Carrie: The Musical

Slow Burn Theatre Company is currently presenting "Carrie: The Musical" as part of their 2014-15 season at the West Boca Community High School.

"Carrie: The Musical" is based on the novel "Carrie" by Stephen King and features music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford and a book by Lawrence D. Cohen, who also happens to be the author of the screen play that was used for the 1976 movie of King's novel.

The cast in this production is superb. All of the actors on stage are first class young talents and can sing and dance with the best of them.

Shelly Keelor, in the lead role of Margaret White, mother of title character Carrie White, does well as the religious fanatic mother even if, at times, the music doesn't seem to quite fit well with her voice. She has the characterization down pat, and she certainly has some strength behind her vocal chords.

Anne Chamberlain's Carrie almost at times became 'cute' rather than scary, but her singing voice sold the numbers. As Chris, Carrie's nemesis, Cristina Flores gave a standout performance and, in the role of the regretful Sue Snell, Jessica Brook Sanford gave us some of the best singing of the evening.

One of the real standouts vocally was Ann Marie Olson in the role of the gym teacher, Miss Gardner. Olson has a rich warm voice that was absolutely wonderful to hear.

Alexander Zenoz played the leading man Tommy Ross and Kristian Bikic played Billy Nolan, the stoner dude and boyfriend of the evil Chris. Both young men gave fine performances in their roles, but this show is really all about the women.

While the cast is strong and the production values are high, "Carrie: The Musical" has one serious flaw: It should never have existed in the first place. This particular show has gone down in history as one of the most expensive flops to ever open and close on Broadway. The original 1988 Broadway production only lasted five performances and lost more than seven million dollars.

The version presented by Slow Burn is based on the 2012 Off-Broadway revival that ran for a limited 46 performances. This version was greatly changed by the creator,s with several numbers removed and several numbers added. The book was rewritten and updated for 2012 audiences, but at heart it's still a turkey.

Gore's music is banal and uninspired. Best known as the composer of "Fame!" Gore is also brother to '60s songstress Lesley Gore and has lots of pop music and film music writing credits. This score has moments that seem like they might be going somewhere and could possibly turn into something great, but they just never quite make it.

Pitchford's lyrics at best are insipid and uninspired, and at worst are trite and groan worthy. The infamous number "Pig, Pig, Blood, Blood" that was in the original production was, thankfully, cut for this version, but its title is a good example of Pitchford's ability as a lyricist.

Cohen's book whitewashed all of the grit out of the original novel and his original screenplay. An example of this is the mother character Margaret White: In the book and the movie she is a vicious, child abusing religious fanatic. In the musical version, she's just a somewhat mean, slightly cuckoo religious fanatic. It's almost like Disney got a hold of King's horror novel and turned it into 'Carrie the Bad Princess and Her Moderately Wicked Mother.' Take that idea, throw in a few curse words and some mediocre songs, and you've pretty much got it.

"Carrie: The Musical" has become something of a legend of the worst of the worst that Broadway has produced. Perhaps it is time to finally let the show die and rest in peace rather than continuing to subject audiences with something that is never going to rise from the ashes of its initial catastrophe. No matter how hard you try, you can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear and you can't turn a flop like "Carrie" into a hit.

Slow Burn's cast tries hard and is filled with talented people who are wasted on this material but, in the end, it was a yawn-inducing two and a half hours.

"Carrie: The Musical" runs through Nov. 2 at West Boca Community High School, 12811 Glades Rd., Boca Raton, FL 33498. For tickets and information, call 954-323-7884 or visit slowburntheatre.org.