Ok but the gym teacher's voice is INCREDIBLE. And, while the synchronization leaves much to be desired, the choreography is pretty cool, and dance technique of individuals is great.
The sync is slightly off due to the tempo in the video being different than the audio recording, plus Carrie is supposed to be off beat and it makes it seem like everyone else is at points though they are right
Out for Blood Podcast notes that they had box singers in Stratford, but didn't in NY... you can hear that they are doing a shockingly good job trying!! Unbelievable
With great difficulty. A bunch of them are interviewed on this podcast called Out For Blood and they talk about what a nightmare this song was. Even here you can tell they're out of breath while they're singing.
@@morganalabeille5004 It’s amazing. Famous pop singers use tracks (e.g., Britney, Beyoncé) specifically for that reason, and yet these girls are singing in tune without blowing up.
I get the campiness of this number being a huge turnoff and the need to make it more serious/dramatic for the revival, but I honestly prefer the lyrics to this version. I like the juxtaposition of all these ladies' worst problems being about their hair, their clothes, boys, etc. then cutting to Carrie and her "real" problems. Making the whole thing angsty from the get-go in the revival sort of detracts from Carrie's tragedy a bit imo -- in the revival it's a typical "they're lashing out because they're also insecure and unhappy" storyline, but here it takes the Mean Girl Angle over the top; these girls are just being nasty because they can. They've been bullying Carrie for so long, and for so long they've gotten away with it, so why stop? It also seems to give more depth to Sue -- she goes from worrying about the typical in-crowd problems to feeling remorse for what she did and going to extremes (in some people's eyes) in order to fix it. It's a little truer to the book, too.
Hard agree. I definitely prefer this version over the revival. I like the conceit of gym class to structure the song/dance around too, as opposed to 'teenagers just kind of standing around angsting at the audience' in the revival. I also way prefer the focus of this song: I think it's better to keep 'In' about the girls and focus on the bulldust the girls are forced to worry about and where they're coming from in general. The musical is about girls and womanhood, and I think having that focus in this song is better.
I don't understand why people like to rag on Debbie Allen. Her choreography was quite competent. Sure, she didn't create a new technique like Luigi, or a new style like Bob Fosse, but she used textbook musical theatre jazz choreography. She had a clear idea: high energy; open with a bang. Yes, this number did set the tone of the musical: a dance heavy show, set to pop music, with minimal sets and costumes. She blended jazzercise, calisthenics, martial arts, and fitness into a dance form (activities girls would have participated in during gym class in the 80's). She established a vocabulary that she kept throughout, used structure and repeated certain passages which were coordinated with the music. It was divided into clear sections and transitions. There was progression as the movements repeated becoming more intricate and faster. There were subtle changes in formations and she used the entire stage. She introduced Chris by giving her a solo, and had Carrie enter towards the end showing she was uncoordinated. This was the best number in the show. What she created was no worse than what Arlene Phillips create for Starlight Express, or what Gillian Lynne created for Cats. I would have loved to have seen in live, but I missed it by two months....
THIS. ☝️☝️ A lot of people (the composers and book writer included) always throw Debbie and Terry Hands under the bus for the show’s failure, when in fact much of the material is just a mess. IMO Debbie Allen’s choreo was great though it was probably exhausting performing all that every night. And although Hands’ direction is umm a bit questionable, his tableauxs were beautiful and his lighting design was fantastic. The composer/lyricist/book writer should really take a hard look at the material they’ve written and see what a mess it all is. Even in the revisal it was still kinda ??? The school scenes are kinda boring and the the best parts of the show are the scenes with Carrie and Margaret and the destruction. And the score skksksk, only a handful of songs are good and the rest of it is kinda forgettable, and don’t get me started on the lyrics.
I love the final version but the original is still pretty genius in its own way. To a girl in carries shape the normal PE workouts would seem like Herculean aerobics. It's all firmly out of her league and only isolates her from her peers more. I appreciate both for their valid points of view, this one being about the hell of being a teenage girl and the revival being about the hell of being a teenager in general.
I never noticed @ 3:19 that Linzi as Carrie is totally doing the choreography to the last verse way in the back, but she's always exactly one beat behind everyone.
