More than seven years after its authors first began work on it, the critically lambasted musical "Carrie" has closed after 5 regular performances and 16 previews, making the more-than-$7 million show the most expensive quick flop in Broadway history. "Rags," a musical about the Jewish immigrant experience that starred Teresa Stratas, ran for only four performances in August 1986, but cost less: $5.25 million. The closing of "Carrie" on Sunday at the Virginia Theater has raised questions about the Royal Shakespeare Company (the play's co-producer) and Terry Hands (the play's director and the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare), as well as about how so much money can be spent on a musical that fails.
In addition to "Carrie," the $1.4 million "Gospel at Colonus" and the $2.5 million "Mail" closed over the weekend - a total of $11 million worth of Broadway musicals that fell by the wayside in one week.
"Broadway is an exciting place," Mr. Hands said after the reviews of last Thursday's opening were in, "but it's like warfare. Don't expect to go without a helmet on. You know you're taking your life in your hands."
The seven-year odyssey of "Carrie," which is based on the Stephen King novel about a teen-ager who takes supernatural revenge on her taunting classmates at the high school prom, is one filled with false starts, delays, problems and a final cast of characters consisting largely of people with little or no experience in the Broadway musical-a lack of experience, especially his own, that Mr. Hands said played a crucial role in the production.
'Naively Enthusiastic People'
"I didn't know what I was getting into," Mr. Hands said before the opening. "I don't know anything about the American musical. This is my first time. But all of us on the show have been incredibly, unbelievably inexperienced. Rarely have such inexperienced but I suppose kind of naively enthusiastic people got together to try and make something work. It was like wrestling with a boa constrictor. It keeps coming and you keep thinking you don't know where to put your feet."
The Royal Shakespeare has had Broadway musical success with "Les Miserables," but that was co-directed by Mr. Hands's predecessor as head of the company, Trevor Nunn. Mr. Hands had done a British musical, "Poppy," but never an American one. The composer, Michael Gore, the librettist, Lawrence D. Cohen (who did the screenplay for the "Carrie" movie), and the Iyricist, Dean Pitchford (who had written songs for the movie "Fame") had never done a Broadway musical. Betty Buckley, who played Carrie's mother, had of course been a success in "Cats" and " Drood," but Carrie herself was played by Linzi Hateley, a 17-vear-old from Birmingham, England, who was making her Broadway debut.
And the show's other co-producer, Friedrich Kurz, a West German businessman and theatrical entrepreneur who now lives in London, had never produced on Broadway before. His main credit was a production of "Cats" in Hamburg. The 39-year-old Mr. Kurz raised most of the money- and invested his own-in the show. Another investor was Jujamcyn Theaters, whose $500,000 went largely to refurbish the Virginia Theater.
The show was originally going to be produced by the team of Barry and Fran Weissler and Frederick Zollo, but the financing fell through a few years ago, said Mr. Hands. It looked for a while as if the show were dead, but Mr. Cohen and Mr. Gore approached Mr. Kurz at the New York opening of "Starlight Express" and found that he was interested. Mr. Kurz bought the rights from the earlier producers and got in touch with Mr: Hands.
Critics: Nay; Audiences: Aye
They arranged to mount the show at the Royal Shakespeare as part of a season of four American plays, and Barbara Cook was signed to play Carrie's mother. The show opened, and was butchered by the critics, though all of the parties pointed out that audiences over the three-anda-half-week run gave it standing ovations.
Miss Cook dropped out, a decision was made to move the show to New York for an April opening rather than London's West End "because it's an American musical," Mr. Hands said, and Betty Buckley was hired. There were delays, difficulties with the set - reportedly because of money problems-and finally previews began. There was not a large advance-it had been reported as $2.7 million, though Mr. Kurz declined to confirm or deny the figure - partly because there was no successful London production to attract ticket buyers, as with "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera." And then came opening night, and a $7 million disaster.
"All of these musicals are expensive because costs are very high," Mr. Kurz said before the opening. "We have the most sophisticated sound these days. You're talking a million dollars just for sound."
After the reviews were in, meetings were held to determine the show's future. One problem Mr. Hands cited on Friday was that the earlier delays had "cost a fortune and used up our reserve funds."
"Obviously," he said, "a bad review from The New York Times is not something that many people can ever survive. We're aware of that."
The Author Was Pleased
The show had received standing ovations at some previews, as well as on opening night, and some people liked it -- among them Stephen King. "I liked it a lot," he said. "In fact, I liked it for most of the reasons that Frank Rich did not. He and I saw the same show. We just drew different conclusions from different perspectives."
Yesterday, Mr. Kurz was back in Europe counting his losses and Mr. Hands was facing a critical reception in Europe that may require the same helmet he spoke about for Broadway.
John Peter of The Sunday Times after panning two of the Royal Shakespeare's recent productions, wrote recently that "it's time to sound the alarm."
"The Royal Shakespeare Company is in trouble," he added, writing that he regretted Mr. Hands's prolonged absence because of "Carrie." In fact many of the company's six productions that have opened since March 30, while Mr. Hands has been away have received less-than-favorable reviews. The Royal Shakespeare, the largest theatrical organization in the world, usually presents between 35 and 40 productions a year.
'No Repercussions'
Mr. Hands, for his part, seemed less than troubled. "The R.S.C. has got its money back on the show, so financially we did not lose," he said. "In fact, we made almost a half-million dollar profit," based on the Stratford-on-Avon tryout. "It will have no repercussions on the R.S.C., because we are known as a company that takes risks, a maverick that goes out on limbs."
"My own position will not hang on 'Carrie,' " Mr. Hands said, "though I think my colleagues might dissuade me from doing any other musicals- but they wouldn't need to."
For the cast, it's on to new things. Miss Hateley, who a year ago was an acting student, has achieved her first dream. "l've played Broadway," she said.
"Hopefully," she added, " I've made a good enough impression to do something better in the future."
Mr. Kurz had said before the opening: "I can only say we've tried our best. Regardless, I would like to do more work here."
And for Mr. Hands, "its been an extraordinary adventure trying to do something I feel that-to be absolutely honest, I'm not sure that I'm good enough.
"I mean, when I would go to American musicals to watch a Michael Bennett show, to watch a Bob Fosse show-the people who can do it are very special, and I'm not sure that I can. I think I've given it a damn good try. It's like an Everest-you've got to try it. Or it's like the north face of the Eiger. There are safe ways of getting to the top of the Eiger, but there's the north face, and at some point in your life you've got to try it. And we're beginners. We're newcomers. Doing our best. But maybe I'll take another route up the Eiger next time."