Out for Blood: The Story of Carrie the Musical

By 2012, over two decades had passed since Carrie the Musical’s high-profile Broadway car crash, and the last thing its creators wanted was to resurrect the show that haunted them. But the requests for a revival kept coming in. We find out why Director Stafford Arima was determined to give the show a new life, and how he persuaded the writers to give Carrie another chance in a smaller, tighter new production (with not a unitard or giant staircase in sight). We meet two of the stars of that ‘revisal’, Molly Ranson and Carmen Cusack, and speak to award-winning vocal designer AnnMarie Milazzo about how she reinvented the sound of Carrie for a new generation. Is it possible to shake off the reputation of a show that’s known as a complete disaster? And can you really do Carrie without the blood? Friends of Carrie - join us on our social channels: this week we shared some iconic exclusive photos from Linzi Hateley’s personal Carrie collection! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Stafford Arima, AnnMarie Millazzo, Molly Ranson, Carmen Cusack and Andrew Wachter. THIS WEEK’S LINKS: Stafford Arima is now the Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary, in Alberta, Canada. The Carrie ‘revisal’ was produced and staged by MCC Theater The iconic Marin Mazzie as ‘Mother’ in ‘Ragtime’ Footage from the Carrie revisal on Playbill.com and the official cast recording on Spotify The New York 1 review of the show Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With an epic standing ovation on closing night, and urban legends already forming about its turbulent journey to the stage, Carrie the Musical had become an instant cult classic. If you’d missed Carrie’s all-too-brief run on Broadway, you just weren’t ‘in’. But the show was over and - like most flops - it should have slowly faded into oblivion. But, it didn’t. We track down the army of fans determined to keep Carrie alive in the ‘wilderness years’ that followed. We uncover the surprising truth about exactly where those bootleg videos came from, and hear from Tony-nominated composer Joe Iconis (‘Be More Chill’) about his teenage Carrie addiction - including a terrifying phone call from a familiar name. We also meet David Cerda, creator of drag parody ‘S’Carrie the Musical’, and talk to the people who threw caution to the wind and mounted unauthorised productions of the musical everybody thought was dead and buried. Did they get away with it? Friends of Carrie - join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Eric Gilliom, Jeremy Sturt, Joe Iconis, Alice Ripley, Stephen Dolginoff, Julie Cohen, Laura Dean, Annie Golden, Todd Graff, Craig Hepworth, Robbie Rozelle, David Cerda, Jeffrey Murphy, Julie Kleiner Davis, Vivienne Cleary, Kaily Smith Westbrook, Stagedoor Manor and Jeffrey McCann. THIS WEEK’S LINKS: Joe Iconis is the multi-award winning creator of the Broadway show Be More Chill: visit him at mrjoeiconis.com. Check out his Carrie Halloween mashup! Details of original cast member Eric Gilliom’s one man show, featuring that kill the pig tribute, can be found here. Todd Graff’s cult classic movie Camp based on his experiences at Stagedoor Manor is available on DVD. Craig Hepworth, that Robin Hood of the Carrie bootleg world, runs the theatre company Vertigo Productions. Robbie Rozelle’s excellent albums including ‘Songs from Inside my Locker’ can be found on his site. And of course, have a listen to the one and only S’Carrie the Musical. Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We continue our deep, deep dive into Broadway’s most infamous flop as we charge head-first into the madness and mayhem of Act Two! And mayhem it really is! Leather outfits! Dead pigs! Is that a medieval sword? A rap! A giant disco ball! Lasers! Oh my! As the audience cracks up at the infamous line ‘it’s a simple little gig, you help me kill a pig, and I’ve got some plans for the blood’, we hear first-hand from the cast about that iconic but tricky blood-soaked finale, not to mention the reaction to Broadway’s most expensive staircase. And can it really be true that the cast was met by a chorus of boos at the curtain call… or is there more to it? Wotta night! Oh! Also - did anybody mention that Carrie is telekinetic? No? Join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Charlotte D’Amboise, Georgia Otterson, Michelle DuVernay, Shelley Hodgson, Suzanne Thomas, Joey McKneeley, Kenny Linden, Eric Gilliom, Michelle Nelson Manne, Audrey Lavine, Jeremy Sturt, Todd Graff, Peter Michael Marino, Stephen Dolginoff, Kim Criswell, Mark Silver, Scott Briefer, Peter Mckintosh, Bob Sembiante and Keith Butler. THIS WEEK’S LINKS: The unofficial Carrie Archive Channel on YouTube has plenty of bootleg videos of Carrie so you can check out all the madness yourself. They’ve also compiled this megamix of audience reactions. A bootleg video of ‘Crackerjack’ in Stratford vs an audio of the renamed ‘Out for Blood’ on Broadway - which is your favourite? Either way, enjoy. Sally Ann Triplett’s (Sue's) cut song ‘White Star’. Linzi Hateley performs ‘When There’s No-One’ (paid content). Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first of two special episodes, we take a close look at the original 1988 staging of Carrie, examining it song by song and scene by scene to try and work out exactly where things go wrong and why this show became so infamous in Broadway history. We’re re-assessing Carrie from all angles! First up, Act One - and the audience begins to wonder exactly where exactly that enormous budget went. The dancers share some intimate details about 80s microphone technology, we hear the reaction to Linzi Hateley’s big opening number, and we debate what an ‘active gland’ might be. We would go bowling if you REALLY cared! As well as our gang of original cast members and a handful of superfans, we’re joined by writer and composer Stephen Dolginoff (‘Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story’), online performance pioneer Peter Michael Marino (‘Desperately Seeking Susan’) and general legend/future Margaret White Kim Criswell who all saw the show in 1988 and lived to tell the tale. Join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Charlotte D’Amboise, Georgia Otterson, Michelle DuVernay, Shelley Hodgson, Suzanne Thomas, Joey McKneeley, Kenny Linden, Eric Gilliom, Michelle Nelson Manne, Audrey Lavine, Jeremy Sturt, Todd Graff, Peter Michael Marino, Stephen Dolginoff, Kim Criswell, Mark Silver, Scott Briefer, Robbie Rozelle, Peter Mckintosh and Todd Graff. THIS WEEK’S LINKS: The unofficial Carrie Archive Channel on YouTube has plenty of bootleg videos of Carrie so you can check out all the madness yourself Check out the sites of Stephen Dolginoff and Peter Michael Marino Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The eager Carrie cast arrives in the Big Apple only to discover that very little has been done to address the show’s major problems, and that the show’s set has been lost in transit. But there is one major addition: Betty Buckley, a big-name Broadway star has joined the company. As the team nervously prepares for opening night, will New York audiences and critics be kinder to the show? We follow the journey from previews to press night to the shocking announcement that will shape Broadway history. Join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Charlotte D’Amboise, Georgia Otterson, Michelle Du Verney, Shelley Hodgson, Suzanne Thomas, Joey McKneeley, Kenny Linden, Eric Gilliom, Michelle Nelson Manne, Jeremy Sturt, Wendi Peters and Mark Shenton. THIS WEEK’S LINKS: Bootleg audio from a rehearsal of Linzi Hateley joined by new co-star Betty Buckley, and bootleg video of Betty’s infamously epic performances of ‘Eve Was Weak’ and ‘When There’s No One’. A bootleg audio recording of the show on Broadway, and a bootleg video of Act 1. The only known (and very blurry) footage of ‘The Destruction’ on Broadway, from an unaired German documentary, shot from the control booth. “You could take your money and throw it”... some TV reviews of the Broadway production. It ain’t pretty, folks. Some very grainy footage of the cast backstage on their final day. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shady feedback at the opening night party. Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rehearsals for Carrie the Musical continue in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. But as the show hurtles towards its opening night, the cast soon feel like they’re working on two very different shows, and the frustration of the writing team grows as they’re cut out of the creative process. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing behind the scenes as musical legend Barbara Cook begins to doubt that Carrie is the ideal vehicle for her big Broadway comeback, making her point known with a very un-subtle gift for Director Terry Hands. But is an on-stage accident on opening night enough to call a halt to all this nonsense? And finally, as the British critics file their reviews - is Carrie really ready for its big Broadway transfer? (Spoiler: it is not). Join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Charlotte D’Amboise, Georgia Otterson, Michelle DuVernay, Shelley Hodgson, Suzanne Thomas, Joey McKneeley, Kenny Linden, Eric Gilliom, Michelle Nelson Manne, Audrey Lavine, Jeremy Sturt, Peter Mckintosh, Mark Shenton and Brice Stratford (yes, he really does have the same surname as this episode). THIS WEEK’S LINKS: A video of Debbie Allen running a dance rehearsal for the song ‘Wotta Night’ at the RSC in Stratford. Terry Hands and Debbie Allen come together to rehearse the beginning of the prom sequence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjlPaachf7A. An on-stage tech rehearsal for ‘In’ at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The bootleg RSC archive video of the full Stratford edition of Carrie the Musical Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holly and Chris’s dreams come true as they chat with members of the original cast of Carrie the Musical over wine, including