I listen to this song on repeat while I workout because it’s just such a great work out song. The energy, the excitement, everything’s just there and it gets you pumped. Love this version
At 2:50 - These lines: “Shame on you! Overweight’s a sin!” and “ Keep those bodies thin!” haven’t really aged all that well in light on how fat-shaming in modern day society is now considered unacceptable. It’s especially more egregious to hear such fat shaming remarks from a high school teacher. I can understand how in the 2000s remake of this song, these lines were eliminated.
The lyrics were definitely of the times.I think these lyrics were an additional way to separate the girls from Carrie. Its been a while since I've read it but I seem to remember Carrie's weight as being a reoccurring descriptive/topic in the book, and their casting for the original production seemed in line with those details, as opposed to any of the cinematic interpretations.
I’ve struggled with weight insecurity and personally I felt like it really showed the pressure these girls were under to be perfect, but maybe it could’ve been delivered differently. And it makes Miss G look like a total bitch. It was good to take it out.
@@dynafire666 I mean she's also like that in original novel. She's so judgemental by people looks. I am sure this is the best way to sneak character's personality in.
Perhaps, but they work in the context of justifying Carrie's rage and eventual lashing out and in that sense the musical is critiquing rather than endorsing such attitudes. That's kind of like saying "Chris's plot to dump pig's blood on Carrie hasn't aged well because we consider that socially unacceptable today."
@kuraarachan Actually, this has everything to do with the plot. It's high school girls singing about how the most important thing to do is be part of the "in" crowd, more important than school, real friends, or taking care of yourself. It's about how when you're "out" it's the worst situation and there's pretty much nothing you can do, but when you're "in" it's just as tough if not tougher to stay in. It could probably have a better incarnation but what the song is about is integral to 'Carrie'.
i honestly like this version better than the revival's. it's not perfect, but i looove the orchestration and the way they connect more superficial problems to the deeper ones.
@inlovewithJLT Ever since I heard it, I thought it was one of the better songs of the musical. I think it's a great opening, and like kuraarachan said, it has everything to with the plot. Hello, the name of the song is calle "In" for christsake, lol. It's a very energetic opening, the lyrics are ruthless, mean, and a little campy. Plus, it follows the plot of the original. I love how you see Carrie sneaking into the background and doing the routine badly towards the end.
@kuraarachan I think it does go with the rest of the show. Almost all of the numbers the teenagers sing are pop/dance numbers, only Carrie and her mother's songs aren't.
Thank you for posting this! I love the book and the movie and am always looking for clips of the musical. It's one of those musicals that is so horrifically bad that it's good.
@inlovewithJLT Sorry I probably shouldn't have said it has nothing to do with the plot. After listening to the lyrics in more details it made much more sense. But I still think it's a bit of a strange opening number since it's hyped music doesn't really go with the rest of the plot and songs and the music in the number is never repeated. What I'm trying to say is that it's a great song that I love but it feel a bit out of place as the opening of the musical.
Musically, this is a great song. However, Debbie Allen ruined it with her ridiculous choreography, Everyone thinks of "Carrie" as a flop - not true! Bad direction, costumes, and choreography killed a potentially exciting show.
"What a stupid f*cking ending!!" is the first thing that came to my lips at the conclusion of the clip of this number from the Stratford production. That was several years ago and I still have the same reaction today. I mean, what an unnecessarily dangerous and hokey ending formation. That one thing alone would signal a red flag, I`m sure, to the poor audience at the time of the forthcoming lack of quality and taste that would follow. So much badness that--as others have stated--makes it deliciously goooood. And that audience very lucky!
This is kind of a weird opening for Carrie... I mean it really has nothing to do with the plot. The musical should have started with a song between Carrie and her mother about her mother's oppression on Carrie were she sings about her beliefs of god and Carrie sings about how her mothers attitude makes her feel and how other people in the neighbourhood view her. Then the could have Carrie go to school and play this number.
It's energetic, but I don't think it sets the right tone, at least compared to the revival. Also, the gym teacher saying things like "overweight's a sin" and "shame on you" makes her less sympathetic than she needs to be for the show to make sense.
Honestly just based on What A Night, In, Eve Was Weak, Dream On, and How Those Boys Can Dance alone make me wish they'd a movie musical based on this version (not that godawful earnest Glee bullying PSA revival) instead of the Kimberly Pearce remake.
Evgueni Mlodik I can’t even imagine, but I’m not surprised. I never bothered to listen to it all because their version of “In” is so blah and earnest and whiny
