If you've any interest in obscure musicals you'll want to read Ken Mandelbaum’s fantastic book Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops.
The original production suffered from the conflicting styles of the original artistic team who made it a strange mix of earnestness and camp. Carrie and her mother were staged for Greek Tragedy while the chorus of mean girls were staged for a revival of Grease. The show closed in five performances to jeers, catcalls and snarky reviews.
"But when was the last time you saw a Broadway song and dance about the slaughtering of a pig? They've got one to open Act II of ''Carrie,'' and no expense has been spared in bringing the audience some of the loudest oinking this side of Old McDonald's Farm." ~ Frank Rich
The writers pulled the show from circulation and retooled it bringing a new Carrie to Off-Broadway in 2012. While that production received mixed responses the show is now available for schools and regional theaters to tackle.
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