Review: CARRIE: THE MUSICAL at TheatreZone

TheatreZone's production of CARRIE: THE MUSICAL tells the well-known Stephen King tale of Carrie White, a girl who has always been told she is different than her peers, though she wants nothing more to fit in with them. 

Carrie is played by Keeley Pendergrass, and from the moment she appeared on stage, she was spectacular. Her singing was phenomenal, and her acting was superb. I appreciated how well she embodied the character - her facial expressions were perfect, often quite subtle in the best way, and her body language portrayed Carrie's emotions well. I thoroughly enjoyed her performance and thought she was the perfect choice for this role. McLean Peterson plays Carrie's mother, Margaret, and she also was excellent, portraying the cold-blooded character very well. 

Near the beginning of the show, Carrie is bullied by some of the girls in her school, including Chris Hargensen (Grace Fluharty) and Sue Snell (Brianna Bauch). Sue immediately regrets it and tries her best to make it up to Carrie, though her choices lead to some horrific results. Bauch does a lovely job as Sue - she's earnest and hopeful and does her best to be nice to Carrie. Chris and Sue's boyfriends, Tommy Ross (Ben Bailey) and Billy Nolan (Bobby MacDonell) are quite opposite. Tommy ends up helping Sue with her quest to make it up to Carrie, and he ends up taking her to prom. One of my other favorite characters was Miss Gardner (Jennifer Wingerter). She was always nice to Carrie and tried to protect her from the other girls as much as she could.

This production was directed by Mark Danni, alongside Music Director/Orchestra Conductor Charles Fornara, Choreographer Karen Molnar Danni, Lighting Designer Anne Carncross, Scenic Designer Aaron Jackson, Costume Designer Kathleen Kolacz, and Properties Designer Carolina Grau. Each piece of this production was very well done. The set and costumes were perfect, the music was fun, the singing was wonderful, the lighting was incredibly effective, and I loved the choreography. 

CARRIE is quite possibly my favorite production I have seen at TheatreZone thus far. The story was captivating, the cast was truly amazing, and it was extremely well done. I had only seen the film version of Carrie prior to this, and it is quite different seeing it on stage. The end of the show is full of destruction, and very entertaining. I highly recommend seeing this show if you get the chance. 

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