Carrie The Musical

If The Regals Musical Society wanted something to contrast their last adult show, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, they have made an excellent choice by now giving us Carrie.  The feathers, falsies and fishnets have all been put away and in their place we have every day, American high school clothing most of the time, with noticeably less costume changes.  An even greater difference, however, is that the three male leads in Priscilla have been replaced by a trio of powerful ladies:  a compassionate peer, a deranged mother and a leading lady who kicks it out of the park.

In the title role we have Ebony Cooper, a ridiculously talented young lady whose youthful appearance on stage belies a wealth of experience.  Her voice is clear and strong and her embodiment of Stephen King’s protagonist is everything that you could hope for.  Cooper’s transformation from shy, unfortunate teen to the belle of the ball is startling and not only on the outside.  As Carrie’s confidence grows Cooper’s physicality completely changes and we are also treated to a full range of emotional displays.  If all of this isn’t enough, she is also credited in the program for her creative talents with paint.

Playing the unusual role of Carrie’s mother is community theatre stalwart Michele Lansdown.  Regular theatre goers are used to seeing Lansdown looking like a Hollywood goddess on stage but there is no rouge or red lipstick here.  Lansdown is wonderfully unhinged as the oppressive, religious fanatic single parent who completely dominates her lonely daughter.  She alternates between caring and cruel like a master craftsman and, as always, her diction is excellent.

Rounding out this female triumvirate is Hannah Fletcher in the sympathetic role of Sue Snell.  Fletcher seamlessly navigates the frequent transitions from the interrogation space to the previous action without missing a beat. She has a sweet voice and is a highly credible actress, the audience genuinely believing her concern and selfless compassion for the troubled Carrie. The only other character who shows any empathy for Carrie is the gym teacher Miss Gardner, brought to life by Olivia Bailey.  Bailey is quite the vocal powerhouse and really holds her own in the group scenes as one of the only three ‘adults’ in the story.

The role of Chris Hargensen, the bitchy little miss who is reprimanded for her disobedience and then plots her revenge on Carrie, is in the capable hands of Zoe Lander.  This 17year old has all the self-confidence and stage presence required for a future career on the stage should that be her dream.  Her on stage boyfriend, Billy Nolan, is portrayed by Patrick Finch, who maintains his deadbeat character throughout.  The principal cast is rounded out by Michael Kilbane in the role of Tommy Ross and KC Fonzi as Mr Stephens.  Kilbane is lovely as the hero of the piece.  He looks the part, acts the part and sings the part beautifully.  Fonzi has very little stage time but does what he can with the highly delinquent teenagers.

The ensemble ‘teens’ are a mixed bunch of energetic performers with a vast variety of experience.  Encouragingly, there are several musical theatre newbies performing in either their first or second production.  Others such as Flynn Crewes, who was a standout as George, have impressive bios.  It amuses this reviewer that thespians my age were cutting their teeth on more wholesome material such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, or perhaps a Gilbert and Sullivan.  The youth of today are commencing their theatrical careers with much more macabre and ominous material such as this.

But I digress.  This production was very slick on opening night with quick scene changes taking place in very effective blackouts.  There is great use of dramatic lighting, smoke and pyrotechnics, however occasionally the actors walked out of the pools of light created by the downlights.  Especially powerful were the focussed spots pointed at Fletcher for the interrogation scenes, a marked contrast to the eerie, darker atmosphere of the rest of the performance.  Jason Oxenham should be congratulated on his directorial debut here as he has assembled a very strong cast and maintained professional pace throughout this production.  I particularly liked how Carrie kept appearing out of nowhere, a lovely metaphor for her apparent invisibility amongst her peers.  Oxenham was more than ably assisted by MD Thomas McCorquodale, who has not only brought out some emotive and polished vocals but also assembled a top-notch band.  There were a few occasions where the band overpowered the performers, however the enormous barn that is Rockdale Town Hall is a notoriously difficult space with regard to sound balance.  The production team is completed by Lauren Butler, who not only assisted Oxenham but also provided appropriate choreography that did not challenge the ensemble and was therefore well executed.

In a clever moment of syzygy, this show ends very similarly to the way that it started and the audience were quick to recover from the horrific final scene and loudly show their appreciation.  The house wasn’t quite full, which was a shame because this show deserves a capacity audience.  Everybody on stage is working hard but this show belongs to Cooper and it is worth the price of admission just to see her Carrie blossom in to her true self before unleashing chaos.

Carrie closes on the 18^th June so don’t delay.  9 buckets of blood out of 10.

Fiona Kelly

Photography by Grant Leslie

https://www.theregals.com.au/