Carrie White is an awkward high school senior in a small Maine town, cast out by her peers and abused by a repressively religious mother. It’s a wholly human story — that is, until a cruel prank at prom pushes Carrie to unleash her telekinetic abilities on the school, leaving few survivors.
The plot of Stephen King’s first novel, “Carrie,” has long been a defining tale of the horror genre. And on Halloween night, Carrie’s story will come to life on stage in Presque Isle — as a rock musical performed by kids.
Broadway Kids in the County, a theatre company based in Caribou, is putting on the production for two weekends at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
“What else would you do on Halloween, besides Stephen King?” asked Darci Faye, the founder, owner and director of the company.
It’s the third iteration of the company’s Broadway After Dark series, launched by Faye as a vessel for the group to branch out into darker or more mature themes, mostly with adult actors.
But the musical’s high school setting meant Faye had to cast younger. The play’s 15-person cast includes a dozen youth aged 12 to 15, most of whom have performed in other productions with the group. This one is designed to challenge them.
“With this show I’m really trying to get those kids to understand the character development and the depth of the show and just how to dig in,” Faye said.
In 1976, two years after “Carrie” was published, it hit theaters as a film starring Sissy Spacek in the lead role. In 1988, it was adapted into a musical on Broadway that ran for just five regular performances and is widely regarded as one of the biggest Broadway flops ever. A 2012 off-Broadway revival brought the production back into the limelight.
Faye, living in New York at the time, was captivated by the show, so much so that she saw it three times.
“It sucks you in,” she said. “You walk in and there’s just like this little rumble. It was so eerie. You know something is about to happen, but you don’t know what.”
High school sophomore Camila Duran plays Carrie. Duran said she loves how the musical expands the narrative to include the perspective and thoughts of other characters.
“In movies and shows, there’s only so much you can do at times,” Duran said. “But when you add music into it, music comes when words aren’t enough and allows you to expand the story in a way that’s nice to the ears and is entertaining, but also gives a lot of information and lets you really deep dive into what the characters are feeling.”
Other cast members include Zanna Hedrich as Margaret White, Trai Parent as Tommy Ross and Izzy Goodwin as Chris Hargensen.
To Faye’s knowledge, this will be just the third time the play has been performed in Maine.
In a shift from the novel or its movie adaptations, the musical tells the story through the interrogation room recollections of Sue Snell, played by Lydia Swiatek. A classmate of Carrie, Snell’s guilt at bullying her leads to an attempt to make amends that unintentionally sets off the chain of events that leaves Thomas Ewen Consolidated High School in ashes.
Snell is spared from Carrie’s wrath, and recounts the events as a haunted, perhaps unreliable narrator. It’s that aspect that Faye’s production will lean into.
“Is she even telling the truth?” Faye said. “She never talks about herself in a negative light. It’s that question of was she really always positive? Or is it because she’s the only one living and she’s the one telling the story?”
The show opens on Halloween, Friday, Oct. 31, at 8 p.m., at UMPI’s Gauvin Family Center for Cultural Arts, followed by performances at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1, Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. Tickets — which will cost $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors — go on sale on Oct. 15.
