DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, to close. The show will play its final performance on Broadway on Saturday, January 25, 2003. The show opened Monday, December 9, 2002 at Broadway?s Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street), and will have played 61 preview and 56 regular performances.
Opening on Broadway
The award winning show is coming across the Atlantic Ocean to Broadway from Germany. When the show opens on Broadway there will be changes, besides doing the show in English, the creative team has made some other changes. I hear new songs were added and some more comedy for American audiences, plus dialogue.
Michael Crawford is most famous for his role as the "Phantom" in Andrew Lloyd Webbers production of The Phantom of the Opera. Then in the UK he is also know as the hapless Frank Spencer from Some Mothers Do Ave Em. Spencer never seems to be able to keep out of trouble in this TV show that spanned many years.
Crawford's career has spanned more than 40 years. He started at the age of 15 and has not stopped working since. He has done stage, TV, movies, concerts and has also had a very lucrative recording career.
Now at age 60 Crawford returns to Broadway for the first time since his Tony Award®-winning performance in The Phantom of the Opera. Crawford going into a musical that has won awards in Europe, Dance of the Vampires. The show opened in Vienna, Austria in 1997 under the name of Tanz der Vampire. This musical is based on the cult classic (campy) movie from 1967 by Roman Polanski The Fearless Vampire Killers. Although the movie was campy, the musical is more a Wagnerian comedy.
Tanz der Vampire won six German IMAGE Awards the following year, including Best Musical, Best Music, Best Book, Best Actor, and Best Featured Actor and Actress. The New York City reading of the English version was done April 27, 2001.
Dance of the Vampires is a hot wired fairy tale in which an aristocratic, charismatic vampire, Count Von Krolock, jousts with a young passionate student, Alfred, to win the body and soul of a beautiful eighteen year old virgin, Sarah, who only knows that she wants more!!!
From an award-winning creative team comes the musical event of the season. Dance of the Vampires is a spectacular roller coaster ride, twisting and turning from romance to comedy to horror, all set against an opulent score and explosive dance. Get ready for a total eclipse over Broadway. 
The music and lyrics for the Broadway version are by Jim Steinman. The book is by: David Ives, Jim Steinman and Michael Kunze. The original German book and lyrics were by Michael Kunze. Kunze who wrote the European musical version's book and lyrics is author of the best and most internationally successful Viennese pop musical, Elisabeth, and Mozart! Kunze is also the German translator of many major British and American musical successes of recent years.
The musical will be directed by John Rando who directed a show currently on Broadway called Urinetown.
The "Vampires" must dance and at the helm to choreograph this show is John Carrafa. Carrafa is currently working on Into the Woods, in previews and the zany hit Urinetown.
The Broadway version is adding more comedy. The German production's humor is a lot more physical and slapstick. The Broadway version will be more witty and cerebral for US audiences. Word is they are adding more songs. This is great as the composer is Jim Steinman probably more well-known for his pop and rock & roll music. Steinman's music in the European versions of the show is very powerful, so this will be even more wonderful. For information on Tanz der Vampire you can check out my article on the show and also my review of the CD.
They are also changing some of the song titles. Most people have seen the German translations of the songs' titles, but I have heard that some titles will be more fluid like...Vampires In Love (Total Eclipse of the Heart), Sarah's Song, Confession of a Vampire (The Insatiable Appetite), Braver Than We Are, A Night Like This, etc. Carpe Noctem, Seize the Night, Eternity, Death Is Such An Odd Thing, When Love Is Inside You, titles will remain the same.
Steinman is not new to musicals. He worked in collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Whistle Down the Wind. Steinman wrote the lyrics for Whistle Down the Wind. So Steinman and Crawford ahs something in common they both worked with Webber.
For those who have not seen the original version of Tanz der Vampire then you are in for a nice surprise. The Count is a dark and tormented figure, but he also displays a little humor in a sardonic way. Other characters in the show are: the beautiful Sarah whom the count lusts after; Alfred (our hero); the Professor (the fearless vampire killer, well almost); the counts gay son Herbert and the villagers to add to the comedy in the show. Plus let us not forget the "Vampires" that dance in the musical. I look forward to the dance segments. If they are anything like the Vienna production, then they will be great and fun. From someone close to the production "The new choreographer should be able to make the word 'Dance' *really* mean something! The entire creative team is TOP of the crop."
Here is a small synopsis of the new production:
We are in a Transylvanian graveyard near a village with an unpronounceable name. It is three nights before Halloween, 1880-something.
Sarah, the beautiful teenage daughter of the local innkeeper, is out picking mushrooms when a pack of very cool young vampires appears out of the mist, dancing with rapturous abandon. Sarah is entranced as a coffin rises from the ground containing the mesmerizing and extremely cool Count Von Krolock (alias Michael Crawford).
The Count sings to Sarah seductively and promises to return for her at the total eclipse of the moon--when Sarah, in exchange for a small bite, can become Queen of the Vampires and rule the world. How can any small-time girl resist?
But then arrives Professor Abronsius, a rather intensely wacky vampire killer, with his handsome if sweetly dim assistant Alfred. Alfred is instantly smitten by Sarah and vice versa. Torn between Alfred and the Count, Sarah runs off to Krolock's castle, pursued by Alfred and Abronsius.
There are ecstatic love duets, close encounters, unbridled dancing, wild comedy and, of course, bats and a madman named Boris. Sarah has to choose between earthly love with Alfred, or eternal passion with Krolock in the Vampire State Building.
The climactic vampire dance erupts as the moon starts to eclipse, and everybody somehow manages to find happiness....Transylvania-style.
For those that saw the Vienna or Stuttgart versions more from someone close to the production. "The story remains true to the heart of the German version...it's still very dark and gothic - characteristic of Jim's art...and there's heaps of humor too...again, characteristic of Jim's art. All the main themes are still there but the pace and structure is much improved."
Krolock remains a dark, tormented, demented, majestic Vampire Lord. He is NOT the comic lead of the show but does possess a sardonic sense of humor. At the heart the story remains the same, it's just better presented and laid-out now, so the scenes are, at times, different. As for the music, all of the substantial songs are there plus more...which...when it's Steinman...is a very good thing.
This show is going to "ROCK YOUR WORLD!"
Steinman is working on a concept album for Dance of the Vampires no release date at this time. The cast album has been rumored to be released in spring 2003. If you have a chance to get the highlights Tanz der Vampire album it can introduce you to most of the music that will be used in the show.
The Minskoff Theatre is being transformed for this musical. They are planning spectacular special effects and transforming the whole Minskoff Theatre into a kind of dark enchanted wonderland. I hear that Industrial Light & Magic might be involved and that this would be the first Broadway show to use the George Lucas THX Surround Sound System.
Dance of the Vampires scene and song listing.
Michael Crawford as Count Von Krolock (the shows' 425 year old, vampire, the seductive, diabolic, dramatic center of the show.). "It's really amazing to be working with Michael Crawford. He's such a consummate professional. We're building a terrific cast around him," boasted Rando about the show's performers who will go into rehearsals in August.
René Auberjonois as Professor Abronsius;
Max von Essen as Alfred;
Mandy Gonzalez as Sarah;
Ron Orbach as Chagal;
Liz McCartney as Rebecca.
Asa Somers as Herbert;
Leah Hocking as Magda.
Mark Price as Boris the Madman.
Robert Evan as standby for Krolock and the Professor.
Doug Storm will be singing Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night.
Click here for the remainig cast listing.
I will say this is a great cast. They are all good theatre actors/singers. John Rando has a great cast to work with. The show also has a great creative team assembled.
Links to other articles and websites:
New website for Dance of the Vampires DOTVFans.com (Billed as "The Internet's Premier Source for Information on Broadway's Dance of the Vampires")
Dance of the Vampires Official Website. (Check out the new demos on the site now.)
Music clips from Dance of the Vampires and Tanz der Vampire.
Photos of sets by David Gallo for Dance of the Vampires.
Press Links to Articles/Photos About DOTV.
Review of Tanz der Vampire Vienna CDs.
Tanz der Vampire article and synopsis.
Russian Musicals' Website Article About Dance of the Vampires.
Press preview photos in this article are used with permission from Broadway Beat.
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