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Vampire musicals never work. It’s one of the deep-seated rules of Broadway theatre. There are many examples that prove this assertion, but today, we’re taking a look at the one that started it all. What happens when you take one of German-language theatre’s biggest hits and add a hefty dose of Broadway egos, bad puns, feuding producers, and lifelong grudges? You get one of the biggest financial flops in musical history. This is the story of Dance of the Vampires.
Audio Sources (In Order of Appearance)
- The Fearless Vampire Killers original trailer (2:03)
- Overture – Tanz der Vampire (Original Vienna Cast Recording) (3:30)
- Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler (7:07)
- Totale Finsternis – Drew Sarich & Diana Schnierer (Die Drei Grafen) (7:12)
- Overture – The Phantom of the Opera (Original London Cast Recording) (10:39)
- “I Am The Count…” – Michael Crawford (14:52)
- Dance of the Vampires TV spot (17:50)
- Einladung zum Ball – Steve Barton (Tanz der Vampire – Original Vienna Cast Recording) (21:56)
- Invitation to the Ball – Michael Crawford (23:41)
- Bücher, Bücher! – Gernot Kranner (Tanz der Vampire – Original Vienna Cast Recording) (28:40)
- Books, Books! – René Auberjonois & Michael Crawford (29:04)
- “Madame von Krolock!” – Michael Crawford, Ron Orbach (30:17)
Further Reading
- Dance of the Vampires @ Wikipedia
- Dance Of The Vampires Is The Best And Worst Vampire Musical Ever Made @ SYFY (also by Kayleigh)
- “Phantom Crawford to be revived as £20m vampire” – The London Times
- Q&A with Jim Steinman
- “‘Within Fifteen Minutes, It Became Unbearable’: The bloody Broadway mess that was Dance of the Vampires“ – Vulture.com
- Dance of the Vampires @ Playbill.com
- Dance of the Vampires review @ Variety
- “Vampires: New Musical Blood” @ NYPost
- Hate At 1st Bite: How ‘Vampires’ Got Drained Of Its Blood
- Review @ Talking Broadway
- The 20 Worst Broadway Musicals Of The Millennium @ Talking Broadway
Remove the Bad Taste of the Broadway Show
- Das Kultmusical kehrt heim! – a 20 year retrospective including scenes from the original production, Germany, Paris, Russia, and Japan
- Ronacher Second Revival Trailer (with Drew Sarich as Graf von Krolock)
- Moscow production trailer (Ivan Ozhogin as Krolock)
- St Gallen production trailer (Thomas Borchert as Krolock) – a short, non-replica run starring a number of seasoned Tanz der Vampire actors
- Japanese production trailer (Yuichiro Yamaguchi as Krolock)
- Copenhagen production trailer – another non-replica production, this was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- “Cette Nuit Restera Eternelle” – Rafaëlle Cohen & Stéphane Métro
- “Кромешная тьма” – Elena Gazaeva & Ivan Ozhogin
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