Dance of the Vampires (musical)

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Dance of the Vampires (musical)
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"This article is about the musical based on Roman Polanski's film. For the film, see The Fearless Vampire Killers."

Dance of the Vampires is a musical remake of the 1967 Roman Polanski film of the same name (known as The Fearless Vampire Killers in the USA). Polanski also directed the original German language production (titled Tanz der Vampire) of this musical. Music was composed by Jim Steinman and orchestrated by Steve Margoshes, and original German book and lyrics were written by Michael Kunze.

Plot
''Note: This synopsis applies to the Broadway version, which all subsequent versions, including the original European version, were changed to be like in the years afterwards. This synopsis was written by Jim Steinman's creative assistant Barry Keating for the original playbill.''

Act I

Sometime in the late 19th century, Professor Abronsius, a rather intensely wacky scholar, stands trial before the Governors of the University of Heidelberg. He has made a mockery of the school's good name with his "ridiculous writings and insane theories," insisting that he can prove that vampires (and other supernatural creatures) actually do exist. For this "crime against science," he is sent packing by his colleagues. His assistant Alfred, handsome if sweetly dim, with an ardent and Byronic underbelly, resolutely stands by his mentor and guide. Now gifted with - however unwelcome – free time, they set off on an excursion, hoping to prove the professor's theory correct (Overture).

We are now in a remote Transylvanian village somewhere in the Carpathians. We meet the local innkeeper, Chagal, his long-suffering wife, Rebecca, and his beautiful voluptuous chambermaid, Magda, whom he spends most of his free time lusting after, much to Rebecca's disdain. Together with the local villagers, they demonstrate that nothing perks up men like wine, women and song – and Garlic. Into the midst of the hustle and bustle burst two strangers, the first in twenty years: Abronsius and Alfred, who have nearly frozen to death in the nearby woods. Although the villagers deny any knowledge of vampires in the proximity, the professor cannot be fooled and becomes increasingly suspicious.

After exploring the rooms upstairs in which they are staying, Alfred meets Sarah, Chagal's beautiful teenage daughter. He is instantly smitten by her and vice versa, especially as she sings a plaintive prayer (Angels Arise). But having noticed the attraction between them, Chagal, very protective of his child, literally boards-up the door separating them (Don't Leave Daddy). Since the budding passion of the young is highly flammable his solution proves to be as effective as spit on a forest fire. Unable to sleep, Alfred and Sarah sing of their newly awakened desire for each other (A Night Like This), but they are not alone in their yearning: Chagal sneaks away from Rebecca – who swiftly knocks Abronsius on the noggin in a case of mistaken identity – to pay an unwelcome visit to Magda. For that matter, Alfred isn't the only one pursuing Sarah; the mesmerizing and extremely cool Count von Krolock appears out of the mist, an immortal suitor whose call she finds strangely irresistible. The Count introduces himself to Sarah in a most charming way, and sings to her seductively telling her of another world (Original Sin). The lure of the night is strong, as is the promised deliverance from the mundane world she knows. This is especially the case when she watches from afar as a group of vampires dance in the moonlight and proclaim that God Has Left the Building.

The next day, the idyll of a winter mid-afternoon (Everything's Fair) is broken when Abronsius witnesses a small business exchange between Chagal and Koukol, a hideous hunchback who lives somewhere in the woods. He inquires about the odd fellow, but Chagal refuses to discuss the matter. This does not deter the professor. For every question there is an answer and no truth that defies understanding – or so he believes (Logic).

But no law rules the human heart and desire is quite an immeasurable emotion. The Count returns to invite Sarah to a grand ball at his castle, offering her a chance to make her wildest dreams a reality, an opportunity to quench her thirst for more (Invitation to the Ball). How can any small-time girl resist? Alfred also offers Sarah a way out: he begs her to run off and make a new start with him (Braver Than We Are). Too little, too late. Unbeknownst to Alfred, Krolock has sent a gift for Sarah – a pair of red boots and a vision. Alfred leaves Sarah alone outside for a moment and she puts on the boots; she has a fantastic reverie about dancing with vampires (Red Boots Ballet) and can no longer control herself, try though she might (Say a Prayer).

