Review Roundup: CARRIE THE MUSICAL Opens in Los Angeles!

CARRIE THE MUSICAL returned to Los Angeles at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, the first theatrical musical at that venue. CARRIE THE MUSICAL began previews on October 1, 2015 and officially opened on October 8, 2015.

Directed by Brady Schwind and choreographed by Lee Martino, this immersive staging of CARRIE takes the legendary musical off the stage and puts the audience right in the middle of the action, back in the rooms and hallways of high school and, of course, with a prime seat at the prom. This production is based on the acclaimed run this past spring at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, with most of the original La Mirada cast.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Don Grigware, BroadwayWorld: When I reviewed Carrie the Musical last March at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (review below), it was an immersive experience I will never forget. Now the show has transferred to the refurbished Los Angeles Theatre at 615 Broadway downtown, and I enjoyed this mounting even more than the first. There is something about the atmosphere of this theatre that adds an eerie quality to the proceedings, but, as changes go, what I noticed first and foremost is that several scenes have been restaged in this larger space, making the storytelling sharper, clearer, more focused than before.

David C. Nichols, LA Times: Regardless, from first moving-bleacher gambit to climactic apocalypse, "Carrie" remains a wildly imaginative theatrical thrill ride -- as previously observed, Cirque du Soleil meets Disneyland with pig's blood -- now with a fresh patina of Old Hollywood grandeur. See it with someone you love to scream with.

Dany Margolies, LA Daily News: Bullying has been around since long before King's novel. New to our era are revenge mass murders by the bullied. So what audience is this show directed to? Confused and disenfranchised teens certainly won't learn from or be inspired by anything onstage - but least Carrie isn't glorified here. Still, this show, like many before it that range from unmemorable to dreadful, will find its rabid following. For other audience members, it will unfortunately have killed three hours of our lives.

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