By Adam Hetrick
18 Feb 2012

	The Playbill cover for Carrie

What about the story itself stuck with you and made you come back to tackle this show? Most people might shy away from the property.
SA: You know, I think, inevitably, the exciting idea or the story behind Carrie is the universal theme of being different. We all know what it's like to not fit in — even if we were actually in the in-crowd, sometimes you don't even fit in within the in-crowd. So, being different, whether you're male or female or black or white or gay or straight or heavy or thin, we all know what it feels like to be different. And, so, that story and that universal kind of theme is what, for me, drives this piece, and, inevitably, what makes the story of Carrie that much more kind of connected for people to be with and to experience.

Were the writers hesitant come back and work on the piece again? You've spent a good deal of time refining the material in workshops the past few years.
SA: The authors have been ridiculously excited and so helpful. Since the first meeting that we had, which was in October of 2008 until 2012 — March 1, when we open — they have been relentless in continuing to ask the questions, continuing to dig deeper into the material. Obviously, we have an extraordinary five-week preview period where we will continue to unearth the truth and unearth more possibilities within this piece. It's a very unique story. And, the storytelling properties — through song and through movement and through design and through the actors — are going to be very kind of fine-tuned during the preview process. It's been a really exciting rollercoaster ride with the authors because they have been so open, they've been so accessible and so interested in reinventing Carrie for 2012.

How many new songs in there?
SA: You know, I don't actually know how many new songs because there have been ones that have been cut. We've been doing the rewriting process really for the last four years. A lot of the material has been re-looked at. A lot of the songs have been cut…some of the fans who know all those bootlegs will be very sad they're not there anymore. New songs have been written. Songs have been re-lyricized now. It's really brand new, and, I think in many ways, the hope is that any of the wonderful fans who are coming to experience what they either saw on a bootleg or perhaps what they saw in 1988 will be pleasantly surprised that it will be a new Carrie — something new for this generation versus a wonderful kind of historical relic of the late '80s.

	Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson
	photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

You're telling this story in a small space at the Lortel Theatre, which is exciting because the audience really has to participate. Tell me about creating the menace and the danger in Carrie. People who are familiar with this property know the spectacle. How do you conjure the menace and danger?
SA: Inevitably, the dark magic or the menacing kind of element that is inherent in the material is going to be brought to life in a very theatrical way here at the Lucille Lortel. We are dealing with a much more compact, intimate space. People consider this like a "horror musical" — in essence, it's not a horror musical. What people experience are horrific situations, perhaps horrific psychological kind of ramifications of relationships between people, but at its core, we're dealing with a human story about a girl who's different — and her relationship with her mother, her relationship with her peers and, inevitably, her relationship with herself. So, I'm hoping that the human story will be the thrust of the piece and the theatrical elements that incorporate menace or dread, maybe come as sprinkles on top of that cake.

So, the first couple of rows won't be blood-splatter zones?
SA: [Laughs.] The first couple rows will not have… No, there won't raincoats or anything that people have to wear here at the Lortel.

(Adam Hetrick is a staff writer for Playbill.com who also contributes to Playbill Video and Playbill magazine.)