#linzi hateley

[broadway-unhinged]

carrie: the musical - 1988

[keepcalmandcarriewhite]

Linzi Hateley

Carrie 1988

[melodiesofmidnight]

Obsessed with The Destruction from the 1988 Stratford-upon-Avon production of Carrie: the Musical.

[blackcur-rants]

Random silly headcanons about what the casting would be for a 1980s or 1990s version of “Hazbin Hotel” (This version probably comes out some time between 1987 and 1994, most likely in either 1989 or 1991 and most likely on 28 July 1989 at that, to be quite honest).

01. Jodie Foster as Charlie

02. Steve Martin as Lucifer

03. Robin Wright as Vaggie

04. Robin Williams as Angel Dust

05. Tim Curry as Alastor

06. Keith David as Husk

07. Michael Keaton as Vox

08. Mandy Patinkin as Stolas

09. William Atherton as Blitz

10. Joe Pesci as Fizzarolli

11. Danny de Vito as Moxxie

12. Karen Allen as Velvette

13. Christian Slater as Adam

14. Sigourney Weaver as Lute

15. Shelley Duvall as Niffty

16. Jamie Lee Curtis as Millie

17. Winona Ryder as Loona

18. Kate Winslet as Octavia

19. Ernie Hudson as Asmodeus

20. Robert de Niro as Mammon

21. Linda Hamilton as Carmilla

22. Bruce Campbell as Stryker

23. Kurt Russell as Vortex/Tex

24. Michael Crawford as Sir Pentious

25. Madeline Kahn as Rosie

26. Olivia Newton John as Cherri Bomb

27. Jack Nicholson as Valentino

28. James Earl Jones as Zestial

29. Judi Dench as Sera

30. Linzi Hateley as Emily

31. Martin Mull as Andrealphus

32. Elaine Paige as Stella

Christopher Guest as Paimon

Eddie Bracken as Cash Buckzo

Chris Sarandon as Vassago

Sean Young as Beelzebub

Miriam Margolyes as Mimzie

Jean Marsh as Mrs Mayberry

Pam Ferris as Martha

John Hurt as Lyle Lipton

@cynicalclassicist @carcosa-commune @disregardcanon @lady-asteria @dachi-chan25

@helluvatired @lorethebookworm

[princesssarisa]

A Christmas Carol Holiday Season: "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" (2004 TV special)

This Carol, starring Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge surrounded by a cast of TV and musical theatre stars, is based on a stage musical performed annually at Madison Square Garden from 1994 to 2003. With music by Broadway and Disney legend Alan Menken and with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Once on This Island, Anastasia), this show was one of New York's special holiday events. I sometimes wish the stage version had simply been filmed, because my feelings about this TV version are mixed. But there's enough to enjoy in it that I still rewatch it most Christmas seasons.

This is another Carol that takes some liberties with the source. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Jane Krakowski) is a beautiful (and slightly oversexualized) young woman, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Jesse L. Martin) is a black man, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Be (Geraldine Chaplin) is an elderly female wraith in white tatters. Meanwhile, Scrooge's childhood is entirely rewritten to resemble that of Charles Dickens. His father was sent to debtor's prison, forcing him into child labor in a boot factory. In the present, new minor characters are added too: a poor widower named Mr. Smythe, who owes Scrooge money, and his little daughter Grace, who reappears throughout Scrooge's ghostly journey to stir his conscience. And in a Wizard of Oz-like touch, Scrooge meets three strangers in the street – a lamplighter, a theatre barker, and a beggar woman – whom the three ghosts later resemble.

The biggest weakness of this production is that it seems not to know if wants to be stagy or cinematic. Despite its realistic locations (Budapest substituting for London) and CGI special effects, it still tends to be blocked and choreographed like a stage production, not like a film. The casting of TV stars is questionable too. Kelsey Grammer's sing-talking Scrooge is a cartoonish old codger, though he improves as his arc unfolds and he shows heartfelt grief, repentance, and joy. Jason Alexander's mildly comic Marley's Ghost is also an acquired taste, although Jennifer Love Hewitt fares better as Scrooge's lost love Emily (as Belle is renamed).

Yet despite all reservations this is still an enjoyable Carol. The mostly British supporting cast is excellent: standouts include Edward Gower as Bob Cratchit, Brian Bedford as Fezziwig, Steven Miller as Young Scrooge, and West End stars such as Julian Ovenden, Linzi Hateley, Claire Moore, and Ruthie Henshall. And the songs by Menken and Ahrens – "A Jolly Good Time," "Nothing to Do With Me," "You Mean More to Me," "Link By Link," "The Lights of Long Ago," "A Place Called Home," "Mr. Fezziwig's Annual Christmas Ball," "Abundance and Charity," "Christmas Together," "Dancing On Your Grave," "Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today," and "God Bless Us, Everyone" – are of the high quality expected from two such Broadway legends.

This is far from a definitive Carol, but I recommend it all the same.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @faintingheroine, @thealmightyemprex, @reds-revenge, @thatscarletflycatcher

[carriethemusical1988]

When Linzi Hateley visited the Southwark Cast of Carrie

[lostart-jpg]

Carrie the Muiscal 1988 photo dump #2

(I do not own the rights to Carrie the Musical. Photo restoration done by me)

[keepcalmandcarriewhite]

Linzi Hateley & Darlene Love

Carrie 1988

[usernoneexistent]

I'll go first then. I got some very interesting songs and new artists I've never heard of

Legacy Kids

Glenn Song by Bob Seyer - far too sentimental for Glenn. Definitely not his vibe.

Winona Ryder by Picture This - Actually suits Winona well XD

Colin by Lime Cordiale - The chill vibes is aligning with Colin.

Euphemia by Area 11 - An anime song that is not at all Euphemia. She hates it.

Delilah by Florence + The machine - My inner flo fan is coming out and I may be bias but it works with Delilah.

Mauarauders/HM/Golden Trio

Jacob And Sons/Joseph's coat by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Linzi Hateley - A musical song about Joseph from the bible lol.

Juniper by Myrkur - the moodiness works well with her dark/flea bag era.

Marwa Blues by George Harrison - I could see this song playing as background for a scene.

Magic Awakened Kids

Duncan by Paul Simon - It weirdly works despite Duncan's naturally chaotic energy. It's like the chill version of him.

Tarragon by Autumn Fruit - too funky for Tarra XD

Zola by #LC Gwoppa - The energy matches her 100%

The Son of Flynn by Daft Punk - A song for the Tron movie and I mixed feelings

A fun minigame for everyone but go on to Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, whatever you use to listen to music and type in your character's name and find the first song that includes their name in the song title and does it suit your character?

[reverse-the-jellybaby]

what do I have to do to get audio of Linzi Hateley in the 2021 production of Joseph? I need it for science.

[carriethemusical]

Linzi Hateley as Carrie in a promotional photo by Peter Cunningham for the Broadway production (1988)

[roadimusprime]

(Barbara Cook and Linzi Hately)

(Betty Buckley and Linzi Hately)

The original Stratford and Broadway run had it's issues with pacing and tone, but it nailed it's scenes with Margaret and Carrie. When Betty Buckley took over for Barbara Cook she really brought the intensity that this song needed and it heightened Linzi Hateley's performance as well.

we need to talk about how Eve Was Weak from the musical Carrie is one of the most intense and uncomfortable musical numbers to be put on stage.

[saleintothe90s]

422. ”Carrie” (May 12 - May 15 1988)

I adore reading about flops. One of my favorite flops to read about is Carrie the musical. A doomed production from the start. Millions of dollars wasted. Bad costumes. Filler songs.

Similar to my Simpsons season 10 review, I wanna give something to the worst aspects of the show. With Simpsons, bad episodes were awarded Marge’s homemade Pepsi. For Carrie, I think I’m going to give the bad parts the “Vending Machine Maxi Pad” award. 

As most anybody who follows Broadway flops knows, clips from Carrie are scarce and are in poor condition on YouTube. Most of the actual clips are from when the show was in test productions in Stratford Upon Avon, but the music has been replaced with the Broadway soundboard.  So, keep that in mind. Most of the time you can’t even make out what’s going on. Here’s the closest copy of the entire show I could find on YouTube, from the Sratford Upon Avon production. 

I know people bash the musical, and sometimes it’s rightfully so, but two things are consistent: Linzi Hateley who played Carrie, and that orchestra that is on.point. Check out the overture.

(source)

The show begins with girls cheering in gym class in the beginning of an aerobics lesson?  The white gym shorts look like diapers. That’s the first of many costume mistakes. 

The song is a banger, I love Darlene Love playing the gym teacher, she’s my favorite part of the song. The only part that is cringey to me is when the girls sing “I go CrAzZyyyyy” and they get on the ground and dance like a toddler having a temper tantrum in a Toys R Us. Since the audio quality is so bad in these clips, I thought at one point the girls were singing about not being caught picking their nose, no, the lyric is:

Bought the clothes, did my nose,

Near the end of the song, the girls are on these rising rafters? It took me for-ever to realize that they were simulating a cheerleader pyramid, and that Carrie had snuck in near the end of the number to be on the bottom of the pyramid. Oh, and she causes it to fall and someone tells her to eat shit. 

“Dream On” is the song that the girls sing while in the showers. Why yes, it does look like they’re in the nude due to the poor quality of the video.  The song is ok, it gives total night driving home from the mall in the late 80s early 90s vibes.  Although one girl says the line, “Six foot three and he's in his forties!”. WHAT. 

Carrie breaks those vibes at around 3:44 by screaming that she’s bleeding. When Miss Gardener slaps Carrie, a cymbal plays. I love it.

I like to imagine that when the girls threw the tampons and pads at Carrie, some flew into the audience. 

“Carrie” is shrill at first, and then it turns into a bit of snoozefest. Linzi sings the name “Carrie” about 458 times. 

Betty Buckley who previously had played the original Grizabella in Cats. and who played the gym teacher in the original movie plays Carrie’s mom. Her song, “Open Your Heart” is pretty good. It’s a nice little break before mom goes bottoms up on Carrie for getting her period (”And Eve Was Weak” [Stratford version with Barbara Cook]):

Carrie: I was in the shower and...

Mom: You’re forbidden from showering with the other girls...

Carrie: I started to bleed!

While Carrie spends the rest of the night in a cellar, the popular girls are at the drive-in. Now, this musical cost over $7 million dollars 1, but yet this was the best set they could think of for a drive-in movie theater: 

It looks like something out of a high school play -- which I guess makes a little sense since they are high schoolers? I’m grabbing at straws here. It cost so much money to put Carrie on, what’s a few more dollars to have two real hollowed out cars on stage, one with Chris (in the red) & Billy (in black) in it, and the other with Sue (pink leggings) and Tommy (purple windbreaker)? 

“Don’t Waste the Moon” is the song sung at the drive-in, with Sue having regrets about throwing tampons at Carrie in the beginning of the song. The song is very 1980s, and it kind of doesn’t fit in the musical. Gene Anthony Ray’s (Billy) talent is wasted here. 

It’s time for some “Evening Prayers” for Carrie where she discusses with God her new telekinesis powers. Meanwhile Carrie’s mom is being a worrywort. During the Stratford production, Carrie’s mom is in a rocking chair over there looking like Whistler’s Mother. 

“You’re going to tell Carrie that you’re sorry!” belts out Miss Gardner. In the musical, Chris seems more obsessed with torturing Carrie than in the movie or book if that’s even possible. Sue is like, “What did she even do to you?”. Even Billy asked earlier, “Who the hell is Carrie White?”. 

Oooof. Seeing the gym teacher try to cheer Carrie up by singing a song about the prom (”Unsuspecting Hearts”) and how she could go too is patronizing. Even if its sung by Darlene Love. 

“Do Me a Favor” might be the most infamous song from the musical. It’s the song I see referred to the most when I read bad reviews. For some reason Chris is wearing a metallic red bodysuit and Sue is wearing a light pink bodysuit. Are they supposed to be that cliche devil and the angel on the shoulder thing? 

Chris looks like Evil Homer! 

I’m going be the unpopular opinion here and say that I love the song! The erratic dancing also fits with the song. 

Carrie tells her mom before “I Remember How Those Boys Would Dance” that Tommy is sweet and polite, but the audience doesn’t know that. Tommy is barely a character in this production. In the end, Carrie uses her powers to shut her mama up.

From what I gather in “Out for Blood” (audio) where Chris and Billy go looking for a pig to kill, the chorus dancers are the pigs? The video quality is so poor. Chris had another crazy ass red outfit on, some sort of shiny red skirt and a crop top. The costumes in this are just horrible. It was like the wardrobe budget was $50. 

This song is so.so.bad. It reminds me of whenever Rocko from Rocko’s Modern Life would see a movie trailer or a parody of something on TV for some reason?! Or the “gotta get that Reptar song” from Rugrats when the kids saw Reptar on ice. Especially when the chorus tells Billy to kill the pig: 

CHORUS Cha! Kill the pig, pig, pig! CHRIS Go! CHORUS Kill 'im, kill 'im, kill, kill! We'll make him bleed! CHRIS Go! CHORUS Get the blood, blood, blood Oooh, blood! CHRIS Oh, baby show... CHORUS Kill the pig, make 'im bleed Let's get the blood, that's all we need!

Sue’s song “It Hurts to be Strong” is a bit of a throw-away. It gets a vending machine maxi pad award. Moving on. It’s filler  

In “I’m Not Alone”, Carrie sings while using her powers to move things around in her room. What things? I don’t know the video quality was so bad. That’s another thing! The sets are nonexistent! I wouldn’t know we were in Carrie’s room unless the Playbill told me. It’s another forgettable song. Three in a row!

Betty Buckley saves the day in, “When There’s No One”, a sad song about facing life without Carrie being her subordinate. 

I don’t understand the prom dresses in “Wotta Night”, they’re all garish giant white numbers that make the actresses look about 20 pounds heaver.  The guys look like that Rio doll from Jem. The costume designer couldn’t just go to Alexanders or A&S and buy prom dresses? You know, why am I even asking at this point. We all saw what Chris has been wearing this whole time. There is a disco ball thrown aside in the corner instead of hanging up. More on that later.

The song sounds way too much like that song “Rock on” by David Essex.  Automatic Vending Machine Maxi Pad. 

Here’s a cute rehearsal clip I found of “Heaven”, the song sung while the Prom Queen and King ballots are being counted. Unfortunately, the audio is bad. Chris is there to remind us that she’s still out for blood.

Finally, finally it’s time for Carrie the prom queen to get drenched with blood -- but the thing is, due to microphone technology back then, Carrie really couldn’t have blood dumped on her. Chris and Billy just run up to her and half ass pour the bucket at her. Could the set designer not suspend the bucket from above the stage? Is that also why the disco ball is thrown in the corner? I don’t even think she has stage blood on her during “The Destruction”, (which is the best song from the musical).  I think a red spotlight over Carrie signifies the blood.

I think Linzi is really only truly covered in blood for press shots. 

Anyway, the Destruction, I love it when she screeches “DOESN’T ANYBODY EVER GET IT RIGHT??! DOESN’T ANYBODY THINK THAT I HEAR?!” It’s the best. I could listen to it all day and I almost did the other day. 

Due the poor video quality, I can’t really tell how the prom-goers are dying. They’re kinda just twitching there in the laser light or slamming themselves against the clear barrier that descended from the stage to signify Carrie closing the doors to the gym. 

After Carie kills everybody, this giant white staircase descends and covers up the gym. I read somewhere, I forgot where, that its supposed to be the school stairs? We’re led to believe that Carrie’s crazy mom ran to the school. The first time I saw it, I thought that it was Carrie and her mom getting ready to go to heaven. I thought maybe someone over at the set department took the classic song too literally. 

