Original cast members Betty Buckley (who played Carrie's religious-nut mom, Margaret) and Charlotte d'Amboise (who was mean girl Chris), and original press agent Jim Baldassare, talk about their experiences with the short-lived Broadway production of the pop-horror musical about a high school girl with telekinetic powers.
The original Carrie lasted only 21 performances. The overstuffed experience — mixing camp, spectacle, horror, sincerity and the committed performances of leading ladies Linzi Hateley and Tony winner Betty Buckley — has entered the mythology of Broadway, remaining in the memory of those who saw it and those who created it.
(The Stephen King-inspired show has been reinvented Off-Broadway this year by original songwriters Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford, "Carrie" film screenwriter and librettist Lawrence D. Cohen and young director Stafford Arima, for MCC Theater. Our focus here, as with all Playbill Vault content, is the Broadway life of the classic title.)
The musical adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel premiered in London at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1988 starring Linzi Hateley in the title role, with Tony winner Barbara Cook as her mother, Margaret. Buckley would step into the role of Margaret for the Broadway transfer, which also featured Tony nominee d'Amboise, Gene Anthony Ray, Scott Wise and Darlene Love.
Terry Hands directed the production that featured choreography by Debbie Allen. The Broadway show divided audiences and critics. Capitalized at over $7 million, Carrie closed on Broadway after playing only 16 previews and 5 performances. Remembering Carrie Part I:
Remembering Carrie Part II: