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Post by Koukol on May 11, 2011 13:12:34 GMT -5
Dance of the Vampires The Story of its Downfall
As alluded to in the description of this forum, what purported to be an English adaptation of Tanz der Vampire reached the American stage in December 2002. Starring Michael (Phantom of the Opera) Crawford, this production, based on flawed market research and the demands of too many cooks spoiling the soup, changed much of the story, and turned the humor from darkly funny to slapstick and unfunny. It died a quick death, a critical and commercial flop. This is a dark chapter in the history of Tanz, and mentioning it to fans of the European version is a good way to be instantly shunned in their circles.
The question of how this happened, and on a lesser note who is to blame, actually has a rather surprising answer. Most people accept the surface explanation and blame Michael Crawford, the creative team, the producers, or Jim Steinman (very few choose this option due to Jim's repeated disavowal of the American version), but it's a much more complicated situation than that. Like I alluded to above, as the old proverb says, too many cooks spoiled the soup.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Regarding some quotes of foreign origin, in direct translation from (usually) German to English, there are certain idiosyncrasies of such a translation that creep in. The author did his best to remove them, indicated with ellipses and bracketed substitutions of what the author deemed to be the proper wording. The exact quotes in these translations are available at the links provided as source material throughout the article.
Special thanks to TVTropes.org for some of the structuring and filler throughout the article with regard to the '97 Vienna, Stuttgart, and Tallinn productions. Anything that is not sourced can be regarded as speculation on the author's part, although those moments should be clear based on the verbiage of the article. Page titles for links, as available, are provided, and do not indicate the name of the website in question.
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Post by Koukol on May 11, 2011 13:17:52 GMT -5
First, we must introduce some of the major players in this story and explain a little about them prior to their involvement in the mess that was Dance of the Vampires on Broadway. Perhaps these mini-bios will enlighten people as to the motivations behind their actions in the main body of the article. THE CREATIVES- Jim Steinman -- A successful Grammy-winning composer and producer in the rock and pop market; began as a theater queen in 1969 with a three-hour rock musical called The Dream Engine, written to satisfy his Independent Study at Amherst College. Transitioned into the rock world with Bat Out of Hell following some Off-Broadway hits and misses during seven years working for Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival (Rhinegold, More Than You Deserve [the show which introduced him to Meat Loaf and launched a hit team], The Confidence Man , and Neverland [his update of The Dream Engine, which featured many of the songs that became Bat Out of Hell]), and he didn't return to musical theater until 22 years later with the lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Webber's score for Whistle Down the Wind. Loves total creative control; attitude (a la Annie Oakley) is "Anything you can do, I can do better." Brilliant composer, decent lyricist, book work is nothing short of incomprehensible. To the average eye, he can tell a good story (one can see this when they read articles from throughout his career where he expounds on the plot of his pieces), but it seems whenever he tries to expand that plot into a full-fledged script, it fails to make sense as a whole. Jim's yen for creative control will frequently lead to issues on projects (ask Michael Weller and Meat Loaf about More Than You Deserve). Dreams of bridging the gap between theater and rock and roll: "Theater stopped growing in the 1950s. Great theater music always reflected the streets, but by the '60s, what did Hello, Dolly! reflect? Nothing. Theater disconnected from the music of its time. Rock could change that. [...] I just feel any connection between pop music and show music is a positive thing."
- Michael Kunze -- No stranger internationally as a writer and lyricist, mainly for TV and pop, respectively. Songwriting has led to numerous gold and platinum records, and even Grammy wins. Has risen to become the preferred collaborator of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim (as foreign language adapter in German speaking countries). 1992: Made his first original foray into musical theater with Elisabeth, a show about the Empress of Austria of the same name, which became a hit in Vienna and went on to play throughout Europe and Japan.
- Roman Polanski -- Oscar-winning director. Co-wrote, directed and starred in a quirky spoof of Hammer thrillers called The Fearless Vampire Killers in 1967.
- Sue Blane -- Costume designer best known for The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show.
- William Dudley -- Set designer.
- John Caird -- Director and librettist of such musical theater smashes as Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance, Les Misérables (co-director/adapter), Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden, Jane Eyre, Leonard Bernstein's Candide, and Daddy Long Legs (an adaptation of Jean Webster's novel, won three L.A. Ovation Awards).
- David Ives -- Critics' darling and author of several popular Off-Broadway plays. Only experience with musical theater libretti at this time was as resident adapter for Encores!, where he produced concert adaptations of about a dozen or more shows ("You have to make them two-thirds of their original length, but extract the essence"). Also worked with Steinman on the unproduced Batman: The Musical for Warner Bros.
- Barry Keating -- Longtime Steinman associate since 1969 (co-developer of the aforementioned Rhinegold) and creative consultant since 1999. Resident director of Theatre World Awards and six time Tony-nominated composer of Starmites.
- John Carrafa and John Rando -- Tony-winning (Rando) and -nominated (Carrafa) helmers of Urinetown, a quirky musical comedy.
- David Gallo -- Broadway set designer. Told Steinman upon meeting him 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.
THE MEN IN SUITS- David Sonenberg -- Harvard Law School graduate and former entertainment lawyer who served as counsel for such shows as Hair, Godspell and Cabaret. 1977: Signs Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman as first management clients and becomes pivotal force in the launch of Bat Out of Hell, which goes on to become the biggest-selling debut album ever. 1981: Meat Loaf bottoms out after fame goes to his head and makes him crazy, leading to suicide attempts and loss of voice; Sonenberg sticks with Steinman, who takes off during Eighties and Nineties as composer/producer/arranger for such hit-making acts as Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Billy Squier, The Sisters of Mercy, Watershed, and Celine Dion. Reunites Steinman and Loaf, who make history with Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (a very magnanimous move on Sonenberg's part, given his mismanagement of Loaf's finances -- with the help of managing partner Al Dellentash -- very likely contributed to Loaf's post-Dead Ringer bankruptcy and loss of touch with reality until this point). Other clients include Joan Osborne, the Fugees, Wyclef Jean, and the Spin Doctors, to name a few. Steinman on his relationship with Sonenberg: "My most extreme fights are with David. He isn't a 'yes' man. He doesn't even approach being a 'considerate' man. Our relationship is a lot less like Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Producers than it is Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"
- Andrew Braunsberg -- Former business partner of Roman Polanski. Produced some of his films.
- Rudi Klausnitzer -- Head of Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, an Austrian production company that owns several Viennese venues.
- Anita Waxman and Elizabeth Williams -- Experienced Broadway producing team, then known for the Tony-winning critically acclaimed revival of The Music Man.
- USA Ostar Theatricals -- Experienced Broadway producing team (late of the revival of Noises Off), headed by television and movie mogul Barry Diller with Bill Haber.
- Lawrence Horowitz -- Experienced Broadway producer of Electra and It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues.
- Bob Boyett -- Veteran television producer of such shows as Laverne and Shirley and Bosom Buddies who had just joined the Broadway pool as producer of a Hedda Gabler revival. Invested in The Crucible, Sweet Smell of Success, Topdog/Underdog.
THE STAR- Michael Crawford -- Born Michael Patrick Dumble-Smith in Wiltshire, changed his name in honor of his favorite brand of cookies. Took part in Benjamin Britten's educational musical Let's Make an Opera as a teenager. 1960s: Stars in films such as The Knack and How I Won the War (now more famous for Beatle John Lennon's cameo appearance), as well as playing opposite Barbra Streisand in Hello, Dolly! Voted funniest man on television for his role as the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. Spent three months at the New York Circus School in preparation for his role as American showman P.T. Barnum in the musical Barnum, which was seen by 2.5 million people in New York and London. 1986: Andrew Lloyd Webber casts him as the tragic anti-hero of The Phantom of the Opera, which arguably gives Lloyd Webber and co-producer Cameron Mackintosh one of their greatest hits.
SOURCES: Jim Steinman's biographical info, including a listing of previous musicals he worked on: The Lord of ExcessSteinman on reconnecting theater with popular music: Rock Knockin' on B'way's Door"connection between pop music and show music": Songlist for "Dance of the Vampires"Brief biographical sketch of Michael Kunze pre-Tanz, description of Andrew Braunsberg: From Vienna: After Dark with VampiresDavid Sonenberg, John Caird biographical info: Wikipedia Steinman and Sonenberg as Davis and Crawford: Opera Star to Dance?Thumbnail descriptions of Boyett, Horowitz, USA Ostar: News and Notes (see the heading "Stake Claim to Vampires") Biographical material on Michael Crawford: It Pays to Be UndeadAnything not cited is either speculation, and noted as such, or common knowledge.
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Post by Koukol on May 13, 2011 15:09:15 GMT -5
"TANZ"1967: Polanski directs, co-writes, and stars in Dance of the Vampires, a spoof of vampire films; a cult hit in Europe, the film is retitled The Fearless Vampire Killers, choppily re-edited, and generally disregarded by the public in America. 1993: Braunsberg and Klausnitzer approach Kunze to work on the libretto for a musical adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, to be directed by Polanski, jam on time with the emerging trend of turning movies into musicals. Obtaining the rights proves problematic, and Braunsberg unearths Dance of the Vampires, which he co-produced, suggesting Polanski's material is ripe for adaptation. Polanski resists initially (says Steinman jokingly, "I don't think he wanted music at all, which is great for a musical"), but finally accedes. Finding a composer for the project -- The search for composers begins, with one caveat: Kunze, known for liking to marry a contemporary style with his works to attract a younger audience, decides in his mind it has to be a rock/pop-based composer. Many in the theatrical community are attached to the project at some point, including Boublil and Schonberg, the team behind Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, but in the end Jim Steinman wins out, and is thrilled to bits for a variety of reasons: - His personal hero, classical composer Richard Wagner, made his home in Vienna, and Jim jumps at the chance to work on what he considers holy ground. - Steinman is a Polanski fan, particularly of Chinatown, Repulsion, and Rosemary's Baby. - He's always thought vampires would be the ideal subject for an opera or a musical. In the Eighties, he'd started and abandoned a musical treatment of Nosferatu, from which "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (perhaps his most successful song ever) was spawned. - On a slightly ironic note, his personal lifestyle even reflects that of a vampire -- normally he sleeps during the day; his nickname among friends and associates is "Prince of Darkness." Steinman also has his theater cachet to consider; his first try at getting back into theater in several years, Whistle Down the Wind (with Andrew Lloyd Webber), has recently sputtered to a stop in its Washington, D.C. tryout, killing his efforts to successfully combine rock and theater. With this end in mind, Steinman is ready and willing to work on the new show. When Steinman finally meets Polanski for the first time, he's charmed by the director ("a great guy"), who shares Jim's peculiar sense of humor: "Roman's favorite joke is, [doctor to patient] 'Mr. Milton, I have good news and bad news. What do you want first? The bad news? Okay, I'm sorry, but you have six months to live. The good news? You see that nurse with the big tits? I'm f*cking her!' But the ultimate Roman joke requires a sight gag and must be done at a restaurant!" Creative disagreements -- Steinman and Kunze on one side, and Polanski on the other, have differing opinions as to how the show should be written. Says Steinman, "He is the heart of that project, and I love Roman, but he had a totally different vision. At our first meeting, he said, 'No rock and roll! I don't want that. I want it to be like Disney -- I want it to go 'Boo!' and then the kids laugh.'" Similarly, Polanski wants to aim for as close an adaptation of the film as possible, meaning a spoofy tone that satirizes the vampire film genre with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Dramatist Kunze argues differently: "A spoof like the film, with no discernible protagonist, wouldn't work on stage. You have to have realistic characters the audience can identify with and not just vampire film stereotypes." Treatment and the first songs -- According to Steinman, the first melodies "written" for the show are "Carpe Noctem" (originally developed for the soundtrack of Batman Forever, but unused), "Ewigkeit" (a trunk tune originally used in numerous other Steinman musicals), "Die Unstillbare Gier" (adapted in large part from "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are," written for Bat Out of Hell II), and the finale of Act Two, "Der Tanz der Vampire" (a shameless rewrite of "Tonight is What it Means to Be Young," from the soundtrack to Streets of Fire). However, he is stuck for one number in particular: a proposed love duet between Krolock and Sarah, to open the second act. His desperation leads to one of the most notorious cases of recycling in the show: "[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... I was trying to come up with a love song and I remembered I actually wrote ["Total Eclipse of the Heart"] 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!'" With that snap decision, "Totale Finsternis" is born. The moment of truth -- Polanski has to make a decision upon seeing the work take shape. It's a mighty easy choice: "I'm no lyricist; I don't know how to write words to music, and I don't have any interest in dwelling on it. I'm a filmmaker, and I have movies to work on. Secondly, I don't speak German. Even if I was interested, how am I going to show up Michael Kunze?" He concedes to the authors: "I don't know anything about theater. I make films. You do what you want." The lack of German writing agility becomes a sticking point for Steinman and Polanski; on this show, Kunze is forced to write his first fully English libretto to accommodate the two (see the relevant "Footwear" thread). From there, Kunze adapts the piece to his native German. In terms of the score, with the exception of a few new melodies, Steinman continues on his merry way recycling; in the end, almost 70% of the score (including the initial five songs) will have its roots in other Steinman material. Steinman vs. Kunze -- Steinman seems to be infatuated with the idea of writing a "serious" vampire musical, while by comparison Kunze's thrust is still rather spoofy, albeit in a comedic manner that was less broad and slapstick than standard comedy. Gradually, they manage to arrive at a middle ground: a serio-comic piece with traces of The Rocky Horror Show, The Phantom of the Opera and Fiddler on the Roof among its influences. (Oddly enough, Sue Blane, who had a hand in the debut of Rocky Horror, will go on to design the costumes for Tanz's original production.) October 4, 1997 -- Tanz der Vampire (as the show's title is rendered in German) premieres at the Raimund Theatre, very much the show the creators wanted to make, and met with rave reviews and rapturous audience response. The show even wins a handful of IMAGE Awards (the European equivalent to the Tonys), including Best Actor in a Musical (Steve Barton) and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Eva Maria Marold as Magda). March 1998 -- The original cast recording, produced by Steinman and longtime audio consultant Steven Rinkoff, is released. It features four lines of English lyrics in the finale (the once-repeated verse "We drink your blood and then we eat your soul / Nothing's gonna stop us, let the bad times roll"); reportedly this inclusion is because Steinman laughed so hard at Kunze's lyric (which he believed terrible) that they left it on the recording as a private joke between them. (This will not stop these lines from being some of the few unchanged in the final Broadway version, or from being sung in English -- in perpetual honor of the joke, one presumes -- in future productions.) 2000 -- The show has its German premiere in Stuttgart, and once again meets with unparalleled success; in fact, it's responsible for pretty much saving (momentarily anyway) Stella, the organization that put it on, from financial ruin it's been staving off for a long time. (Aside from some cuts, and the addition of "Starker Als Wir Sind" to replace the original instrumental dream ballet for Sarah in Act One, for the Stuttgart production, the show essentially stays the same as it was when it premiered in Vienna on European shores.) Shortly thereafter, the Estonian version, Vampiiride Tants, premieres a limited 10-performance run in Tallinn. This loosely staged concert version stars a 15-year-old Nele-Liis Vaiksoo as Sarah, and basically launches her career in Estonian pop. The show receives great coverage from Estonian television, which broadcasts nearly an entire performance, and a 5-track promo single gets massive radio airplay. SOURCES: Interview with the Vampire adaptation*: The Vampire Strikes Back -- Polanski StyleSteinman on Polanski's favorite joke, initial meetings, demos**: Words by Jim Steinman; some borrowed verbiage from Rando, Steinman Talk About Dance of the Vampires at Press Preview, Sept. 18Entering rehearsals with only some material: From Vienna: After Dark with VampiresPolanski on "hands off" approach***: Interview with a Vampire...MakerCreative team, opening date, award wins, release of cast album, etc.: A matter of public record. * The author would like to note at this point that this initial assignment is based on speculation centered on the Playbill news article aforementioned, and that the confusion extended to newsgroup posts (the pre-MdN and BroadwayWorld of the time) at the time, such as this one, leading to the plausible supposition that an adaptation of Rice was first sought, proved problematic, and switched to a Polanski adaptation instead.** See the "750 AM 7/16/06" and "2:19PM, July 11" entries.*** There was some re-shaping of the German into English by the author, as noted in the technical note before this article. This brief note is really only to add that the punctuation in the article's title that does not appear on the linked website is mine, designed to better show an English reader the (terrible) pun they were going for.
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Post by Koukol on May 13, 2011 15:23:29 GMT -5
"TANZ" IN ENGLISH -- PART IThe baby stirs -- As far back as the rehearsal process for the original Vienna production, when being interviewed by Playbill Online, Polanski states a desire to take the show to Broadway, and Viennese critics note the presence of interested Broadway bigwigs lining up for tickets going back to the 1997 opening. October 17, 1997 -- The New York Times carries an announcement: Dance of the Vampires will be arriving on Broadway in time for the 1998/99 season, with Steinman translating and reshaping the German book and lyrics, Polanski returning as director, and Braunsberg serving as executive producer. (The article briefly notes in passing that a West End run, likely to capitalize on the success of Steinman and Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind (which announced a West End remounting in the same column), was considered before Broadway was decided on.) Trouble in paradise -- Retaining Polanski is one of the big problems. Says Steinman: "Roman directed it in Vienna, but he can't work here because of his legal problems [referring to Polanski's indictment for statutory rape in the 1970s]. He may be the first director who can't work over here because of a statutory rape charge." Polanski's lawyers work around the clock to attempt to deliver him to U.S. shores for the show, at one point enlisting a bunch of Hollywood notables to petition the District Attorney's office. The opening date is pushed forward to fall 2000; a Halloween premiere is specifically named in an Entertainment Weekly profile of Steinman. Action is taken -- At some unspecified point right around here, David Sonenberg teams up with Braunsberg as producer to bring the show to the States. Braunsberg, more a Hollywood man-about-town than a Broadway producer, is at a distinct disadvantage: outside of his work with Roman in Europe, he has absolutely no knowledge of or interest in theater, especially in New York; he doesn't know the players, the scene, the gossip, nothing. Steinman and Sonenberg bring their superior (by contrast) knowledge of the New York theater scene to the table. In New York, shows are four times as expensive as they are in Europe. Nobody wants to make a risky gamble. If Jim understands what New York audiences want, let him have control. What's the worst that could happen? What is the worst that could happen? -- The worst that could happen is Steinman's desire for creative control, combined with a legitimate attempt to gauge what was popular with New York audiences. Kunze on Steinman's desire for creative control, playing it cagy in a later YouTube interview: "[The show] was brought to Broadway by someone [Steinman] who really tried to make it his own show, and he changed a lot of things. I wouldn't have minded if he'd done his own, totally new show using my title, but what he did was keep what he liked, and change what he wanted to 'do better.' The whole structure of the show fell apart..." Survey says... -- Fall 2001: market research indicates that the show as it was in Europe (a sung-through musical) is written in a style no longer accepted by Broadway critics and audiences, and would be D.O.A. in a straightforward adaptation. Currently "in vogue": musical comedies like The Producers. The order of the day: There must be dialogue, and it must be funny. (Steinman, looking back later with a more jaundiced eye: "We were told to put five jokes on every page.") David Ives, an Off-Broadway co/medic playwright who has been collaborating with Steinman on Batman: The Musical, is taken to see the show in Stuttgart and enthusiastically signs on as co-librettist of the new book, his goal being to help reconfigure the show towards a more comic angle. Steinman can direct? -- Further announcements on Steinman's fan site (October 2000) indicate that in addition to his authorial duties, Steinman will be directing Dance of the Vampires when it opens on Broadway in fall 2001, a rather surprising declaration given that Steinman has never directed any shows, much less ones of this size and scale, in his career. Steinman attempts to reassure doubters in interviews: "Half the show [in Vienna] I had to talk Polanski into doing, and did it behind his back a lot." (Sing it with me, folks: "Anything you can do, I can do better...") A more likely rumor filters through the Steinman fan world at this time: frequent Steinman consultant and collaborator Barry Keating, who famously directed Rhinegold and Steinman's Dream Engine/ Neverland saga, will be lending a hand in the directorial department; like Steinman, however, he has never directed a musical of this size, and his previous Broadway effort, Starmites, was a 60-performance commercial flop. (Eerie, isn't it? You'll understand that question momentarily...) Kunze protests -- Kunze's reaction to the desired changes is what one might expect: "Rather than leaving it alone, everyone thought it was their job to improve it. To start with, I didn't like the idea of adding dialogue. The dialogue they did add was childish, added to turn it into something like The Producers. Tanz is a rock opera -- there's just no room in it for stupid jokes!" But his protests go unheard, as the American team pushes ahead through the early stages of production. Steinman's description of the new version: "A big, Wagnerian musical with lots of humor [...] for people who think musicals suck [...] a lot of it is pure Mel Brooks and a lot of it Anne Rice." New sequences -- And in the new version, there are some new sequences. The introduction is totally different from the successful Austrian version: the show opens on Sarah and her girlfriends picking mushrooms in a Transylvanian graveyard, singing a lullaby to soothe their frightened nerves, only to encounter a pack of very cool young vampires, dancing with rapturous abandon out of the mist. Sarah is entranced as a coffin rises from the ground containing Count von Krolock, who sings "Gott ist tot" (now retitled "Original Sin" and drawing in part on Jim's initial pop lyrics to the melody) as a song of seduction, 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. New characterizations -- In this version, Alfred becomes a parody of the "lovesick student" trope of operetta -- in his first scene immediately following the graveyard shtick, during what has become "Hey Ho Hey" (adapted from the original Act One opening number, in which Alfred searches for Abronsius in the snowy Transylvanian wilderness), he attempts to kill himself (comically, of course) after being rejected by the woman he loves, only to be distracted from his maneuver by Professor Abronsius, who drags the unwilling Alfred on a trip to the Carpathian mountains in search of vampires. (The above and more can be found in the appropriate "Footwear" thread, specifically the May 2001 draft.) Fresh blood -- Based on this new version, Sonenberg is able to interest the producing team of Elizabeth Williams and Anita Waxman in becoming a part of the Broadway run, and financing what follows. April 27, 2001 -- A by-invite-only reading of the new version of the show is held at Chelsea Studios. Co-directing with Steinman is John Caird (of Les Mis and Jane Eyre), who is also billed at the reading as a co-librettist, bringing the total amount of book writers to four (counting Kunze, who is sort of in the back seat at this point). Keating, downgraded by comparison to rumors, continues to serve in an advisory position. The cast: - Max von Essen as Alfred
- William Youmans as Professor Abronsius
- Tom Alan Robbins as Chagal
- Bertilla Baker as Rebecca
- Sarah Uriarte Berry as Sarah
- Kate Shindle as Magda
- Steve Barton as Count von Krolock
- Ken Jennings as Koukol
- Jason Wooten as Herbert
With investors, it is announced, the show's team aims for a workshop production by mid-May to sell the show to theater owners, followed by a planned early 2002 opening. The verdict -- Reactions to the show in situ are mixed. Potential investors and producers love the "luscious" and "operatic" score, but the new book with its mix of bawdy humor and eroticism needs fine-tuning -- jokes running the gamut from genitalia to Beatles references sit uncomfortably alongside long stretches of the mostly unchanged European recitative. Adding to investors' discomfort, the rehearsal studio lacks air conditioning, a lacking in a sweltering early summer that proves too distracting for some to get a fix on the show. Even more disconcerting, Steinman throws his creative weight around like a fat kid in a candy store, which he can afford to do, with his manager Sonenberg in the driver's seat. Says one insider: "He has the final say on everything." As any sane person in showbiz could tell you, allowing a writer to act as his own producer can be as risky as letting an inmate run the asylum. Writer/producers often are unable to make the tough financial and creative decisions that are sometimes called for, especially if they are Jim "If you don't go over the top, you'll never see what's on the other side" Steinman. In short order -- Creative disagreements begin to pop up around the boardroom table. Everybody's playing the game, but nobody's rules are the same (to quote a great lyricist, Tim Rice). Doubt comes in with fickle tongues (to quote another, Anais Mitchell): the "slow freeze" begins with Steinman's catty remarks to the press, calling his new producers "terrific ladies" while saying in the same breath that "I can't tell you how many things are the opposite of what I want." Before long, Waxman and Williams are fielding calls from N.Y. Post columnist Michael Riedel, the legendary Liz Smith of the theater community, about their "alleged firing." Their (appropriately surprised) response? "There have been some disagreements, but every show has its bumpy road. This one may be having more bumps than others, but we are fully committed to it. We are prolific producers and we fully intend to continue our involvement in the show." That Steinman and Sonenberg refused phone calls on the matter should have showed them the writing on the wall, but ultimately no one is surprised when Waxman and Williams are ousted from the production, with Sonenberg assuming day-to-day responsibilities as the show's lead producer, a strategic move viewed by many as a power grab on Steinman's part. Officially, Sonenberg says of the firing, "I looked to bring them in, but we were never able to reach a definitive agreement," while Jim can only shrug and say, "I had nothing to do with that. [...] I enjoyed working with them [...] They just couldn't work out a business arrangement with David. [...] I will fight to the death for something I believe in, but I am in no way the behind-the-scenes producer." SOURCES: German critics noticing Broadway attention in Vienna*: A Story of InitiationPolanski wanting to take the show to the States: From Vienna: After Dark with VampiresAnnouncement in the NY Times for '98/'99 season: On Stage and Off (column), 10/17/97Setting their sights on Broadway post-Stuttgart**: The Dead Come Back to Life!Steinman on Polanski situation: Vampires: New Musical BloodAttempt to return Polanski to the States and involvement in proposed 2000 opening: Polanski May Stage a U.S. ReturnFall 2000 opening announced; Halloween 2000 opening specified; "I'm directing and I did it before" says Jim; John Caird and David Ives replace Steinman/Keating; Waxman and Williams sign on, cast list/location/date of reading; ***: News and Notes, Rando, Steinman Talk About Dance of the Vampires at Press Preview, Sept. 18Barry Keating joins the team: Fan note on other Steinman project Keating was involved with"Five jokes on every page": Hate at 1st Bite: How Vampires Got Drained of its Blood"Mel Brooks and [...] Anne Rice," lack of air conditioning, description of score by investors: Vampires: New Musical Blood"I can't tell you how many things are the opposite of what I want...": Opera Star to Dance?Waxman/Williams statement to Riedel: Show's Future at StakeSonenberg on Waxman/Williams dismissal: Musical of the MacabreSteinman on Waxman/Williams dismissal: Opera Star to Dance?* Scroll down to the comments by the Berliner Zeitung.** Check the final paragraph.*** Undated note toward the bottom of the page, but speculated to be 1999 due to dating of updates that follow: "Dance of the Vampires is tentatively planning its Broadway debut for fall 2000." (punctuation corrected); check the Entertainment Weekly entry; see the March 2000 heading, and scroll down a bit for the point you're looking for; then see the heading "Let the Revels Begin - Vampires Dance on Broadway"; then see the heading "Vampires Begin the Dance Toward Broadway"; followed finally by the heading "Vampire State Building."
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Post by Koukol on May 13, 2011 15:36:53 GMT -5
Losing goodwill -- Over at "44th and Carpathia," as David Ives jocularly dubbed the Vampires camp, trouble is brewing. Waxman and Williams are out, Sonenberg is in the driver's seat, and Steinman is leading the way. The net result: Investors are afraid to shell out money, and nothing is getting done. The show needs some kind of drawing card. Big-name theater star needs a gig -- Since Phantom, Michael Crawford has had a... layered career. Recordings and concerts (including singing Lloyd Webber ballads at a gala night in tribute to Steven Spielberg in L.A., and an album of Disney standards) are lucrative, but theater is giving him a little trouble. 1994: Crawford stars in EFX!, a themed show at the MGM Grand. His two-year contract is worth $20 million a year. 1996: 700 performances later, Crawford suffers a hip injury, and is decommissioned. After that, getting a job for the old man is a tough break. He talks to his old employer Cameron Mackintosh about playing Darryl in The Witches of Eastwick, but the size of his desired salary forces Cam to look elsewhere. When The Producers gears up for its West End transfer, Crawford wants to play Max Bialystock badly, but Mel Brooks reportedly doesn't find him funny enough. (A devastating upset to Crawford, he has his friends put the word out that he turned down the role because he felt co-star Lee Evans' comic style was too similar to his own, but the trades and insiders bear out Brooks' version of the story.) The tip-off -- Crawford is in the studio mixing his latest recording for Atlantic Records, and fate puts the engineer who did the original Tanz recording with Steve Barton in the mixer's chair. Playing Crawford some of the show's material, the star is instantly hooked. Upon learning the show is attempting a New York transfer, Crawford all but begs to be involved. The engineer places him in touch with Steinman. Playing footsie -- Crawford is taken to see the show overseas, and wants to sign on, but there is an issue: he perceives the character to be "too dark." Says Crawford: "I thought it could be swapped around a bit and you could bring in some humor from a different angle." What a coincidence, then, that the New York version of the show is taking a shape resembling that of Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It at this very moment! Playing hard to get -- The Vampires team doesn't want to look desperate. Publicly, it is stated that feelers were put out to names as diverse as David Bowie, John Travolta, Richard Gere, and Placido Domingo, but there is never any question that Crawford (lauded by Steinman as "a towering talent" and "probably the biggest box-office star in the theater") is the only lead coming to play. July 20, 2001 -- It is announced (wheedle via Riedel) that the Vampires team and Crawford are in talks. Meetings are held in London at the Dorchester Hotel. There is little doubt that these meetings include Steinman's infamously extravagant dinners in which he, a great wine and food connoisseur, orders everything on the menu. Meanwhile, Crawford talks character development with Caird, learns some of the songs (demos of "Original Sin" and the American version of "Die Unstillbare Gier," retitled "Confession of a Vampire," are recorded at this time as a test of Crawford's abilities re: the score), and outlines the terms of his three-year deal. Crawford's demands: - Complete creative control of his character.
- A "retirement package" of up to £20m a year ($180,000 a week in American money), making him the highest-paid star in theater.
- "First refusal" on (i.e., the option to reprise) the role in London and Los Angeles.
- Additionally, though not a major point in negotiations, Crawford seeks assurance that he'll receive the role of Krolock in any resulting film version, having recently lost the film role of the Phantom to Antonio Banderas (later replaced by Gerard Butler).
Steinman, ebullient over Crawford's casting (and one step closer to his Broadway goal), defends Crawford's desired salary: "[He is] worth every cent we can pay him." Sonenberg manages to talk him down to one year and a $30,000 a week salary, and the film guarantee never enters the final contract, but the "first refusal" and complete creative control stay. Crawford is in, and the show can move forward. Press outcry -- Fans on the Internet, and the theater press, react negatively to Crawford's $180,000 salary, leaked before the contract was finalized. There is a good deal of eating of crow from Crawford: "Ridiculous [...] a piece of fantasy journalism from my home country [...] anyone who knows how many people you can fit in a theater knows that you don't do Broadway to make money." August 22, 2001 -- Variety officially announces Crawford's signing. Items of note within the release: the New York production is described by Sonenberg as "a new version of the show [...] significantly changed with a view towards a New York audience"; Crawford was involved with the project for 18 months, including "input on the book" (for reference, this means the courting process began in February 2000, which brings us up to date); after rehearsals begin in January 2002, the opening is set for April following six weeks of previews starting in March; further casting sessions for secondary leads and ensemble are set for the following month (September 2001). Other announcements -- Other elements quickly begin to fall into place with the announcement of Crawford's casting. Suddenly people are willing to commit. The choreographer: Daniel Ezralow, a talented young man with experience in both the pop and operatic worlds, most known for his work with Julie Taymor. Musical director: Patrick Vaccariello, who last worked with Steinman out of town on Whistle. General management: 101 Productions, Ltd. Casting: Bernard Telsey Casting. Aris Sas, who originated the role of Alfred in Vienna and Stuttgart, is sought to reprise it on American shores; Steinman has long had designs on making him a pop star. William Dudley, the show's original set designer, creates concept artwork for the new sequences (still visible in the Flash intro at the show's official website). Rocky Horror forums and newsgroups, ever in touch with the original creatives of their beloved cult-hit, report that Sue Blane has been promised a crack at replicating her designs for this cult-hit's Broadway move as well. Concept album? -- In 1998, Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber promoted their Whistle Down the Wind prior to its West End run with a celebrity concept album of songs from the show. Interscope Records, headed by Steinman's former producing partner and mentor Jimmy Iovine, signs both the concept album and the original cast recording. For the former, there is talk of both big names and fresh blood; performers such as Bono, Mary J. Blige, Bette Midler, Celine Dion, Crawford (performing "Confession of a Vampire," no doubt), and American performer Doug Storm are short-listed to appear on the album. A moment of understanding for Michael Crawford -- At this point, it must be noted (indeed, it must be obvious) that Michael Crawford has received a largely unfair rap for much of what happened to Dance of the Vampires. The most one can actually accuse him of is being paranoid about doing anything that could be compared to the Phantom, a valid fear for any actor who abhors typecasting. Later reports would claim that Crawford, perhaps attempting to get back at Mel for his Producers slight and prove he could do shtick, felt the piece should be a Brooksian comedy, and that he personally revised and rearranged the book to that end. Steinman has partially reinforced this misconception, complaining in recent interviews that the producers of the show (who "were like the Bush government -- they may have been everywhere, but they weren't aware of anything") "turned a dark, brooding opera into a campy romp and then wondered why everyone hated it" and that Crawford was "awful" and "played the vampire as a clown, with an Italian accent." Given the length of negotiating and development time indicated in the initial Variety release (eighteen months), it is clear that Crawford's desire for a lighter approach likely influenced some of the changes made. But let us not forget that it was Steinman who signed off on everything, Steinman who pointed to the piece's "Mel Brooks" spin as far back as the first April reading, and Steinman's workshop draft for mid-May which reveals (in this author's opinion) even more (terrible) humor than that which made the final show. Sonenberg, in press statements at the time of Crawford's hiring, was already describing the Broadway production as "significantly changed with a view toward a New York audience." Vampires clearly already exhibited signs of much larger changes of a similar fashion to the final show; if Crawford wanted the piece to be more like Dracula: Dead and Loving It, then he was following the already-established party line. It seems that Crawford's overall contributions, in the final analysis, were in the vein of the much-ballyhooed "Continental accent" (a bizarre mix of Italian and Cockney tones that Crawford claimed made singing the score easier) and, later, input on his character's costume design. Whatever one's opinion of Crawford's contributions, performance, and attitude toward the show's original fans (at one point, not exactly a shining example of tact and diplomacy, he told "fans of the German show" in an interview to "please keep going to Germany and give [him] a break!"), the blame does not lie completely at his door in any event. He wasn't the writer. September 11, 2001 -- The game-plan is changed by a horrific terrorist attack. Suddenly a musical about dead people where the bad guys win (spoiler alert) doesn't sound like a hit property. Furthermore, most of the show's major creative team (including co-director Caird) is based in London and Europe. A myriad of logistic delays is caused by, among other variables, mass cancellation of flights. Realizing there is no way to open before the Tony cut-off as planned, and (it later emerges) unable to raise his share of the investment on time, Sonenberg publicly announces postponement of the show's opening to September 2002. SOURCES: "44th and Carpathia": It's all about IvesBono, Blige, Bette on concept album: Doug Storm in VampiresCeline on concept album: New Celine/Jim Steinman song on forthcoming CDTerms, Dorchester Hotel summit: It Pays to Be Undead, Opera Star to Dance?Bowie, Gere, Travolta, Domingo rumors: Opera Star to Dance?Crawford quote on "too dark," "different angle" and "leave me alone": Smeghead's Jim Steinman PageSteinman retrospective quote blaming Crawford: OnStage: Lyricist out of HellSteinman retrospective quote blaming producers: Whistle blowerSonenberg on changes to the show: Musical of the Macabre Additions to the team: Ezralow, Vaccariello, Telsey, 101 Productions: Calling All VampiresAris Sas as Alfred?: Michael Crawford as von KrolockWilliam Dudley concept art?!: Dance of the Vampires Flash introSUE BLANE???!!!*: Meatloaf NewsCrucial dates: Musical of the MacabreAnnouncement of postponement; September 2002 date**: News and Notes* By this point, you are no doubt shocked the show was actually going to attempt to arrive closer to the German feel while still being "funnier." Scroll down to the post by "Vegas Eddie" to see Sue Blane's involvement.** See the heading "Every hour of waiting just enhances our lust...." and then the heading "Stake Claim to Vampires."
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Post by Koukol on May 13, 2011 15:47:11 GMT -5
9/11 had changed a lot of things, and for Dance of the Vampires this was no different. The opening had been postponed to September 2002 to enable the creative team to assemble and actually work on it. However, another wrinkle entered the equation: other commitments. Andrew Braunsberg, who represented the European interests on the show, had enough confidence in the way things were going to take on another Broadway property of his own, a revival of Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox starring Richard Dreyfuss, and as such would be unavailable as a cheerleader and fundraiser for Vampires. Unfortunately, this meant that there was only one active producer on Vampires: David Sonenberg. And that was a problem in more ways than one. Sonenberg had never been a formidable force in terms of financial advice. For example, back in 1981, he had unintentionally driven Meat Loaf to the previously-discussed brink of destruction when he transferred half of Loaf's management contract to Al Dellentash. After CBS had advanced them money for a tour to promote Loaf's album Dead Ringer, the tour was forced into cancellation when the team purportedly ran out of money, and more advance money, planned to fund a tie-in film, was instead spent on extravagant furnishings for their office and personal chefs. When Loaf tried to change management, Dellentash (with Sonenberg's implied assent) froze Loaf's assets and sued him for breach of contract, spreading rumors about Loaf's violent nature and alleged threats of physical violence toward others, a process that eventually forced Meat Loaf into bankruptcy and relative obscurity until 1993, when Bat Out of Hell II was released. As it turns out, Steinman (who is "not exactly thrifty," to quote Sonenberg) also proved problematic, ever the artist who knew little of (and cared little for) business, refusing Sonenberg's many requests to meet with lawyers and accountants to manage investments and lighten his tax burden. So it should come as no surprise that Sonenberg was still having trouble coming up with his share of the investment, which led to the next postponement of the Broadway opening to October 24. At this point, Steinman was bound and determined to get this show up on time. No more delays. And to do that, he needed to get rid of the indecisiveness that he felt was holding him back and bring in additional producers. The former was easy: Sonenberg was simply thrown overboard; for his previous contributions, and as Steinman's manager, he would still be named as producer, but would be taking a back seat role. Bringing in additional producers, however, was not going to be Steinman's task, as he did not wish to be seen once more as grasping for control. It fell to Michael Crawford to trade on his showbiz reputation and beg some friends to hitch their horses to the wagon. This group consisted of: - USA Ostar Theatricals (headed by television and movie mogul Barry Diller with Bill Haber, behind the revival of Noises Off)
- Lawrence Horowitz (Electra, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues)
- Bob Boyett (veteran television producer of such shows as Laverne and Shirley and Bosom Buddies who had just joined the Broadway pool as producer of a Hedda Gabler revival, invested in The Crucible, Sweet Smell of Success, Topdog/Underdog)
One thing all of these parties had in common was that they were relatively new to the Broadway scene. As the original German librettist Michael Kunze observed when he eventually became an active part of the rehearsal process, "The producers that took over the show (after Steinman's manager left due to whatever circumstances), while they were very decent people, weren't really experienced, and a very idealistic sort." On the other hand, what they lacked in experience and acumen, they made up for in diplomacy. While waiting to see what would happen during previews, Kunze was more forthcoming about their positive traits: "I get spoiled because I don't believe all the stories about Broadway producers anymore. These people are so nice and devoted to the actors. They treat them so well, and the cast really appreciates that." In the end, however, it would not be diplomacy that saved the day when the show closed. When the scope of the project was explained to these producers, Boyett had reservations about the scope of the project and made some suggestions. As long as they were aiming for a comedy, why not use a hit comedy team to direct and choreograph? The other investors also felt more comfortable with a proven and experienced team who would actually be able to assemble on U.S. shores no matter the moment of crisis. Biting his tongue in order to get the show going, Steinman stepped down, and Caird and Ezralow were dismissed. Hired in place of Steinman and Caird was John Rando, who had just won a Tony for his work on the quirky musical comedy Urinetown the season before. When asked who he would suggest to choreograph, Rando named John Carrafa, his Tony-nominated collaborator on Urinetown, who was only too happy to accept. Gradually, a different creative team than initially named was assembled to match the show's new management and direction. Set designer David Gallo was among the first signed; reportedly he was Steinman's choice. As the story goes, Gallo told Jim upon meeting him 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. Apparently flattery and saying what their potential employer wanted to hear was a good enough credential for Jim Steinman and the producers who approved the hiring. Gallo's sets would eventually be singled out in reviews and by the applauding audiences for their visual effects and atmosphere. A cast also rapidly shaped up around Crawford with the input of the new director and choreographer in a fresh set of auditions, with then-ingenues Mandy Gonzalez and Max von Essen in the young lead roles of Alfred and Sarah, Rene Auberjonois (after similar prolonged negotiations to Crawford's) as Professor Abronsius, Ron Orbach (late of the out-of-town run of The Producers, which he was forced to leave due to injury) as Chagal, and rising talent Julia Murney as Magda, among others. Steinman and Ives had a new script (see the Footwear thread; in this case, the one dated August 11, 2001) that most fans who have seen it personally consider to be the best script the American version would ever have, a script that was sadly largely gone by the time the final Broadway show opened. While it dispensed with much of the English recitative that was closer to the European material, recitative that was still present as of May 2001, it had a better balance of humor and seriousness than that script. Familiar elements from the final Broadway show (such as Krolock's extended family, including the now-infamous drag turn as Madame von Krolock, etc.) are there, but much more toned down than their final counterparts. Among the more interesting unused ideas in the script, Act One ended with "Carpe Noctem" (with the final a capella verse replaced with Krolock's verse that closes "Vor dem Schloss" in the German version), and "Death is Such an Odd Thing" (formerly "Tot zu sein...") was moved to Act Two, replacing the former crypt scene for the most part. This script addressed many of the problems that even the German show's fans have acknowledged; it improved the pacing, increased the character development, little to no time was wasted on subplots that went nowhere. The script's one shortcoming, in this author's opinion, is that it incorporates extraneous material, mainly in the form of speeches and monologues, from Jim Steinman's un-produced dream show Neverland. Such classic exchanges as "On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?" (first heard on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album) appear in this script (albeit the night now falls in a "cold winter"). Lines once assigned to the mad scientist Max appear as the words of Abronsius, while lines once assigned to Baal, Steinman's modernistic Peter Pan, find their way into Krolock's mouth. As before, we see in this Steinman trying to leave his personal stamp on the show by way of recycling. The way he saw it, and the way things were being run, this was his show. As John Rando put it in an interview with Playbill Online, Steinman was "[very] much involved in the quality and tone and ideas of the play, obviously the music. He's very much a part of it. It is, as you say, 'his baby.'" SOURCESBraunsberg's Sly Fox involvement: IBDb creditsSonenberg causes financial ruin for Meat Loaf*: Meat Loaf (Wikipedia)Steinman causes Sonenberg no end of financial headaches: The Bat Out of HellOctober 24 postponement**: News and NotesSteinman fires Sonenberg from DOTV: Hate at 1st BiteNew producers, Caird/Steinman out, Rando in***: News and NotesKunze on new producers (negative): Interview with Michael KunzeKunze on new producers (positive): Interview with Michael Kunze of Dance of the VampiresSteinman on why he hired Gallo: VH1 Ultimate Albums interviewCarrafa in: Rando, Carrafa to Dance with Crawford and Vampires on B'way and CDAdditional casting: Cast of Dance of the Vampires Shapes UpRando on Steinman's involvement: PLAYBILL ON-LINE'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER with John Rando* For a more detailed account, see Meat Loaf's 1999 autobiography To Hell and Back.** See the heading "Coming to Broadway October 24!"*** See the heading "Stake Claim to Vampires"
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Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 19:09:06 GMT -5
On paper, put together by talented people, Dance of the Vampires looked like magic. A celebrated rock composer, a critics' darling who had authored several Off-Broadway plays, a Tony-winning director, and a high-wattage Broadway star were the captains of this ship. However, rehearsals proved just how unsteady the ship actually was. German co-author Michael Kunze's public assertions that "it's a great atmosphere and everybody's in a great mood" could not be further from the truth. Rando had never directed a musical of this size, and quickly proved overwhelmed according to cast members. While Kunze singled him out for praise as "a very talented man" who "improved a few things that were even worse in between," he eventually acknowledged that "this project was too big for him, like [the task of] talking to a superstar who rejects any well-meant suggestions for change by saying 'I don't wanna talk about it anymore.'" (More on that in a moment.) Choreographer Carrafa wasn't helping; his idea of staging a big dance number was to tell the performers, "Just rock on!" On the positive side, Rando and Carrafa were "a great team [...] never nervous, never shouting, never showing that they're insecure. They must be sometimes but they give everybody the feeling that they're in control." Company morale was no better, as cast members began poking fun at Crawford's too-tight "sexy" costumes behind his back, calling him a "fat rooster." Crawford himself was struggling with the seriousness of the new material, still pushing for a more comic angle (as Kunze put it, "an entirely different picture of the whole thing than the director and Steinman had"), this time with 9/11 and the resulting desire to please the audience rather than show the bad guys winning on his side. He complained that Krolock, as written in the new script, was still too much like the Phantom and insisted the character be made comic. Boyett, making it clear whose side he was on, had no complaints about Crawford's behavior, calling him "a great star and a total professional" and saying that he "didn't find him to be difficult at all." A compromise was decided based on the "creative control of character" clause in Michael's contract: Crawford could rewrite his own dialogue, which meant putting in however many jokes made the character different from the Phantom for him. David Ives was none too pleased with this solution, complaining, "I'm not a book writer -- I'm a stenographer!" However, it would have to do if they wanted to get the show on the road, and that was certainly Jim Steinman's desire at this point in time. The other immediate tasks the new producers faced were healing some of the show's lost goodwill, and cutting down on mounting costs, thanks in part to David Sonenberg and other producers who had led the way without doling out the pay for further workshops and readings that had followed April and May of 2001. One solution to both problems involved changing the terms of Crawford's contract. Three years got cut down to one year, Crawford took a big pay-cut (his pay was now a much slimmer, though still costly, $30,000 a week), and the possibility of the film role (which they viewed as paranoia on Crawford's part) was struck from the contract, and never mentioned again. Some of the show's lost goodwill was not too surprisingly related to the public and press outcry over Crawford's initially reported big payday, and so damage control was done in pre-opening interviews, with Crawford sensibly dismissing reports of a $180,000-a-week salary as "ridiculous" and "a piece of fantasy journalism from my home country," adding that "anyone who knows how many people you can fit in a theater knows that you don't do Broadway to make money." In the internecine world of creative control behind the backstage works, someone else was fuming as well: Kunze. He should have felt happier as the creator of the first German-made musical to come to Broadway, but there were reasons for his reservations. "I didn't like the idea of adding dialogue from the start," he reports. "It was childish, added to turn it into something like The Producers. Tanz is a rock opera; there's just no room in there for stupid jokes! Instead of leaving it alone, everyone thought it was their job to improve it." To Kunze, that would have been (grudgingly) fine (he was not immune to a few changes for regional sensibilities, as he learned with the Tokyo production of Elisabeth, when he had to remove a scene involving an insane person because it's not considered prudent to publicly display madness onstage there), but there was no "final moment" where one concept for the production was crystallized, partly because the director didn't seem "able to decide what was good or bad about both Steinman's and Crawford's ideas." After complaining to the seemingly understanding new producers about what he called "the unauthorized and senseless modifications of my original libretto," he was told to meet with John Rando and tell him what he had against the changes; maybe his objections would be answered, and if they were found valid, the director would deal with them. "I made notes during these talks with the director, and I passed these notes on to the other people involved, but unfortunately, no one seemed to care [...] the most important points did not get changed." "The most important points" mainly involved returning the show to its roots as a rock opera. Kunze almost didn't recognize the show that had entered rehearsals in New York: a new beginning, a new ending, songs replaced with dialogue, characters changed (in particular Krolock's transition from tragic to comic) or removed. His desire to restore some of the original lyrics met with opposition on creative fronts (as he put it, "The German version was too heavy for the new director"). "People in America are puritans," he was told. "You can't put a song called 'God is Dead' on that stage." (Apparently, however, an instrumental dance sequence titled "God Has Left the Building," a variation on that phrase, was okay because Steinman, with his love of wordplay, had been playing with that phrase since the early Nineties, and felt this was a good opportunity to present said phrase to a mass audience.) Similarly, he was told, "A musical needs dialogue for entertainment purposes. People who pay $100 for a ticket want to have a nice evening." And cutting a new dramatic death scene for the Count was out of the question. "Michael Crawford wants it that way. He can die on the stage whenever he wants. He's the star. The people love him. That's why he gets to make that decision." On this decision in particular, Kunze was especially torn; he didn't want the Count to die, it didn't fit the show, but on the other hand, he didn't want trouble with Michael Crawford, the show's main selling point. At this point, some cast members jumped ship, sensing that all was not well with the show; Murney was one. Casting for replacements, and rehearsal time necessary to put them in, necessitated yet another postponement, moving the opening date to November 21. It is the author's belief that it was yet another move farther into the future that caused Steinman to display a bad temper, for which he was viewed as verbally abusive by certain cast members in his now-frequent fighting with Crawford or the rest of the team. Following the show's closing, Steinman would rewrite this as presentiment of the show's failure, claiming that he dubbed the show a "runaway train" at this point: "We ended up with two shows at war with each other. One was sensual and Gothic, the other was camp Rocky Horror. I knew the critics would kill us for that. We were the perfect target, a fat lady with a sign on her back that said, 'Kick me!'" In view of Steinman's initial push for a show that was part "pure Mel Brooks" and part "Anne Rice," this can most likely be seen as hindsight rather than foresight. Similarly, Steinman would later claim first that he stopped coming to the theater of his own volition, and then that his manager Sonenberg, acting as producer, fired him from the show. If the story of a firing is true, it's far more likely this came later from different heads and was due to Steinman's bad attitude and absence, as Sonenberg was long gone from the scene before the time the alleged incident occurred, and in any event he was refusing to speak to Jim, never mind fire him. If he did sense something bad was in the air, the knowledge came later than he reports. As Steinman's former assistant put it in an interview with this author, "He disappeared a couple days before opening and never returned." The possibility that Steinman was still more involved with the show at this time than he would like to admit in hindsight is borne out by the attitude of his creative team at the time, including personal assistant and webmaster Jacqueline Dillon, who repeatedly praised the show in spite of fan criticism and organized fan-related "field trips" to see the show (photographs from the show are still used in the slide-show that forms the entrance section of Steinman's website), and Barry Keating, who praised the show to colleagues before opening and would later state to fans that he attended every performance from previews to closing; if the firing story (or at least Steinman's departure) is true, Keating is by his own description the most likely candidate both for being Steinman's representative who gave notes to the cast during this period, and by this author's speculation and his previously acknowledged theater career the most likely person responsible for contributing new lyrical material, which (of necessity, to fit with the rest of the style) borrowed a lot from Steinman's lyrics for the previous English versions of what songs were recycled in the show. One may find it easy to blame Steinman for swaying with the wind once he saw his fans agreed with the critics, but hindsight is 20/20, after all, and one can hardly blame him for recognizing what the people believe and going along with it. SOURCES: Kunze on Rando: Interview with Michael KunzeCarrafa's work style: Hate at 1st BiteKunze on positive side of Rando and Carrafa: Interview with Michael Kunze of Dance of the Vampires"Fat rooster," "stenographer," Boyett remarks: Hate at 1st Bite$30,000 salary: Boyett's first Dance"Fantasy journalism": Michael CrawfordKunze on changes: Interview with Michael Kunze"Michael can die whenever he wants" and other remarks: Not only Travelbusses from New JerseyJulia Murney leaves: Julia Murney Out of Broadway Musical Dance of the VampiresNovember postponement*: News and NotesSteinman on "two shows at war with each other": Hate at 1st BiteSteinman on being fired**: Words by Jim SteinmanJ.D. and Barry Keating at DOTV on the Stein-fan field trip: Lost Boys and Golden Girls (Barry's the one in the wide-brimmed hat with papers; Jacqueline is to his right) * See the heading "Dance of the Vampire (sic) Schedule Changes & Group Info" (punctuation corrected).** See the "June 12, 07...225PM...A few thoughts" entry.
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Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 19:19:21 GMT -5
After some technological and creative delays that pushed forward the start of previews (one can only imagine how far through the roof Jim Steinman's blood pressure was), Dance of the Vampires finally lurched into previews at the Minskoff Theatre on October 16, 2002. The marquee bore the musical's new logo, featuring a couple locked in embrace, with a full moon behind them. Dark. Scary. Romantic. Inside the theater: the seemingly final result, packed with a lot of campy humor that differed considerably both from the original European show and from what they appeared to be advertising. The humor itself received some laughter, but was largely criticized by the audience's word-of-mouth. Financially, however, things were looking good: based on lead performer Michael Crawford's name, the show was playing to packed houses, and was in fourth place in terms of high-selling Broadway grosses without even having officially opened. And then came the big snag. As previews began, director John Rando's ailing mother was nearing the point of death, and he left the production to be by her side. While he was visiting, she died, and as a result of handling the final arrangements, he was sidelined from the production for several weeks of previews, adding to the lack of a definitive creative head, and incidentally adding on more preview time to allow Rando to come back and work on the show, forcing yet another postponement of the opening date to December 9. Forced to try to get some work done without their director, Crawford stepped up to the plate and rallied the cast, serving as an informal production supervisor and giving notes. The show seen in previews was still in flux (see the official preview script in the Footwear thread, which by its sheer number of changes in dates is a good indicator), and a show that changed huge amounts of its material nightly, which caused some trouble with the cast. One night, co-star Rene Auberjonois came in to find all of his jokes cut, with Crawford justifying this decision as making Professor Abronsius the "straight man" in what was now a madcap comedy. Taking a "kill or be killed" attitude in this paranoid and tense atmosphere, Crawford and Auberjonois began trying to step on each other's punchlines, a situation which ended when the jokes were either restored as is or slightly rewritten with the new end of the character in mind. Sensing a sinking ship, the producers finally turned to German co-author Michael Kunze for suggestions (far too late, in his view). What was his opinion of what should be changed? Ultimately, thanks ironically to the author of the original piece, the show arrived at much of its final form: during previews, 30% of the dialogue was cut to allow room to expand or reshape the score and arrive closer to the original almost sung-through concept; the vampire costumes were redesigned to look less freakish; a new staging of the shock ending set in modern times suggested by Kunze was inputted (though it wound up more like a Times Square in a dystopian punk vampire-based future rather than the originally suggested ending set in the present with vampires in banks, offices, and town halls across the globe -- ironic, if somewhat obvious in its metaphor). And the last perceived obstacle from everyone's viewpoint was removed when entertainment mogul Howard Stringer, a friend of Crawford's, rang the final death knell for the weight-sensitive costumes by telling Crawford he looked silly; from that point forward, the ruffled collars were gone. Did any of the original German creatives think the show would succeed on opening night? Kunze was fully aware there was no love lost for rock musicals at the New York Times. He predicted they'd be insulting, and call it something like a failed attempt to revive a faded genre, and say that Germans should stick to writing dramas and stay away from musicals. Hell, the review was probably already written! But if there's one thing Michael Kunze has never made a secret of, it is his dislike of very conservative critics and their love for the classics, with step-dancing and straw hats and a terrible big-band sound, and his even stronger dislike of tourist parties that come in by bus from New Jersey, all those women with their stiff formal hairstyles packed high and all those men with their hair parted down the middle who'd rather be catching the game at home, but their wives begged them to come. Whatever Dance of the Vampires had become, it was certainly not for them. It was a young show; it was like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He had his doubts, but $6 million in advance ticket sales didn't lie. Maybe it still had a chance. Steinman was, depending on whose account you believe, either glad-handing everyone hoping the show was going to make it and thinking that he would finally show all those uptown people he was the golden boy, or sitting at home brooding and sending in new material when forced to cooperate, a la Stephen Schwartz when barred from the rehearsals for Pippin by Bob Fosse. Whatever other doubts he had, Kunze definitely had no doubts about Roman Polanski's feelings. Even if he were allowed, "he wouldn't have come. The changes wouldn't appeal to Roman. What was shown was a completely new version [...] a compromise to Broadway, to the new audience [...] easier, more comical, more American." No matter their opinion, be it dismay or delight, everyone awaited the opening of Dance of the Vampires. TO BE CONTINUED! SOURCES: Fourth place in Broadway sales: Not only Travelbusses from New JerseyDecember 9 postponement: Dance of the Vampires Delays Broadway Opening Due to Rando's AbsenceAuberjonois vs. Crawford: Hate at 1st BiteKunze's input on changes: Not only Travelbusses from New JerseyHoward Stringer to Crawford: "You look silly": Hate at 1st BiteKunze on Polanski's thoughts: Smeghead's Jim Steinman Page
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Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 19:23:11 GMT -5
New York in December. Snow was falling, and the curtain was about to go up on Michael Kunze's first Broadway musical. He was pale and somewhat tired, and everything was different from how he'd always imagined it would be. On opening night, their "young audience" was mostly gone, and the house was packed with what he perceived to be the enemy, those tourist parties from New Jersey disembarking from the buses like animals from Noah's Ark. And in the program, Michael Kunze was in third place behind David Ives and Jim Steinman. The man who'd already proven himself in Europe was reduced to the status of an unknown here. Speaking of Steinman, who had taken over this project like it was his baby, where was he? Someone said he was ill, and indeed Steinman had been through some health scares involving strokes and heart attacks in the past few years, so this was not surprising; one of the producers said he'd heard it was bad luck for the composer to attend the opening performance, and Jim was probably honoring that age-old tradition. Oh well... The audience didn't know what to expect. For every report that major creative overhauls were being made during previews, there was another opining that, between the dress rehearsal and a recent matinee, only the makeup had really changed significantly. Online, lines were being drawn and sides taken, with flop collectors who didn't want to miss a true catastrophe at one end, fans of the European show (and Steinman) who were disheartened by the reports of the changes they heard on another, and people who only knew the American version and supported it 100% on yet another. (If the latter started off only knowing the American version, they never traveled much farther; one DOTV fan was heard to erroneously explain to a Tanz fan that the show in Europe was exactly the same as the American version, only "damn near over 3 hours" and "darker.") As the lights dimmed, one could feel the anticipation in the air. The show whipped by like a whirlwind for Michael Kunze. The opening went a little awry (the lighting rig was supposed to rise from the ground to the rafters in simulation of a light show to give the evening a rock concert atmosphere, but it seemed to succeed mainly in reminding people of the ascension of the chandelier in Phantom and blinding those who didn't make the connection), but after the overture, it was off like a rocket. Out of the sudden blackness, a scream, and three girls running through a forest, afraid of creatures of the night lurking in the shadows all around them. Thunder rolled as a huge coffin rose from beneath the earth. The lid opened; it was Michael Crawford's big entrance. ("The star deserves a spectacular entrance whenever he decides he should have one," Kunze reminded himself.) He was dressed in black, with an odd smile and his face caked in white make-up. "God has left the building!" he exclaimed, and the audience raved. Kunze still cringed at two moments in the show: in a new scene in the first act where Sarah receives a blood transfusion from Alfred, her father tells him (paraphrasing here) that Alfred may have given her blood, but that will be the last bodily fluid they exchange under his roof, leading into the American version of "Eine schone Tochter...", and in a second act scene where Krolock offers Alfred a sponge (which is almost like the German version), the sponge is shaped rather obviously like a penis. But those are really the only two moments Kunze dislikes. The rest, he has no control over. And everyone's misgivings about Crawford were, for the moment, allayed. He was funny. He had a good voice (and proved it with a note he held for half a minute at the end of the first act). And he hogged the big entrances and exits: an enormous drawbridge emerged from the darkness through which he entered; a different time, he danced down a staircase like a rock star and gave the other vampires autographs. And finally, he died spectacularly, crying, calling for help, turning to ashes in the light of the sun. (Kunze hoped no one noticed the ball was set at midnight throughout the rest of the show.) Sure, Crawford was always a tad himself, but that wasn't a big deal. The first performance of Dance of the Vampires was met with a standing ovation from the audience. Kunze couldn't help but find himself standing and applauding along with them. The show may not belong in Europe anymore, but here, it seemed to fit right in. At the opening night party, he saw everyone from the show. Lots of congratulatory handshakes and back-patting. And, another proverbial nail in the coffin, endless lines of people from the audience who had gatecrashed the party, telling Crawford he was funny, with Crawford flashing the same million-watt smile and delivering the same line: "I hope I was funny at the right times!" SOURCES: "Damn near over 3 hours" and "darker"*: Fan reviewCringeworthy lines on opening night: Not only Travelbusses from New Jersey* Scroll down to final paragraph.
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Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 19:27:01 GMT -5
On December 10, the reviews that everybody paid attention to were negative. The critics with fangs outweighed the critics watching the castle, meaning DOTV was not going to succeed. The final show was critically lambasted, the work of lead performer Michael Crawford being reviewed particularly harshly. Here's just a small taste of the critics' bile:
"When he isn't singing, Crawford sounds like Bela Lugosi on helium. It is a comedy, after all." - Robert Hofler, Variety
"Oh Buffy, you Vampire Slayer - where were you when we needed you? There are altogether far too many vapid vampires in the new musical Dance of the Vampires, which opened at the Minskoff Theatre last night. The necessary distinction between the undead and the unliving was never quite clear enough in this carelessly engineered, Michael (the Phantom) Crawford-driven vehicle, loosely based on Roman Polanski's 1967 movie. Unfortunately, Jim Steinman and Michael Kunze, the creators of Dance of the Vampires, went not for the jugular but the giggular. For a lavish Broadway musical, a more subtle and consistently sinister approach with a touch of ghoulish humor would have paid better dividends. [...] [the] book [...] is muddled and weak - and the performances suffer as a result. [...] despite Crawford's undeniable star presence and the enthusiasm of the cast, this vampire excursion needs a transfusion." - Clive Barnes, New York Post
"No one, even after a quart of straight gin, would be able to erase the memory of Mr. Crawford [...] shrieking [...] 'Total Eclipse of the Heart.' [...] Mr. Crawford, who has done time in Las Vegas, appears to have picked up a stylistic trick or two there. With his swept-back lacquered hair and black-on-white contour makeup, he looks like a Goth version of Siegfried, Roy and Wayne Newton combined. Now that, you have to admit, is pretty scary." - Ben Brantley, New York Times
"...it's treated as a sophomoric skit, in which labored lines and preposterous acts are presumed to be funny. Boy, does that wear thin fast. [...] 'God has left the building!' Crawford intones after entering in a coffin that rises through the floor. God must have seen the script. Vampires invariably goes for the cheap laugh (sponges shaped like genitalia) and can't even get that. [...] The surprise is how little impact Crawford makes [...] His singing remains confident, but is so heavily amplified that he scarcely sounds human. What happened to the suave, romantic, tormented seducer of Phantom? Here, Crawford resembles no one so much as Wayne Newton." - Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle
"One of the evening's few intrigues is trying to guess at how consciously Crawford is sending up his celebrated portrayal of the Phantom of the Opera, which made him a star." - Peter Marks, Washington Post
"The production is Crawford's first Broadway appearance since his phenomenal success in The Phantom of the Opera 14 years ago. Vampires appears to be an attempt to cash in on that popularity, and the show, consciously and unconsciously, echoes Phantom in all the wrong ways. [...] In Vampires, Crawford looks like a shellacked Wayne Newton (check out that duck-tail), portraying a Vegas-style vampire named Count Krolock who probably could headline the lounge in one of the lesser Strip hotels. The performer affects a weird, octave-roaming Italian accent, sounding like a combination of Topo Gigio and Tony Soprano. [...] [Vampires] grows increasingly unfunny." - Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press
"What no one involved seemed to realize was that the jokey new book would be at odds with the score, resulting in a show that doesn't seem to have a clue about what it wants to be. [...] any merit the score once had is difficult to discern now that the songs are surrounded by a book in a wholly different style. [...] [Crawford] is trading shamelessly on his Phantom role. [...] where Steve Barton's Vienna Krolock was allowed to be extravagant yet romantic, Crawford looks fairly ludicrous in his Liberace get-up. And because he's now 'Count Giovanni von Krolock, from the Sicilian side of the family,' he must also adopt a silly accent." - Ken Mandelbaum, Broadway.com
SOURCES: All critics' quotes are cited within the article.
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Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 19:28:42 GMT -5
At "44th and Carpathia," trouble was once again brewing. After the critical brickbats of opening night, things were reaching a terminal stage. The advance sales money was almost drained, which was bad because daily ticket sales of about $60,000 aren't enough to support a weekly overhead of $600,000. The producers needed some kind of plan of attack to at least try and make a dash for the finish line. They needed to attract a new audience, as the audience they'd had was rapidly dwindling thanks to the reviews and online word-of-mouth. First things first, they decided that just as their show was tongue-in-cheek, they'd try to appear to let the critics roll off them in the same manner. Whatever else they'd lost, the producers still had a sense of humor: the show's new tag-line was "the one Broadway musical that really sucks." On a more practical front, they marshaled what was left of the advance sales and managed to allocate $300,000 toward the making of a TV commercial on December 16. Hoping against hope, they were going to try to get the show moving forward. At least they'd get some sympathetic audience members, or maybe even mobilize some detractors on the Tony committee who admired the show's fighting spirit, if nothing else. And then the bottom dropped out. If Steinman was actually fired, they clearly forgot to include a gag clause in his contract in what proved to be a momentary lapse of reason. Having gained the insight of reading several reviews that told him what should already have been obvious, Steinman took the drastic step of publicly denouncing what had become (for better or worse) his own show in Michael Riedel's Post column: "The show that I wrote is not at the Minskoff. The show that is dear to me is still running in Vienna (sic). The one at the Minskoff was just a job." Here, he publicly "revealed" that contrary to all other reports, his no-show on opening night was a show of his disapproval of the project. Many in the cast did not agree with Steinman's approach to the situation. As his former assistant put it, "Karma's a bitch. He wanted a hit [...] and it bit him in the ass. [...] It backfired. When it was clear the show would not be a hit, he backpedaled so vigorously [in order] to avoid further projects of his [...] being canned. He was a coward, abandoning his piece, and his cast that exhaustively previewed for almost three months, trying to fix that piece of dreck. He didn't even have the class to say goodbye to his cast, or to alert them of his feelings. Instead, he boycotted opening night and [wrote] a tell-all article. He's [...] had no respect for those he 'befriended' during rehearsals. He's a Broadway hack." To be fair to Steinman, he was not the only one who seemingly jumped ship. Michael Kunze was also quick to try to divest himself of any interest in the show. Unlike other members of the team, he had been dissatisfied with the changes from the get-go, and as far as he was concerned, this was not his show. "They changed the whole concept of the show! I would have understood if they had changed some things they thought were not good for the States, but they should have kept the show's basic structure." Even if he had willingly agreed with the changes, he could already see the critics were not going to be fair to the show in any event: "The New York Times obviously never wanted this piece at all. Their reviews were insulting, and had probably already been written before the premiere. [...] they didn't even mention anything positive, like the performance of Mandy Gonzalez, or some other members of the [cast] who did a really great job. [...] a few things [...] could have been positively mentioned, but obviously the critics didn't want to write anything that could be used as a positive quote [...] I actually take what critics write much more seriously, [if they] also state what exactly they didn't like and why." He explored his options: "I would, of course, have been able to stop the whole thing by means of a lawsuit. For ten million dollars, and without knowing what it would bring, I could have done that. Another thing I could have done was [take my name off] the American production. I did actually [...] consider this second option. But that wouldn't have been [fair] to the producers." Whatever else they'd done, or hadn't done as the case may have been, Kunze still considered them decent people. What ultimately convinced him not to take any steps at all was Steinman's public disavowal of the show. As he put it, "...the thing with Steinman was a dark chapter. After the premiere, he went public distancing himself from the piece, which is about the most unfair thing one can do -- not only because he is responsible for most of the changes, but [also] because it's simply unfair to try to save your own reputation at the cost of others'." Even more confusingly, at least in private, Steinman attempted to save face by backtracking on his public dismissal of the show; as Kunze put it, "I personally reacted very harshly [...] He even wrote me a reply, of course telling me that he didn't say all [those] things, was misquoted, blaming it all on the journalist." Internet fans of the English version similarly excoriated Michael Riedel for his negative column, which in their mind had managed to destroy what little goodwill the show had left. To his credit, Riedel dug in his toes and stuck to his position: "I didn't have a personal vendetta. A personal vendetta would mean that there's someone in the show that I'm out to get. I mean who was I out to get in the show? Michael Crawford? I've never met him. The show was lousy, and I felt that he was lousy in the show. [...] I love musically Jim Steinman. [...] there was a quite a bit of the score of Dance of the Vampires that I liked very much [...] I think that Jim's a great talent and that he was led astray in this instance, but I wish that Jim would write more musicals." After everything, in early January, the producers took a look at the dwindling cash flow (the advance sales money was totally spent by now) and decided that financially it was no longer worth the effort to keep the show open. Gone was their hope of a four-year run, of a West End transfer (where Steinman and Kunze had reportedly agreed to roll up their sleeves and get some real work done on restoring the show to its former glory). On January 25, 2003, after 56 performances, Dance of the Vampires limped to a close. It is currently believed to be one of the biggest financial flops in Broadway history, losing roughly $12-$15 million, easily eclipsing the infamous musical Carrie. SOURCES: Steinman's remarks: Hate at 1st BiteKunze on Steinman's remarks: Interview with Michael KunzeRiedel on fans' accusations: Smeghead's Jim Steinman Page
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Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 19:32:00 GMT -5
To this day, Jim Steinman denies he was responsible for any of the changes, claiming he "hated" and "was disgusted by" the show as it became. When he referred to new material (in this case "Angels Arise") being recycled from his other work, rather than admitting that he had merely recycled a melody again, he instead claimed it was "appropriated and annexed and snatched" by DOTV, as if a show could actually do such a thing. At his blog, he writes that " DOTV as we know was UTTER SHIT!" in one post, and describes the production as a "shit pile" in another. In other blog entries he states that his music was "wasted" on the show, and like his fans, is careful to make a clear distinction between the Broadway version (referred to as DOTV) and the successful European version (referred to as Tanz). In online conversation with one fan, he once again laid the blame at Crawford's door and ranted about "all those hack producers." Truth is a bitter pill to swallow, and it would appear no one is having a harder time doing so than Jim Steinman. He is currently working on a new version of his Neverland mythos, with the very marketable working title of Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, and has unleashed his grandiose vision of a marketing campaign on his fans, but reportedly creative and financial problems have held up production several times. Steinman's former assistant chimed in with his opinion of how things would turn out: "Let him keep writing interminable Eighties power ballads. No producer worth their salt will touch him or his projects again. He has no place on Broadway, for he has no respect for it." (When asked for comment, the author of this article can only say he believes it was George Santayana who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.") SOURCES: Steinman's final remarks: Author interview and Words by Jim SteinmanFor a period of time after the show finished its run, Jim and David Sonenberg weren't speaking, and Jim was seeking new management (some reports claim that at one point Steinman was in fact signed with another agent), but against all logic and reason, when Jim dropped out of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III in 2006 after another devastating loss of creative control, Sonenberg was still acting as Jim's manager, coming forward to dismiss Meat Loaf's story of Steinman leaving the project due to health issues. By all reports, he is also involved in the production side of the Bat Out of Hell musical and recently produced a reading of the troubled show in New York. (Seriously, Santayana's ears must be ringing; the author of this article wonders if Sonenberg will have any trouble raising his share of the investment this time too.) Continuing in his pattern of questionable business behavior, he advised his new client, Paula Abdul, to walk from American Idol, a move from which she is only now (as of 2010) recovering. SOURCES: Sonenberg and Steinman not speaking: Hate at 1st Bite Sonenberg on Bat III: The Bat is BackTanz der Vampire managed to recover nicely, for all its trouble. The producers of the European version realized they still had a good product and, figuring the American version wasn't going anywhere on a world scale, they decided to flood the good market the show still had. Tanz has since played several cities in Germany (Hamburg, Berlin, Oberhausen, and Stuttgart again, as of this writing), Poland (Warsaw, twice), Japan (Tokyo, twice), Austria (in a tenth anniversary concert, followed by a full-fledged production, both in Vienna), Hungary (Budapest, where it has been revived several times due to its runaway popularity), and Belgium (Antwerp), with plans for Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, and a Portuguese-speaking country in the works. A film was also recently announced as being in the planning stages by Roman Polanski's agent at ICM, Jeff Berg, with Polanski to star as Professor Abronsius (echoing his having played the role of Alfred in the original source film). (Steinman, in typical self-serving fashion, claims on his website that the casting was his idea "a la Danny Kaye [...] knowing how much Roman loves Danny Kaye" and that "now it's officially called 'Jim's movie' 'cause I had the idea first." Sure, Jim, whatever you say.) SOURCES: International productions: Common knowledge, with a little structuring help from TVTropes.org, to whom many thanks. Film version and related info: Newer News and Notes page (see very bottom)As for Michael Kunze, he knows exactly what went wrong with the New York show, but unlike everyone else (and very like the type of critic he actually listens to), he supports his criticism with reasons and tries to be even-handed to all involved. "Crawford [...] had the power to do whatever he thought to be right. From his standpoint, what he did may indeed have been right, because he didn't want to play this romantic freak from Phantom of the Opera again, and so he turned it into a comedy [...] They turned him into a horny old man. [...] The problem: The piece does not allow this to be done. Sarah must be able to fall truly in love with the Count. It just doesn't work if he's nothing but a comedian. [...] It had to fail because it couldn't work that way." On a less Krolock-related note, Kunze also felt the U.S. version made an unnecessary shift in protagonist from Alfred, the bumbling young hero, to Sarah, the ingenue -- all worthwhile objections. Kunze couldn't say that he was entirely unhappy that the U.S. version didn't work: "Everyone else [...] waited to see what would happen in the U.S. If it had been a success, it would certainly have been the U.S. version that would have opened everywhere else. [...] I can laugh about it because it didn't kill the show. It only killed the Broadway production, and they paid very, very dearly for it." Indeed, rationalizing that he didn't expect his first Broadway show to be an instant success at any rate, he viewed it as an opportunity to learn from his mistakes: "I'll just make sure that no one, be it a production company, a partner or whoever else, ever again takes [...] control of my piece away from me." SOURCES: Kunze's final remarks in final sections of article: Interview with Michael Kunze and Vampires has big bite in BerlinUnfortunately for English-speaking audiences, it is the above-stated protective attitude toward the show (in this author's opinion) that is partially responsible for the lack of new English adaptations more closely based on the original Austrian version. As of 2010, new English productions have been rumored, but not yet come to fruition. Between Kunze's protective attitude, the reception of the much-altered New York production, and Steinman's self-serving attempt to distance himself from the changes made, it is believed this may hold up progress on the show for a while yet.
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