Out for Blood: The Story of Carrie the Musical

In this special mini episode featuring bonus interview footage, Holly and Chris chat with six of the talented performers who have played Carrie in the landmark productions of this legendary show, and find out what it’s like to bring to life this iconic character to life on stage.

Featuring Annie Golden (workshop production), Linzi Hateley (original Stratford and Broadway production), Molly Ranson (off-Broadway revival), Keaton Whittaker (Seattle), Emily Lopez (La Mirada/Los Angeles) and Evelyn Hoskins (Southwark Playhouse, London).

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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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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It’s been quite a journey. Holly and Chris look back at their Carrie adventure and try and answer some burning questions. 

We ask an expert, author of ‘Flop Musicals of the Twentieth Century’ Stephen Purdy, if Carrie really can be defined as a flop compared to some prominent recent mega-failures.

We also find out from writer Peter Michael Marino, creator of the doomed ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ musical, what it’s like to have your new musical trashed (FYI: we saw it twice and had a great time), plus Broadway star Alice Ripley also shares her experiences of being in well-loved musicals which were hit by premature closure, like ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Side Show’. 

And finally - a post mortem. Where did it go wrong? Who was to blame? Could Carrie have been fixed? Can you even do horror on stage? Can we just do this as a job forever? 

Plus, we leave the last word to our gang of original cast members to tell us how this extraordinary show changed their lives forever.

Friends of Carrie - join us on our social channels and share your feedback!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

Thanks this week to Stephen Purdy, Peter Michael Marino, Alice Ripley, Linzi Hateley, Brady Schwind, Joey Mckneeley, Dean Pitchford, Charlotte D’Amboise, Sally Ann Triplett, Suzanne Thomas, Shelley Hodgson, Kenny Linden, Michelle duVerney, Eric Gilliom, Paul Schwartz, Stafford Arima, Louis Hobson, Kim Criswell, Julie Cohen, Carmen Cusack, Annie Golden, Jodie Jacobs, Kayla Parker, Emily Lopez, Stephen Dolginoff, Bob Sembiante, Jonny Jones and Rita Desjardin. 

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Carrie the Musical is back. It’s been revived in New York, it has an official cast recording with millions of streams, and it’s about to hit the mainstream. How did this famous flop end up being the focus of a big-time teen drama series? Riverdale showrunner and Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa joins us to explain all. 

Plus, we find out how a new generation of creatives are bringing Carrie to life in innovative new productions around the world. We speak to Louis Hobson, Alice Ripley and Keaton Whittaker from the Seattle production, Brady Schwind, Kayla Parker and Emily Lopez from the California immersive ‘killer musical experience’ and Gary Lloyd, Evelyn Hoskins, Jodie Jacobs and Kim Criswell from the Southwark Playhouse, London staging, where some of our original cast members see the show again for the first time...

Join us on our social channels for exclusive backstage photos from this week's guests!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

Thanks this week to Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Louis Hobson, Alice Ripley, Keaton Whittaker, Brady Schwind, Kayla Parker, Emily Lopez, Gary Lloyd, Evelyn Hoskins, Jodie Jacobs, Kim Criswell, Linzi Hateley, Suzanne Thomas, Shelley Hodgson and Jeffrey McCann.

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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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Stafford Arima, AnnMarie Millazzo, Molly Ranson, Carmen Cusack and Andrew Wachter.

THIS WEEK’S LINKS:

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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 might 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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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:

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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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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:

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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 is perplexed to be discover Carrie's high school is represented by an enormous shiny white box. 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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now - order from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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 Michael Marino, Stephen Dolginoff, Kim Criswell, Mark Silver, Scott Briefer, Robbie Rozelle, Peter Mckintosh and Todd Graff. 

THIS WEEK’S LINKS:

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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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now - order from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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:

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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 proceedings?

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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now - order from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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: 

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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!

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! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now - order from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices