Street Lamp Community Theatre. They’re here to tell you how this whole damn freak show works. And once you’ve seen…you can’t unsee. Known for their edgy, unusual choices in musicals that are rarely produced, SLCT is bringing you a dark and bloody thriller for the ages! Directed by Matthew Peterson with Musical Direction by Mia Bray and Choreography by Stephanie Peterson, Carrie is here to thrill you with a few shivers up the spine from the powerhouse company belt-blasting their way through this haunting score.
While the intimate, black-box space at Street Lamp Community Theatre may not leave much to the imagination by way of set design or even staging purposes (and shout-out to master carpenter Kevin Woods), Matthew Peterson and his team give you an unforgettable theatrical experience and utilize every inch of available space to make this unnerving musical land full force to everyone watching and listening. Peterson doubles up as the show’s lighting designer, using carefully focused to cues to split the stage in half (which is actually an impressive technique given the spatial confines of said stage) when dueling scenes are meant to be happening ‘side by side’ but locational miles apart. There’s also an excellent use of lighting for special effects near the end of the production that really gives you the spine-tingles, and Peterson fabricates the perfect recreation of an interrogation light blaring down on Sue Snell at the top of tail-end of the show with a harsh-white beam from above, really adding that extra sense of edgy darkness to the production.
What’s particularly impressive about the spatial execution of this production of Carrie is Stephanie Peterson’s choreography. There are a couple of bigger ensemble numbers— “In”, “Do Me a Favor”, “A A Night We’ll Never Forget”— that has Peterson engaging everybody in some high-school-flare-style dance routines and she makes them fit the tight confines of the space flawlessly. Her precision alignment of the way the dancers are spaced out and the way they rotate around one another keeps the stage from looking and feeling cramped and the energy of the routines themselves matches the up-tempo beat of the music that’s accompanying them. Keep your eye out for Anna Jones during “The World According to Chris” as she reverse-worm-moon-moves all across the dance floor.
From jump street, you’re blown away by Mia Bray’s musical direction of the show. The powerhouse ensemble, featuring: Lindsay Hamilton, Cheyenne Sweitzer, Isabel Bray, Dirk Carr, Casey Casey, Jaide Fisher, Madison Kroner, Lindsay Serio, Scout Lacey, Anna Jones, Alana Guardipee, Beth Ostrusky, delivers sensational blends all throughout the bigger group numbers and really charges up the more emotionally driven numbers with this frenetically, unsettling energy that just creeps into your ear and plucks at the nerve-endings at the back of your neck. It’s a wild experience to hear. And the ensemble, which seems to feature just shy of a dozen performers (when some of the principal and supporting characters aren’t performing with them) generates the sound of a full two dozen individuals in a space with only a drop-mic or two hanging from the ceiling. It’s extraordinary. And they’re all brimming with gusto, punch, and vigor, particularly for that opening number— “In”, which sets the tone of ‘othered’ for the show right from the opening note.
Peterson’s overall direction is solid. The pacing of the show is tight, the staging of the show is succinct and you get the sense (even with the suspension of disbelief for lack of scenic trappings) that you’re inside any generic high school in back-woods-but-still-somehow-timelessly-modern America. Peterson has pulled together a stellar cast for this production and you get a lot of featured talent laid thick into the ensemble as well as striking performances from the supporting and principal characters. Peterson also deserves credit for the show’s ‘special effects’ (mostly achieved through lighting and sound design) but windows that close themselves and crucifixes that fly off walls are pretty intensely impressive as well.
Slipped into the ensemble from time to time are the two ‘adult’ characters in the production— Ms. Gardner (LaShelle Bray) and Mr. Stephens/Reverend Bliss (Ryan Kaczmarczyk)— and both add that subtle level of ‘helpless authority’ to the chaos that is high school in this production. Kaczmarczyk is featured in solo as the Reverend early in the production during “Open Your Heart”, a nice moment for him to showcase his singing voice whereas Bray gets two different opportunities— “Unsuspecting Hearts” and its reprise, both duets alongside the titular character— to put her exquisite soprano sound on display. Bray tempers the ball-busting nature of the hardcore gym teacher against the more nurturing kindness that she shows specifically to Carrie with ease, creating a dynamic feature in an otherwise static supporting role.
Full of the vitriol and stupidity of your stereotypical high school flunkee, Pat Collins is giving Billy Nolan that meathead-hollow-inside aggression that plays well whenever he’s making a fuss, which is basically every scene he’s in. While the character isn’t given much to do, except serve as a beef-stick-support-beam to Chris (Cynthia Acevedo) and act as a foil to the homegrown sweetheart Tommy Ross (Chris Williams), you get to see Collins’ over-the-top aggressions in action at various moments in the production and they create for a little bit of amusement here an there. The aforementioned Chris is your typical Mean Girl Boss Bitch who thinks she’s both too cool for school and rules the school simultaneously and it’s a ferocious force that Acevedo delivers divinely. With resting bitch attitude (that extends into her facial expressions, body language, and her singing voice) you get the clear sense that this moody-tudey teenager has an axe to grind for no good reason other than making sparks. Acevedo brings heat and sass to her moments in song, particularly during “Do Me a Favor”, “The World According to Chris” and “Prom Climax.” And when Acevedo’s Chris is mouthing off at Ms. Gardner you can feel the tension stealing every inch of oxygen from the scene.
Wholesome, winsome, and sweet of vocal tone, Chris Williams’ Tommy Ross is somehow the unfortunate victim amid the calamity that is Carrie. Popular but not mean, caught up in a ‘wrong-place-wrong-time’ sort of moment, he’s got a conviviality about his portrayal that really makes you feel for both his struggles— however minor they appear in the grander scheme of things— and his ultimate plight and descent into the ending. When he sings his poem, “Dreamer in Disguise” you just drift away on the dulcet tones he’s whispering into the wind. And the chemistry he shares with Sue Snell (Molly McVicker) is organic, really thriving from a natural place of bliss and affection. Even the gentle friendly nature with which he approaches Carrie feels authentic.
Blasting everyone away with unfathomable vocal prowess, Kalea Bray takes up the mantle of Margaret White, Carrie’s God-fearing, bible-thumping mother, and really just blasts the audience with searing emotional conflagrations that could readily burn down a house if her voice were flames. I’ve had the honor of seeing Bray perform in various and sundry shows throughout the years but this one takes the cake in so far as showcasing the versatile range and depth of power and emotion that she’s capable of releasing into a character. The eleven o’clock powerhouse belt-down-melt-out number, “When There’s No One” is a number that truly leaves you shaking and Bray belts the ever-living-loving hell out of the ending all whilst exploding an emotional torrent inside of the lyrics that really shake you as you listen and experience it. The intentionally awkward dynamic between the Margaret character and the Carrie character reads exceptionally well between Bray and Natalie Giovan (Carrie) and Bray is a tremendous vocal asset to have in this production.
The show may be called Carrie and it’s definitely quite focused on the titular character, you’ve got a Nick Carraway configuration occurring with Sue Snell (Molly McVicker) as you get her viewpoint from the opening sequence, and realize that this story, even though it goes deeply beyond what the Sue Snell character could ever actually know/realize/experience (much like once you get into The Great Gatsby you forget that you’re just getting Nick Carraway’s vision of it.) McVicker is versatile, invested, wholly engaged with the role and the narrative and you can’t take your eyes off of her, whether she’s timid and trembling recounting the events to the unseen interrogating officers, or living in live-time of the memory of what went down leading up to ‘that awful night.’ McVicker is another powerhouse vocally intense asset that bolsters the caliber of this production tenfold and getting to hear her shine through numbers like “You Shine”, which is a lovely and gooey duet with Tommy, is truly a treat. The emotional intensity that she brings to “Once You See” and her bit of “Epilogue” is beautifully brutal and will really shake you to the core. Her facial expressions are equally intense and she’s a true triple threat on the stage.
As for Carrie, Natalie Giovan is the sound of distant thunder and the color of flame. Appearing to be the mousy, repressed, naively confused teenage girl that Carrie White is written to be, Giovan delivers a mercurial performance in the titular role with vocals that are enough to— burn down a gymnasium, let’s say— all whilst drawing you into the deepest well of empathetic sympathy for her terrible experience. Her vocal tone is sweet, which gives one pause at first, though she quickly ensures that you’re aware she can melt your face off as she belts her face off at the end of “Carrie.” Whenever Giovan twines her voice together with Kalea Bray— “And Eve Was Weak”, “Evening Prayers”, and “Stay Here Instead”— the audience is treated to emotional chills; the blended harmonies are sublimely harmonious and both performers are pouring their burning emotions into these numbers in a truly alarming and fascinating fashion. Watching Giovan navigate the churning labyrinth of Carrie’s emotional experience in this production is harrowing; she really makes you want to bleed your heart for the character. There’s a balance of joy, hope, fear, trepidation, full-on fear-sparked-fury and a whole plethora of other pathos that Giovan funnels into the Carrie-experience. It’s truly astonishing and you will be utterly blown away by her overall vocal capabilities.
You ain’t seen nothing yet— until you see Street Lamp Community Theatre’s Carrie and it’s going to be a night you’ll never forget. So what are you waiting for— get your tickets…unless you want to irk the ire of the titular character…
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes with one intermission
Carrie plays through August 4th 2024 at Street Lamp Community Theatre 5 Valley View Drive in Rising Sun, MD. For tickets call the box office at (410) 658-5088 or purchase them online.
