The character of Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) serves as the show-within-the-show's director, mixing elements from the 1974 King novel with Brian De Palma's 1976 film adaptation, the 1988 Broadway production, the 2012 Off-Broadway revival, and Kimberly Peirce's 2013 film remake.
In this episode, the Riverdale gang performs the infamous Broadway flop, Carrie the Musical (1988), based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.
The episode features 11 songs and is framed as a documentary about the high school theater production filmed by Jughead Jones.
In the comic books, Archie had a "jalopy" as a car, almost the same as the one he purchases from the scrapyard.
While Jughead has been cast as "The Beak" in the musical, he does not sing. Though, he does play a very integral role in the episode.