‘Riverdale’ Puts on ‘Carrie: The Musical’ in New “A Night to Remember” Photos

The CW has released a huge batch of photos for “A Night to Remember”, the upcoming eighteenth episode of Riverdale‘s second season.

The episode will see the members of Riverdale’s ensemble put on a production of Carrie: The Musical, something that has been teased by the series for several months now. The photos, which you can check out in the gallery below, go back and forth between rehearsals and what appears to be the actual production, complete with Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) all done up in Carrie’s prom regalia.

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But as the photos hint, there will be plenty of drama ensuing — Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica’s (Camila Mendes) relationship appears to be taking a turn, after Betty broke off from her best friend a few episodes back. And beyond that, the show’s cast and crew has hinted that fans can expect some sort of darkness behind the scenes.

“I don’t think it’d be Riverdale if there wasn’t something tragic about a musical episode.” Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead Jones, said during the show’s recent PaleyFest panel. “It can be a breath of fresh air for people who have been watching a debilitating series of events for these characters. But we still find a way to pick you up and slam you back down.”

“Characters are going to fall from grace. And they’re going to redeem themselves,” Marisol Nichols, who plays Hermione Lodge, hinted. “And it’s Carrie. At the end of the day, you’re going to see a bucket full of blood. I don’t think it gets more tragic than that.”

Given all of the bombshells in this week’s episode – Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) being broken out of gay conversion therapy, the mayoral and student council races heating up, and the dealings between Archie (KJ Apa) and Hiram (Mark Consuelos) taking a major turn, those comments certainly make sense. And according to those involved with Riverdale, that’s part of why Carrie was chosen as the school’s production.

“I’m a huge fanatic of Carrie, the novel and then the movie,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa admitted during a recent interview. “I was obsessed with the Broadway flop of Carrie: The Musical. Five or six years ago, one of my good friends revived it off-Broadway, and he revealed it to be the gem that I always knew it was. So we thought, ‘This would thematically be a great musical for Riverdale to do.’”

“That show also has archetypes like the good girl next door, the nice boy who takes Carrie to the prom.” Aguirre-Sacasa added. “It felt like we could play with these archetypes.”

And while not every Riverdale cast member will end up singing in the production, putting on this musical will allow the show to get back to its high school-centric roots, something that has been an active effort of the show in the back half of the season.

“On some level, Riverdale is a crime and a mystery and a pulp show, but there is an element of coming-of-age and of high school, obviously.” Aguirre-Sacasa pointed out. “And doing the school musical is such a rite of passage that we wanted to do that.”

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.