CARRIE THE MUSICAL to Be Performed at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT) announced today the production of Carrie the Musical, directed by three-time Ovation Award-winning director Nick DeGruccio, with choreography by four-time Ovation Award winner Lee Martino. The musical is set to open Friday, June 2, 2017 at UCLA TFT's Little Theater, featuring acting students from the UCLA TFT Department of Theater's Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program, and caps off a highly successful 2016-17 Theater Season at UCLA TFT.

Carrie the Musical tells the story of a lonely teenage girl whose life is dominated by her oppressive mother. Matters get worse when classmates humiliate Carrie at her high school prom: That's when she unleashes her telekinetic powers to exact revenge on everyone. Based on the best-selling Stephen King novel Carrie, Carrie the Musical premiered on Broadway in 1988 and later enjoyed a 2012 Off-Broadway revival as well as two productions in 2015, in London and Los Angeles.

DeGruccio, a veteran director with more than 40 theatrical credits, including productions of Cabaret, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, In the Heights, Into the Woods and Rent, earned L.A. Ovation Awards for his direction of The Laramie Project, 1776 and Jekyll & Hyde. He is also the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theater. DeGruccio is teaching at UCLA TFT for the first time in Spring Quarter 2017. He has also been an instructor at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City and a guest director at both Pepperdine University and Relativity School.

Martino, who has been teaching at UCLA TFT since 2013, has done choreography for theater, live action and animated film, television and special live performances. Her theatrical choreography credits include Brigadoon, Damn Yankees, Hairspray and Oklahoma!, among others. She received Ovation Awards for her work on Carousel, Kiss of the Spider Woman, On Your Toes and Guys and Dolls. Among her television credits is her choreography for the two-hour NBC television special Shall We Dance on Ice, featuring Broadway dancers and Olympic ice dancing teams. She also created the choreography for the animated films The King and I and Alpha and Omega 3D.

"Audiences are going to love this production," says Department of Theater Chair Brian Kite. "It brings together two of L.A.'s top creative musical professionals and joins them with the incredible talent of our Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program. This is going to be a night audiences will never forget."

Performances of Carrie the Musical will take place June 2-3 and 6-10, 2017 at 8 p.m. There will also be a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday, June 10.

Tickets can be purchased at www.tft.ucla.edu/theatertickets.

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