Spooky Season Hits the Stage with ‘Carrie: The Musical’

Muhlenberg College’s upcoming production of Carrie: The Musical is not for the faint of heart.

“It’s super up close and personal,” says Abby Bera, who stars as the titular Carrie White. “We’re using a thrust stage, which means the audience is on all three sides. People can see everything.”

Carrie: The Musical, adapted from Stephen King’s 1974 debut novel and the acclaimed 1976 film, tells the story of Carrie White, a teenage outcast living under the rule of her controlling mother. When she discovers she can move things with her mind, Carrie’s world begins to change. The book is by Lawrence D. Cohen, who wrote the film, and features music by Michael Gore and lyrics by Dean Pitchford. 

The show plays this Halloween season, Oct. 28 through Nov. 1, in Muhlenberg College’s Empie Theatre —  but not in a way patrons have seen before.

“They’re effectively building a theater,” says James Peck, the show’s director. “A big inspiration for the design has been German Expressionism. So, there are these enormous panels that loom over the stage. It has this sense of, like, ‘Welcome to the Thunderdome.’ It’s ominous. From the minute people walk into the theater, they’ll have that sense that they’ve entered another zone.”

“It’s been wild,” says Lyndsey Vader, for whom Carrie will be her first musical theatre credit at Muhlenberg. “All the musical theater choreography I’ve done has been for the proscenium stage. The thrust stage has re-activated my love for audience proximity and the immersive experience. We hope that the audience really feels a part of the story.”

“The audience is going to be right there,” Bera says. “The part that everyone knows, the prom, is going to be really close. So, rather than using a red light to symbolize blood, it’s going to look like actual blood.”

“We are dumping blood on her,” Peck says. “We’ve had one test. Lyndsey Vader was our stand-in for Abby. We dumped a gallon of water from 10-and-a-half feet, which is where it’s going to fall from, to make sure that it wouldn’t hurt — Lyndsey said it was fine — and to see how far the splash zone would be, so that we won’t get blood on the audience.”

“That was really fun!” Vader says. “That’s not a traditional responsibility for a choreographer. I think that we create the strongest production teams when roles bleed (ba-dum-tssh) into one another.”

A veteran director of the Muhlenberg stage, Peck returns to the director’s chair following last summer’s Seussical. 

“I’ve joked that Seussical and Carrie are the same story,” Peck says. “That’s an exaggeration, obviously, but they are both stories about bullying. But in Seussical the bullies repent, and in Carrie they’re all killed. In a lot of ways it’s a tonal shift. But the musical goes out of its way to make Carrie very understandable, even while recognizing that murder wasn’t the best option.”

Musical theater may seem a more appropriate genre for Dr. Seuss than for Stephen King — but the cast and creative team say the musical aspect actually enhances Carrie’s sinister tone.

“There are chord progressions and shapes that give it a creepy vibe,” Peck says. “If you think about your favorite horror movie, there’s definitely music playing when the big bad is lurking behind the door. It seems like an oxymoron, but it doesn’t feel like one.”

“It’s seamless, going from scene to song,” Bera says. “The music is so specific that it gives this eerie feeling. As Carrie, I’m supposed to be feeling nervous. As Abby, I’m really scared.”

“Abby Bera and Amaya Romero, who plays Carrie’s mother, are extraordinary singers,” Peck says. “There are several numbers which they have together that are sort of grand opera. They’re these soaring arias. They sound amazing together.”

“One of the gifts of this production, as a faculty member, is experiencing a wider range of our incredible student talent,” Vader says. “I am just taken aback. It’s been incredibly rewarding.”

Carrie the Musical runs Oct. 28 – Nov. 1: Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m., with a special Halloween showtime of 7 p.m. on Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Come in costume on Oct. 31 for a trick-or-treat surprise. Tickets are available at muhlenberg.edu/seeashow or 484-664-3333.