Review: A Delightfully Scary CARRIE Comes to EPAC

In the beginning, Stephen King created the novel CARRIE. And God knew that it was scary. Then Brian De Palma directed the movie CARRIE, and God knew that was scary, too, as it created the indelible image of Sissy Spacek drenched in faux pig blood and guts that's scorched into our brains. (Remake? What remake?) Then, Lawewnce D. Cohen, who wrote the movie screenplay, and Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore, conspired to create CARRIE: THE MUSICAL. And even God was scared, and the show closed after five performances. But then, twenty years later, the same team revised - well, overhauled - the show, and God saw that it was rightly scary, the way it was supposed to be, and not scary bad, and it was really good.

It is the revised, charming in its way, really good version of CARRIE: THE MUSICAL that takes stage at Ephrata Performing Arts Center, directed by Artistic Director Edward R. Fernandez, and it comes off, thanks to fine direction and a truly energetic and talented cast, as far better than merely good. It's more than good, it's fun, and it's particularly fun as a Halloween show.

If you've read the book or seen the movie, there's nothing you won't find familiar here - a naïve young woman; an overbearing religious mother; bullying mean girls; Sue, a girl who wants to, but can't, befriend Carrie; and Sue's boyfriend, who's a good soul. If anything, CARRIE is a morality tale with multiple messages: that girls need to know the facts of life (and you needn't be Carrie's mother not to clue girls in properly), that bullying is evil and needs to be stopped, and that no matter how well-intentioned you are, things can still go straight to hell. Also, that if you know someone with telekinesis, you should be nice to them.

But that story, and those messages, are only as good as the book and songs, which are now just fine, and those telling the tale. And some fine tellers there are here, most notably EPAC veteran Bobbi Bear as religiously dysfunctional mother Margaret White. Her vocal skills are dazzling, and the best moments of the show are her scenes, especially the duet moments, with daughter Carrie. Bear is great fun to watch, always teetering just to the wrong side of barely controlled religious and sexual mania. Margaret's enthusiasms and her fears are so well displayed that the audience can feel the elastic band of her sanity being tugged, which is also some very fine acting. Bear herself is worth the price of admission.

Carrie White is played by Natalie Young, who has a fine list of credits for a younger actor. She's good. She's very good. She's almost too talented, as her self-possession and maturity as a performer sometimes eclipse the naïve, frightened near-child that Carrie needs to be. But in her scenes with Bear, she pulls back perfectly, alternately yearning for and fearing her mother's attention. In her scenes with Andrew Patterson's Tommy Ross, she's also at perfect pitch, slightly in awe, slightly in calf love, slightly overwhelmed.

Sue Snell, the "good girl" who can't reach Carrie, but who sacrifices her prom to give Carrie a chance to be happy, is Heather Bounds. She's utterly believable, going from carried away by the crowd to self-recriminating, and desperate to make things right. She's so spot-on that you're sure she's someone you know personally who's just like that. Teamed with Patterson, playing her boyfriend, you see the local school's "nice kids" in their full glory. Rachel Faust as rich bad girl Chris is equally apt at her role, with the audience clearly feeling the itch to tell her off. Even though Chris's "mean girl" role is written to be over the top, Faust carries it off with a straight face and the swagger of a teen who's sure of her entitlement.

The ensemble is nicely done, especially with costumes, makeup, and hair that make them individuals and not just part of the crowd of students - the jocks, preps, nerds, and cute kids are all clearly defined and personalized, whether they have larger parts or not.

Tricia Corcoran and Carl Bomberger do well in their small parts as the girls' gym teacher and principal, but Bomberger's great moment is as flamboyant preacher Reverend Bliss, whom Margaret White idolizes. It's a tiny moment, but well worth it.

If there's one moment that doesn't hold up as well as it might, it is, alas, the moment at the prom when prom queen Carrie is assaulted. The resulting mess is a bit slower and less... messy... than one might wish, though it's certainly not the easiest staging. The iconic movie moment isn't quite as perfectly squicky and gross as one could hope for. But it's there, in all its bloody-looking glory, if not gore, and the effects following it are beautifully handled in staging Carrie's telekinetic revenge.

All told, it's a satisfying production that should leave King fans, fans of the movie, and people who just want a good scare perfectly happy. It should also leave music lovers happy, as it's delightfully sung - pay attention during those Margaret and Carrie duets, and you'll never go wrong.

At EPAC through October 31. Call 717-733-7966 or visit ephrataperformingartscenter.com for tickets and information. Next up is SHREK: THE MUSICAL, a show of a totally different attitude, but no less a morality tale.

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