Carrie showcases
young talent at its best

In The Wings Promotions delivers another successful rock opera

By Byron Toben

June 15, 2022

In The Wings Promotions, headed by Noelle Hannibal, has become the go-to local group for rock opera concerts. After well-received versions of Chess (2015), The Who’s Tommy (2015), Hair (2017) and Hedwig and The Angry Inch (2018, 2019), it recently led a return to live theatre after the long COVID hiatus with a May 2022 production of Carrie: The Musical at the MainLine Theatre.

Based on a novel by best-selling horror author Stephen King, it would seem an unusual choice for a musical, but it worked thanks to Michael Gore’s music, Dean Pritford’s lyrics and Lawrence D. Cohen’s book.

In a nutshell, it deals with a bullied teenage girl, Carrie (Mary Francis Kobelt), whose anger swells to convert her angry gaze into deadly rays that proved fatal to classmates at the prom.

Superman’s X-ray vision could only penetrate covers, but this goes way beyond that. Such is the nature of sci-fi horror fiction. The result – the prom ended up with more dead bodies than in Hamlet.

Ms. Hannibal plays a key role as Carrie’s mother and excels as she is a professional actor and singer of note. She is also a darn good casting director, as a dozen young amateurs were found and groomed to perform well.

With a four-piece on-stage band (keyboard, drums, guitar and bass), the stage in this intimate venue was rich with sound and group movement. Much of this is due to director/choreographer Nadia Verrucci, herself a talented actor, singer and dancer who, in recent years, has added the two other skills to her C.V.

Ms. Hannibal plays a key role as Carrie’s mother and excels as she is a professional actor and singer of note. She is also a darn good casting director, as a dozen young amateurs were found and groomed to perform well.

Also, in her director’s message in the program, she explains how she managed “Zoom” choreography and rehearsals during a background of ever-changing mask rules. Perseverance pays off to result in this ‘doozy.’

Carrie: The Musical played at the MainLine Theatre from May 5 to 14.

Images: courtesy of In The Wings Promotions

Read more articles from Byron Toben

Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated web sites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.