Chapter 7: Are you a Friend of Carrie?

Out for Blood: The Story of Carrie the Musical

With an epic standing ovation on closing night, and urban legends already forming about its turbulent journey to the stage, Carrie the Musical had become an instant cult classic. If you’d missed Carrie’s all-too-brief run on Broadway, you just weren’t ‘in’. But the show was over and - like most flops - it might have slowly faded into oblivion.

But, it didn’t. We track down the army of fans determined to keep Carrie alive in the ‘wilderness years’ that followed. We uncover the surprising truth about exactly where those bootleg videos came from, and hear from Tony-nominated composer Joe Iconis (‘Be More Chill’) about his teenage Carrie addiction - including a terrifying phone call from a familiar name. We also meet David Cerda, creator of drag parody ‘S’Carrie the Musical’, and talk to the people who threw caution to the wind and mounted unauthorised productions of the musical everybody thought was dead and buried. Did they get away with it?

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Out for Blood is hosted by Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, edited by Tom Moores, with original music by Odinn Orn Hilmarson and artwork by Rebecca Pitt.

Out for Blood is a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network.

NEW! Chris's book Out for Blood: a Cultural History of Carrie the Musical is out now! You can order now from the publisher or all good book stores. You can now also order OFB t-shirts, hoodies, totes, stickers, pins and more here!

Thanks this week to Dean Pitchford, Linzi Hateley, Sally Ann Triplett, Eric Gilliom, Jeremy Sturt, Joe Iconis, Alice Ripley, Stephen Dolginoff, Julie Cohen, Laura Dean, Annie Golden, Todd Graff, Craig Hepworth, Robbie Rozelle, David Cerda, Jeffrey Murphy, Julie Kleiner Davis, Vivienne Cleary, Kaily Smith Westbrook, Stagedoor Manor and Jeffrey McCann.

THIS WEEK’S LINKS:

• Joe Iconis is the multi-award winning creator of the Broadway show Be More Chill: visit him at mrjoeiconis.com. Check out his Carrie Halloween mashup!
• Details of original cast member Eric Gilliom’s one man show, featuring that kill the pig tribute, can be found here.
• Todd Graff’s cult classic movie Camp based on his experiences at Stagedoor Manor is available on DVD.
• Craig Hepworth, that Robin Hood of the Carrie bootleg world, runs the theatre company Vertigo Productions.
• Robbie Rozelle’s excellent albums including ‘Songs from Inside my Locker’ can be found on his site.
• And of course, have a listen to the one and only S’Carrie the Musical.
• Please note that we don’t own any of the content above and we’re not responsible for the content of third-party links – enjoy!

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