It appears that while the stairs are descending, Carrie smears stage blood on her. 

The reprise of “Carrie’ is so much better than the original. Carrie stops her mom’s heart cold mid song. Then she slins down the stairs and Sue catches her. In an interview on playbill.com, Betty Buckley says that on opening night (I don’t know if she meant the first preview, or the official opening night), there were boos from the audience at the end, but cheers for Linzi and herself. I believe it. Betty and Linzi were amazing. Darlene Love was amazing. The rough scenes are the scenes with the school kids. They’re awful, in the words of my boy Jay Sherman, “they’re awful I tell you. aw.ful.” 

(relevant prom .gif) 

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1. Rothstein, Mervyn. “After Seven Years And $7 Million, ‘Carrie’ Is a Kinetic Memory (Published 1988).” The New York Times, May 17, 1988, sec. Theater. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/17/theater/after-seven-years-and-7-million-carrie-is-a-kinetic-memory.html.

New York City Broadway reviews on the news in NYC for Carrie.  That first reviewer, Stuart Klein, I love him. I’ve watched several of his reviews on flops on YouTube. Joel Sigel who was the Good Morning America film reviewer is here too. 

Archive of Betty Buckley interview. 

[cometomecosette]

“Wedding Chorale” and “Beggars at the Feast,” London, 2012. Cameron Blakeley as Thénardier, Linzi Hateley as Mme. Thénardier, Craig Mather as Marius.

An excellent performance. Cameron’s Thénardier is colorful without being a ham, as in all the clips I’ve shared of him so far. Linzi (the only actress I know of to have played both Éponine and Mme. Thénardier) has a naturally prettier voice than other Mme. T.’s do, but she uses it to just the right brash, characterful effect. The sweet, elegant voice of Craig’s Marius makes him the perfect foil for them.

This is the first time I’ve ever heard Mme. T. sing “It was the night that the barricades fell” with her husband. I’ll have to listen to more clips of this scene from London to figure out when that change was implemented. It seems that throughout the 2000s, a lot of productions (the movie, the School Edition, recent tours) have reassigned various lines of Thénardier’s to his wife to make their presences more equal rather than having him dominate.

[thediaryofatheatrekid]

Casting Goals: Kinky Boots

“Everybody say yeah!!!”

Alistair Brammer as Charlie Price

Corbin Bleu as Lola

Ryann Redmond as Lauren

Alyssa Fox as Nicola

Ben Crawford as Don

Phillip Boykin as George

Claudia Kariuki as Pat

Linzi Hateley as Trish

Ryan Vasquez as Harry (Charlie u/s)

Ahmad Simmons as Angel (Lola u/s)

Alex Ringler as Angel

Charlie Williams as Angel

DeMarius R. Copes as Angel

Ethan Le Phong as Angel

Pedro Garza as Angel

Anastasia Remoundos as Ensemble

Bradley Dean as Mr. Price/Ensemble (Don u/s)

Casey Garvin as Richard Bailey/Ensemble (Don u/s, Harry u/s)

Connie Bahng as Ensemble (Lauren u/s)

Monté J. Howell as Ensemble (Lola u/s)

Natalie Pilkington as Maggie/Ensemble (Nicola u/s, Trish u/s)

Nathaniel Stampley as Simon Sr/Ensemble

Pomme Koch as Ensemble (George u/s)

Veanne Cox as Milan Stage Manager/Ensemble

Andrew Chapelle as Angel Swing

Anthony Ieradi as Swing (Charlie u/s, Harry u/s)

Bryony Duncan as Swing (Lauren u/s, Pat u/s)

Cherry Torres as Swing (Nicola u/s, Pat u/s)

Shane O'Riordan as Swing (George u/s)

Honorable Mentions: Alex Newell as Lola Cooper Howell as Angel (Lola u/s) Jordan Donica as Lola Niall Sheehy as Charlie Price