug Katsaros), and Allegiance (a new musical by
Jay Kuo and
Lorenzo Thione). Arima studied at York University in Toronto, Canada.
MCC Theater is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary season as one of New York City's leading Off Broadway theater companies, committed to presenting New York and world premieres each season. When
MCC Theater was founded in 1986, its mission was simple: to bring new theatrical voices to theater-going audiences.
MCC Theater continues to accomplish this yearly through three programmatic areas: its mainstage works; its Playwrights' Coalition, which actively seeks and develops new and emerging writers; and its Education & Outreach Programs, including the Youth Company, which allow more than 1,200 students yearly to experience theater, increase literacy and discover their own voices through the creation of original theater pieces. Notable
MCC Theater highlights include: the 2008 Tony Award-nominated reasons to be pretty by
Neil LaBute, last season's The Pride, Fifty Words, the 2004 Tony-winning production of
Bryony Lavery's Frozen;
Neil LaBute's Fat Pig;
Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living;
Marsha Norman's Trudy Blue;
Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit;
Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone and
Alan Bowne's Beirut. Over the years, the dedication to the work of new and emerging artists has earned
MCC Theater a variety of awards. For a complete production history, visit
www.mcctheater.org.