Torn between Alfred and the Count, Sarah runs off to Krolock's castle, pursued by Chagal, who is in turn pursued by Rebecca and Magda who are concerned for his safety, who are in turn followed by Alfred and Abronsius, reasoning that they will be shown the way to his lair. At the giant castle in the woods, they are greeted by watchful eyes in the darkness (Something to Kill (Our Time)), and by the mysterious Krolock and his flamboyant son, Herbert, who is instantly attracted to Alfred (Bless the Night). In the same breath, Krolock taunts Alfred and invites the two men into his domain (Come With Me) and the two reluctantly accept his invitation.

Act II

In the great hall of the castle, Sarah reconciles what was once just a fantasy with her new reality, seduced by and embracing her inevitable indoctrination to this family (Vampires in Love (Total Eclipse of the Heart)). Sarah is entranced as Krolock makes his way down the staircase toward her. What has long been just a notion inside her is now a man before her. She willingly offers him her throat, although he resists the urge to bite her there and then. Meanwhile, given a room, Abronsius sleeps soundly while Alfred is tormented by a nightmare (Carpe Noctem) that is a peculiar reflection of reality. In the dream he is a creature of the night. The following morning Alfred bravely swears that above fear and beyond doubt he will stay there in the hope of saving her (For Sarah). But Abronsius is more concerned with capturing the Count and his son as specimens to prove his theory. Alfred and the professor make their way to the crypt, hoping to locate the two vampires, but instead they encounter the freshly dead Chagal. Before Abronsius can think of something else, Alfred hears what he believes to be Sarah singing and the hapless duo flee the crypt just as Rebecca and Magda arrive. Encountering Chagal's bitten body, Rebecca grieves while Magda gloats (Death Is Such an Odd Thing). In death she finds him to be far more bearable than in life. Chagal wakes-up and bites them both.

Truly, love is in the air. As Chagal cements his eternity with the women he loves in tow, Alfred has a close encounter with Herbert, who has set his sights on him. The smitten Herbert waltzes with an unwilling Alfred singing a song of love and longing (When Love Is Inside You). Herbert's attempt to draw blood from the young man is thwarted by quick thinking, but to add insult to injury, Alfred then finds Sarah bathing in preparation of that evening's ball. He begs her to flee with him, but his plea falls on deaf ears – she is dying to go.

Meanwhile, Abronsius' search through the castle has taken him to the library, which he enthusiastically discovers is stocked with every book ever written (Books, Books). The Count, who initially pretends admiration for the professor and offers him eternal life, confronts him, taking the opportunity to boast that the battle for Alfred's soul is already complete and that he is the victor.

To his horror, Abronsius, joined by Alfred, watches as, in throngs, the vampires crawl from their coffins, cursing the redundancy of their existence and eager to devour (Eternity). At the same moment, stung by Abronsius' rejection, Count von Krolock laments the truth of his being (Confession of a Vampire) and makes a bleak prediction: before the turn of the next millennium mankind, overcome by greed, will know only one god – the god of appetite.

Speaking of appetite, the moment has arrived! The Count and his brethren are eager to proceed (The Ball: Never Be Enough). Sarah is presented while a disguised professor and Alfred wait for an opportunity to rescue her – a chance that unfortunately comes only after she is willfully and gloriously bitten. In the midst of the climactic vampire dance (The Minuet), they take hold of Sarah and run.

Stopping in the woods to rest, Alfred once more professes his love to Sarah and the two lovers embrace, singing of their born-again freedom (Braver Than We Are (Reprise)). He believes all is well until the second she sinks her teeth into his neck. Once bitten the couple takes off to begin a life that will know no end. Meanwhile, oblivious to what is happening around him, Professor Abronsius revels over the information he has unearthed about the existence of vampires, unaware that their numbers have grown. As the Reign of the Undead begins, everybody somehow manages to find happiness... Transylvania-style (The Dance of the Vampires).

Austria
Tanz der Vampire originally played from October 4, 1997 to January 15, 2000 at the Raimund Theater in Vienna, Austria. Steve Barton received the 1998 IMAGE Award for Best Actor for his originating performance as Count von Krolock. A complete cast recording and a highlights cast recording of the Vienna production was released on a double CD in 1998. For the tenth anniversary of the musical, Tanz der Vampire returned to the Raimund Theater for the week of February 3–11, 2007 in a scaled-down concert version.

From September 16, 2009 to June 25, 2011, Tanz der Vampire returned to Vienna at the Ronacher. The Ronacher production does not replicate the original. It features new sets, costumes, and lighting. Sets and costumes for the 2009 production were developed by Kentaur, based on the designs he developed previously for the Budapest production (see below).

Germany
The show had its German premiere in Stuttgart, Germany at the Apollo Theater and ran from March 31, 2000 to August 31, 2003. It had also played in Hamburg at the Neue Flora Theater from December 7, 2003 to January 22, 2006, in Berlin at the Theater des Westens from December 10, 2006 to March 30, 2008 and in Oberhausen at the Metronom Theater am Centro from November 7, 2008 to January 31, 2010. As a result of a public voting, Tanz der Vampire returned to Stuttgart at the Palladium Theatre from February 25, 2010 to October 16, 2011. The show returned to the Theater des Westens in Berlin from November 14, 2011 to August 25, 2013. On April 24, 2016, Tanz der Vampire began a touring production across Germany that concluded on March 17, 2019. 2016 Tour

Pre-opening
From the premiere of Tanz der Vampire, English producers were seeking to bring the show to English-speaking countries. Composer Steinman was no stranger to the theater scene in New York, having spent five years under the professional wing of New York Shakespeare Festival founder Joseph Papp in the early Seventies and authored several musicals, including The Dream Engine, Neverland and The Confidence Man, and also provided the lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Whistle Down the Wind. After briefly considering a West End run, under the influence of Steinman and his manager David Sonenberg, it was decided to bring the musical (now titled Dance of the Vampires) to New York for the 1998 season, with Steinman translating and reshaping the German book and lyrics, Polanski returning as director, and original Viennese producer/Polanski manager Andrew Braunsberg serving as executive producer. Efforts to return Polanski to the United States proved fruitless because of his unwillingness to face punishment for his earlier unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, leading first to postponing the show's opening to Halloween 2000, and then to the decision (dated to roughly March 2000 ) to seek a different director if Polanski could not return.

During the year 2000, a fundamental shift in direction was taken. Originally, the plan by Steinman, Sonenberg, and new co-librettists John Caird and David Ives, had been to reconfigure the book with a view toward a more comic angle instead of a straightforward adaptation of the successful Austrian version, which was deemed to be written in a style no longer accepted by Broadway critics and audiences. As Steinman later put it with a somewhat jaundiced tone, "We were told to put five jokes on every page." However, Steinman ended up in consultation with Springbok Productions, the newly-founded entertainment company of Kurt Cobain and Charlize Theron, and talks with Theron and Jennifer Todd made Steinman decide to abandon this tactic, moving instead to do a more straightforward adaptation after all, though with more dialogue than the original Austrian version and necessary tweaking for American audiences.

A reading for potential investors and producers was announced on Steinman's website to occur in late April 2001, with a workshop for theater owners to follow in mid-May. With this, things began taking a more concrete shape, with Caird, Ives, and the original version's librettist Michael Kunze set as doing the book along with Steinman, and Caird and Steinman co-directing, despite the latter never having directed for the stage. Attempting to reassure doubters, Steinman asserted in interviews that "Half the show [in Vienna] I had to talk Polanski into doing, and did it behind his back a lot. He's a great guy but he had a totally different vision".

At the reading at Chelsea Studios in New York, investors and producers ended up eager to sign on because of Springbok's presence.

Casting
At this point, the show needed some kind of drawing card to attract investors scared off by the previous snafus on the producing front. It was decided that a star lead in the role of Count von Krolock would be just the trick; feelers were put out to names as diverse as David Bowie, John Travolta, Richard Gere and Plácido Domingo. Ultimately, the team came to an agreement with Meat Loaf, Steinman's best known collaborator and performer of the songs. Meat Loaf was in the midst of signing a new recording contract with Exploitation Records and trying to get Steinman to agree to what became Bat Out of Hell III: The Last at Bat. Meat Loaf had originally started as a stage actor, and had first met Steinman in this manner. Meat Loaf thus agreed to a one-year contract as Count von Krolock, along with a promise from him and Steinman to concurrently work on Bat Out of Hell III. In addition, Tim Curry was announced to be standby for the role of Count von Krolock.

With the star cast, work began on assembling the additional roles, particularly for the comic lead of Professor Abronsius. This led the new creative team to Michael Crawford, best known on Broadway at the time as the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera in the 1980s. As Crawford was eager to avoid typecasting and do something quite different and more comic than the Phantom, and also wanted complete creative control of his character, Abronsius appealed to him very much, and he too signed for a one-year contract.

A cast rapidly shaped up around Meat Loaf and Crawford, including then-ingenues Mandy Gonzalez, Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser in the roles of Sarah, Alfred and Herbert, respectively, as well as Max von Essen as a standby for Alfred. Known stage and character actor Roger Bart, fresh from playing Carmen Ghia in Mel Brooks' The Producers, signed on to play Chagal, and Meat Loaf's duet partner and bandmate Patti Russo became Magda. Richard O'Brien, creator of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, ended up as Koukol.

A creative team also rapidly began to take form, comprising of many of the Vienna and Stuttgart productions' principals, such as original choreographer Dennis Callahan (though he would share duties with Daniel Ezralow for the American version), sound designer Richard Ryan and costume designer Sue Blane. Included on the team were lighting director Ken Billington, fight Rick Sordelet and vocal arranger Michael Reed. A tryout for the show was announced to take place at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta starting in March 2002, and then moving on to six weeks of previews at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway before opening on October 24. It was then also announced that Meat Loaf, Crawford and Curry would be donating a portion of their collective salaries to benefit Edward, the son of the late Steve Barton, the original Vienna Krolock, who had done the role in the reading and workshop, and had suddenly died in July. The production as a whole would then be dedicated to his memory. Springbok would be dedicating its proceeds of the show's box office to Cobain and Theron's respective charities, Nevermind...We're Here To Help! and the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.

These plans were put into question temporarily as a result of the September 11 attacks, as many different productions and events were left wondering what their future was. Springbok assured their co-producers and co-investors that things were still sound, and the plan continued. However, the original set designer, William Dudley, would not join; instead he would be replaced by David Gallo, whom Steinman liked because Gallo told him upon meeting for the first time that he was probably the only set designer in America who still subscribed to Heavy Metal Magazine, and that he bought Bat Out of Hell because he saw the album cover artwork (conceived by Steinman and executed by Richard Corben) and decided he had to have it before he even heard the music.

Previews to opening
The Atlanta tryout received glowing reviews from the local critics, but the out-of-town reviews were quite harsh and unflattering.

As the tryout ended and preparations to move to New York began, John Caird announced that he would not join the production as he had other commitments on his plate. After a brief scramble, the production chose John Rando of Urinetown fame to direct, taking also Steinman's directorial position.

Opening
After a prolonged period of development, the English version of Dance of the Vampires opened on Broadway on October 24, 2002. Music and lyrics for the English version were officially credited to Jim Steinman, and the English book was officially credited to Jim Steinman, Michael Kunze, John Caird and David Ives.

This version of the show received mixed reviews from critics, with some, such as Michael Riedel of The New York Post praising it quite effusively, and others, such as Ben Brantley of The New York Times lambasting the production and judging the performances of Meat Loaf and Crawford, in particular, quite harshly. However, the show was a massive box office success, with different groups (fans of Meat Loaf and Steinman in general, fans of Crawford, and fans of the original Austrian/German production) buying tickets en masse, to the point that Dance of the Vampires became the highest-attended Broadway show in 2003.

The show also benefited from Springbok's aggressive marketing campaign, which included releasing the original cast recording, a concept album of notable stage and rock stars performing the songs, a concert video, massive radio and video rotation of the songs (especially the concept album version), and the special website created for the show.

Dance of the Vampires racked up impressive wins at the 2003 Tony Awards, winning Best New Musical, Best Original Score for Steinman, Best Actor for Meat Loaf, Best Supporting Actor for Crawford, and Best Actress for Mandy Gonzalez.

Meat Loaf and Crawford did not renew their contracts, and their roles were filled by Drew Sarich and René Auberjonois, respectively. While ticket sales remained impressive and strong, they did begin to dip after Meat Loaf and Crawford left the production.

In March 2005, it was announced that due to The Lion King wishing to move to a larger space, Dance of the Vampires would close. The Broadway version's final performance was on June 15, 2005.

Other international productions
The musical has thus far been played at the following international venues:


 * West End: 2003-2008
 * Los Angeles: 2003-2005 at the Pantages Theatre
 * US national tours: 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2021
 * Toronto: 2003-2004 at the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts
 * Sydney: 2003-2006
 * Estonia: Tallinn: 2000 at the Tallinna Linnahall
 * Poland: Warsaw: October 8, 2005 – October 24, 2006 at the Roma Teatr Muzyczny
 * Melbourne: 2006-2007
 * Japan:
 * Tokyo: July 7 – August 27, 2006; July 5 – August 26, 2009; November 27 – December 24, 2011; November 3–30, 2015; all at the Imperial Theater
 * Fukuoka: September 2–27, 2009 at the Hakata-za Theater
 * Osaka: January 7–12, 2012; January 2–11, 2016; all at the Umeda Arts Theater
 * Nagoya: January 15–17, 2016 at Chunichi Theater
 * Hungary: Budapest: June 30, 2007 at the Magyar Theater
 * International tour: 2007-2008
 * Belgium: Antwerpen: September 9, 2010 – October 24, 2010 at the Stadsshouwburg Theater
 * Slovakia: Nitra: May 5–7, 2011 at the Altes Theater Nitra
 * Russia:
 * St. Petersburg: September 3, 2011 – July 31, 2014; August 22 – October 2, 2016; May 25, 2018 – July 21, 2019; all at the State Theater of Musical Comedy
 * Moscow: October 29, 2016 – July 1, 2017 at the MDM Theater
 * Finland:
 * Seinäjoki: September 10, 2011 – March 24, 2012 at the Seinäjoki City Theatre
 * Helsinki: February 3, 2016 – 2016 at the Peacock Theater
 * France: Paris: October 16, 2014 – June 28, 2015 at the Theater Mogador
 * Czech Republic: Prague: February 12, 2017 – June 10, 2018 at the GoJa Music Hall
 * Switzerland: St. Gallen: February 19, 2017 at the Theater St. Gallen
 * Denmark: Copenhagen: January 23 - April 9, 2020 at the Det Ny Teater

Characters

 * Graf von Krolock, the powerful and seductive vampire lord.
 * Professor Abronsius, an absent-minded vampire hunter.
 * Alfred, Abronsius' young and well-meaning assistant.
 * Sarah, the innkeeper's beautiful young daughter.
 * Chagal, a Jewish innkeeper and Sarah's over-protective father.
 * Rebecca, Chagal's long-suffering wife.
 * Magda, the pretty maid-of-all trades at Chagal's inn.
 * Herbert von Krolock, the Count's homosexual son.
 * Koukol, the Count's hunchbacked servant.

Songs
The musical score written by Steinman leans heavily on material from his earlier projects, mainly from his less-known shows like The Dream Engine and The Confidence Man (co-written with Ray Errol Fox), although it also features music from his widely known records like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (remade as "Vampires in Love"), the melody, but not the lyric, from a Bat Out of Hell II song called "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" (remade as "Confessions of A Vampire") and "Original Sin", originally written for the Pandora's Box album of the same name and later sung by Meat Loaf in Welcome to the Neighborhood (parts of which were remade as "Original Sin" and "Invitation to the Ball"). The song "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" from the soundtrack to the film Streets of Fire was also used (remade as "Dance of the Vampires").

Asked at one point to explain the reuse of "Total Eclipse", Steinman explained, "That was an accident almost. I'm surprised it stayed in. [For the original production] in Vienna, I had only a month and a half to write this whole show and we needed a big love duet... But with Total Eclipse of the Heart, I was trying to come up with a love song and I remembered I actually wrote that to be a vampire love song. Its original title was Vampires in Love because I was working on a musical of Nosferatu, the other great vampire story. If anyone listens to the lyrics, they're really like vampire lines. It's all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love's place in dark. And so I figured 'Who's ever going to know; it's Vienna!' And then it was just hard to take it out."

Asked about the impact of previously heard songs, especially Total Eclipse, on the show's popularity in Europe, Steinman replied, "Well, the reaction, at least in Europe, was great. They recognized it, but then it seems - if it's done well - to take on a different personality."

Song list in all productions since 2003


 * Act One


 * "Overture"
 * "Garlic"
 * "Angels Arise"
 * "Don't Leave Daddy"
 * "A Night Like This"
 * "Original Sin"
 * "God Has Left the Building"
 * "Everything's Fair"
 * "Logic"
 * "Invitation to the Ball"
 * "Braver Than We Are"
 * "Red Boots Ballet"
 * "Say a Prayer"
 * "Something to Kill (Our Time)"
 * "Come With Me"


 * Act Two


 * "Vampires in Love (Total Eclipse of the Heart)"
 * "Carpe Noctem"
 * "For Sarah"
 * "Death Is Such An Odd Thing"
 * "When Love Is Inside You"
 * "Books, Books"
 * "Eternity"
 * "Confessions Of A Vampire"
 * "The Ball: Never Be Enough"
 * "The Minuet"
 * "Braver Than We Are (Reprise)"
 * "Dance of the Vampires (Tonight is What It Means To Be Young)"