Charlotte D’Amboise (Chris), Sally Ann Triplett (Sue) and legendary OG Carrie White herself, Linzi Hateley, not to mention several members of the half-British, half-American ensemble and crew. The cast share their audition stories and their first experiences in the rehearsal room - including their memories of navigating the unusual choreographer/director pairing of Debbie Allen and Terry Hands - and describe what happens when you throw together 30 young, sexy musical theatre performers in a quaint English town full of pubs. We also investigate why the Royal Shakespeare Company got involved in all this chaos in the first place, and learn the truth about an infamous misunderstanding that will define the iconic design of this very unusual musical. Join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Charlotte D’Amboise, Georgia Otterson, Michelle Du Verney, Shelley Hodgson, Suzanne Thomas, Joey McKneeley, Kenny Linden, Eric Gilliom, Michelle Nelson Manne, Jeremy Sturt, Wendi Peters and Mark Shenton. THIS WEEK’S LINKS: Mark Shenton’s excellent blog can be found at shentonstage.com. The RSC was inspired to develop Carrie after its first commercial musical Les Miserables was a hit in London and New York - clips from the original production (and here’s the legendary Linzi Hateley performing in it after leaving Carrie). Carrie co-producer Fritz Kurtz had found success transferring English mega-musicals to Germany including Starlight Express, which is still running. Terry Hands defends the unusual production model of Carrie in this 1988 Washington Post article. Imelda Staunton as a mature Dorothy in the RSC’s The Wizard of Oz Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant in Fame. The iconic Barbara Cook in the 1960 production of The Music Man. Darlene Love sings on Phil Spector’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). It may be January but we can still enjoy this. The talented Gene Anthony Ray dances in Fame. The Carrie Playbill, featuring the ensemble playing themselves. Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1988 the Royal Shakespeare Company teamed up with the creators of Fame to turn Stephen King's horror novel ‘Carrie’ into a musical. The result was one of Broadway's most infamous disasters. For fans Holly and Chris, an obsession was born. In episode 1, having rediscovered a dusty VHS bootleg of the show in the midst of a global pandemic, they dive into the roots of the ‘Carrie’ story with Stephen King expert and collaborator Bev Vincent, hear from the show’s lyricist Dean Pitchford about the musical’s origins, and chat to original workshop 'Carrie White' Annie Golden (Orange is the New Black, Hair, Desperately Seeking Susan) and her cast-mates Laura Dean and Julie Cohen about those heady early days. Join us on our social channels and share your feedback! Instagram Facebook Twitter Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt. Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Annie Golden, Laura Dean, Julie Cohen, Bev Vincent and Rich Hawkins. NEW! Out for Blood merch store! Celebrate your love of Out for Blood and Broadway's greatest flop with our new range of logo and slogan t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins, face masks and (for some reason) cushions and tapestries! Available NOW at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/outforblood THIS WEEK’S LINKS: A bootleg recording of the workshop production of Carrie can be found on YouTube. Here’s Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore winning the 1981 ‘Best Original Song’ Oscar for Fame. A video guide to Alban Berg’s opera Lulu, which inspired the creation of Carrie the Musical. Watch the trailer for Brian de Palma’s acclaimed 1977 Carrie movie. Look out for an appearance from Betty Buckley, who goes on to star in the musical. Bev Vincent edits the Stephen King newsletter News From The Dead Zone and co-editor (with Stephen King) of the anthology Flight or Fright. The iconic Annie Golden performs with The Shirts at a CBGB’s reunion. Check out Julie Cohen’s (also known as Jewels Nation) band The Nations and Laura Dean’s YouTube channel Micro Mangia. And here’s Laura singing a mashup of Fame/I Sing the Body Electric. She dropped out of high school this morning, tonight, she’s a Times Square Hooker! Don’t miss the trailer for Streetwalkin’, the B-movie Annie and Julie were shooting each night during the Carrie workshop! [content warning: boobs] Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming January 2021! Join hosts Chris Adams and Holly Morgan (Big Diva Energy), as they deep dive into their 20-year obsession with Carrie: The Musical, unearthing the unlikely story behind the show’s creation and its infamously disastrous run, only to discover how Carrie rose from the dead to truly embrace its title as Queen of Flops. Insta: @outforbloodpod Twitter: @outforbloodpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An exclusive preview of Out for Blood: The Story of Carrie the Musical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices