The musical focuses on Carrie White, an awkward teenage girl with telekinetic powers, whose lonely life is dominated by her oppressive religious fanatic mother, Margaret.
Its original stars included Linzi Hateley as the title character, Sally Ann Triplett as Sue Snell, Charlotte d'Amboise as Chris Hargensen, Gene Anthony Ray as Billy Nolan, and Darlene Love as Miss Gardner.
The other girls taunt her mercilessly until Miss Gardner hears the commotion, and slaps Carrie to end the frenzy, causing her to break a lightbulb overhead with telekinesis.
Margaret tells Carrie in a twisted display of her corrupted religious psyche that the blood is a sign of her sin, and the materialization of her mysterious power ("And Eve Was Weak") and forces her into the cellar to pray for forgiveness.
Getting ready for the prom, Carrie dreams about her date and, in a positive display of her special powers, she sends her dress, shoes, and hairbrush dancing through the air ("I'm Not Alone").
At the height of the nights rapture, Tommy and Carrie are declared king and queen of the prom, and they are crowned as the students applaud and sing the "Alma Mater".
Act I Sue Snell, haunted witness and tour guide to our story, struggles to recount the incidents leading up to the tragic night of May 28.
As gym teacher Miss Gardner races in at the height of Carrie's hysteria, an overhead light bulb inexplicably explodes.
At the White bungalow, Carrie's mother Margaret works at her sewing machine and sings along to her favorite evangelical radio program ("Open Your Heart").
When Sue – confused and upset about her role in the hazing – protests that it wasn't funny, Chris perversely instructs her in the natural order of things.
When she orders Carrie to tell Tommy that she can't go, they battle and, as rain starts to blow in, Margaret walks away to close the windows.
Act II Preparations for Prom and the news that Tommy's taking Carrie preoccupy everyone at school, including Chris and Billy, who sneak into the gymnasium with a bucket of pig's blood and set their own nasty prank in place ("A Night We'll Never Forget").
Tommy enters with Carrie, and the crowd's reaction to her stunning transformation turns from initially hostile to unexpectedly welcoming ("Prom Arrival").
Miss Gardner, surprised and delighted by Carrie's new self-assurance, shares her own recollection of Prom, and teacher and student trade notes on this timeless high school ritual ("Unsuspecting Hearts – Reprise").
After much coaxing, Tommy leads a hesitant Carrie onto the dance floor where they're observed – first by Sue, who has felt compelled to sneak in and see how her plan has worked out, and then by Chris' partner-in-crime, Norma ("Dreamer in Disguise – Reprise").
While the assembled salute them with the school song ("Alma Mater"), Sue spots the bucket dangling above the coronation area, confirming her worst suspicions.
Frantic, she tries to warn Miss Gardner, but the teacher, who's been wary of Sue's motives in forgoing her Prom in favor of Carrie, pushes her out of the gym.
[2] In August 1984, a workshop of the first act was staged at 890 Broadway in New York City, with Annie Golden as Carrie, Maureen McGovern as Mrs. White, Laurie Beechman as Mrs. Gardner, and Liz Callaway as Chris.
The show was produced by Friedrich Kurz and the Royal Shakespeare Company and had its first four-week run beginning on February 13, 1988, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, where it received mixed reviews.
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 massive, technically complex production, which was made with the help of designer Ralph Koltai, featured pyrotechnics, lasers, automated scenery, and a gigantic white staircase that would lower from the ceiling for the final scene of the show (with a completely automated lighting rig underneath, which would lower for the final scene to make room for the staircase).
[3] A musical section of the "Locker Room Scene" (which has come to be known as "Her Mother Should Have Told Her") was removed during the run, then re-added and dropped partway through the Broadway previews.
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).
Hampered by mostly negative reviews, the financial backers pulled their money out of the show, and it closed on May 15 after only 16 previews and 5 performances,[7] guaranteeing its place in Broadway history as one of the most expensive disasters ever.
In early 2015, Paul Taylor-Mills (producer) and Gary Lloyd (director) announced that they were bringing the revamped Carrie to London's Off-West End theatre, the Southwark Playhouse running for a limited season from 1 to 30 May.
Casting for this production included Evelyn Hoskins in the title role, Kim Criswell as Margaret White, Sarah McNicholas as Sue Snell, Gabriella Williams as Chris Hargensen, Jodie Jacobs as Miss Gardner, Greg Miller-Burns as Tommy Ross and Dex Lee as Billy Nolan.
Directed by Brady Schwind and Choreographed by Lee Martino, the cast for the Los Angeles premiere included Emily Lopez as Carrie White, Misty Cotton as Margaret White, Kayla Parker as Sue Snell, Jon Robert Hall as Tommy Ross, Valerie Rose Curiel as Chris Hargensen, Garrett Marshall as Billy Nolan and Jenelle Lynn Randall as Miss Gardner.
For certain scenes, including the one where Carrie is bullied in the girls’ locker room, the first few rows of the audience are swung into place, creating a "boxed-in", intimate effect on the action.
[20][21] Producers Jack W. Batman and Bruce Robert Harris planned a future productions of the staging for additional cities nationwide and internationally.
Jackson eventually earned the consent of Stephen King[32] to mount a new, officially sanctioned, non-musical production of Carrie, which debuted Off-Broadway in 2006 with drag queen Sherry Vine in the lead role.