Carrie

Once I learned that I could have the chance to watch the preview of Atlantis Productions’ Carrie, I took it immediately even though I know very little about this musical. I haven’t read the Stephen King novel nor have seen the film. All I knew about it was that it had a bloody prom all because of the titular character Carrie. The other thing I knew which was related to the musical being staged was that Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Markki Stroem were part of it. The chance to see these two again on stage was enough for me to see the show over at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium over at the RCBC Plaza.

Since I knew very little of the material, I really had to focus on what I was seeing and hearing in order for me to make sense of everything. It wasn’t that hard to figure out that Carrie White (Mikkie Bradshaw) was the odd girl in school who was bullied by everybody but popular girl Sue Snell (Yanah Laurel) had a change of heart and decided to make it up to her. Sue reaching out to Carrie didn’t go well with her best friend Chris (Jill Peña), Chris’ boyfriend Billy (Mako Alonso) and the rest of the student population (Garie Concepcion, Johann Dela Fuente, Nel Gomez, Lilette Lorenzana, Kim Molina and Bibo Reyes). Sue’s boyfriend Tommy (Markki Stroem) reluctantly acceded to her plans by bringing Carrie to the prom but this only raised Ms. Gardner’s (Sheila Valderrama-Martinez) suspicions regarding her motives. Mr. Stephens (Jamie Wilson) was one of the teachers but his character didn’t do so much aside from adding more adult presence in the musical. And in true juvenile and immature fashion, a humiliated Chris decided to ruin Carrie’s prom night and this had dire consequences. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Carrie was telekinetic (able to move objects with her mind) which made things a lot more complicated. And what’s more startling is that she had a mother like Margaret White (Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo), a religious fanatic who was actually a lot scarier than Carrie.

Mikkie Bradshaw

I really found the performance of Mikkie Bradshaw amazing since she was able to become the awkward girl with an unusual upbringing and still was able to show what she felt within through her crystalline singing voice. I almost didn’t recognize Sheila Valderrama-Martinez at all considering that I found her very impressive during Lorenzo. I guess that she was able to make Ms. Gardner a lot different from Rosario Ruiz. The biggest surprise for me was Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo in the creepiest role that I’ve seen from her so far. I thought that she would’ve found some redemption towards the end but she turned for the worse.

The musical, directed by Bobby Garcia, also had some neat special effects seen whenever Carrie used her telekinetic powers. And they were able to pull of the blood spill and the destruction scene without coming off as cheap and gimmicky.  

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Markki Stroem

The material itself with music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford and book by Lawrence D. Cohen was terrifying already but real life drama threatened to overshadow the whole production. Lead star Mikkie Bradshaw got ill soon after their opening night and subsequent shows had to be cancelled and rescheduled. K-La Rivera stepped up, learned the role in such a short amount of time and did the role of Carrie for a handful of shows. Mikkie recovered during the last weekend and was able to close out the run. Lucky theatergoers during the last two shows were treated to a rare duet between the two Carries making this musical truly memorable and one for the record books. This has got to be one of the most flabbergasting moments in recent Philippine theater history.