Post by Koukol on May 16, 2011 20:18:12 GMT -5
"Pull quotes" are brief, attention-catching quotations. In the context of theater, they are the bits pulled from reviews that you see on posters. Dance of the Vampires suffered from particularly bad reviews, but contrary to the way everyone talks about DOTV today, which would have one think that the critics all outright hated the show, there was actually (gasp!) a lot of stuff that people liked. (Shock horror!)
Had the producers taken advantage of the practice of "pull quotes," maybe the show would have run a little longer. Think of what they could have done with these:
"Michael Crawford gives a powerhouse performance." - Robyn Carter, WCBS-TV
"What, I ask you, is any musical about vampires without a splashy production-number tribute to the glories of garlic? Yes, indeed, the herb that keeps the undead at bay is celebrated through frantic song and even more frantic choreography in Dance of the Vampires, a [...] new $12 million show at the Minskoff Theatre that has a [...] power all its own. [...] the road to Broadway [...] began in Vienna, where a German-language version staged by Roman Polanski [...] has had them rolling in the aisles for years." - Peter Marks, Washington Post
"Dance of the Vampires, which opened Monday at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre [...] an expensive, more than $10 million musical of mind-numbing silliness, a show that [...] dazes audiences who have to sit through its campy [...] meanderings. Dance of the Vampires doesn't take itself seriously. [...] its trio of authors, David Ives, Jim Steinman and Michael Kunze [...] accomplish - goofy, off-the-wall fun. [...] Crawford [...] has one of those piercing, megawatt voices [...] Krolock's big songs soar, even the one or two numbers designed to stop the show. [...] Auberjonois, an old pro cast as the determined vampire hunter, lends a credibility to the proceedings. [...] most of the supporting cast mugs with a fierceness [...] the choreography by John Carrafa produces [...] giggles [...] always look at designer David Gallo's gargantuan scenery. Graveyards. Those spooky woods. And a giant drawbridge that serves as the gateway to Krolock's castle is the show's answer to the chandelier in Phantom or the helicopter in Miss Saigon. It lowers to the floor of the Minskoff with an ominous thud. [...] Crawford makes a terrific first entrance. A black-leather coffin rises slowly from the beneath the stage floor and its creaking lid opens to reveal the star." - Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press
"[...] the jokes work and David Gallo's scenery is opulent and witty, just as Ann Hould-Ward's costumes are extravagant. [...] the special effects - particularly those involving mirrors (remember that vampires cast no reflections) - are spectaculars, are are John Rando's staging and John Carrafa's choreography. Credit is also due 'fight director and illusionist' Rick Sordelet. Steinman has written music and lyrics that are never less than acceptable [...] Crawford [...] can still, as the villainous Count von Krolock, turn on that mellifluous yet sinister voice. As the young couple he threatens, the pretty, clear-voiced Mandy Gonzalez and Max von Essen, are a lively pair, and the unflappable Rene Auberjonois is superb as the incompetent Professor Abronsius." - Clive Barnes, New York Post
"[...] knockabout Gothic rock with a twist by Jim Steinman, who [...] is best known for his super-charged songs for Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion. [...] he certainly sinks his teeth into the vampiric chorus numbers, where scantily clad creatures of the night cavort through graveyards and screech to the moon. Crawford presides over this camp nuttiness like a long-haired loon, grinning at the fun and singing gloriously like a fallen angel, in a swirl of dry ice and a panoply of candles, just as he did in Phantom. [...] John Rando's production gathers steam as it goes along, with a great entrance for Crawford on a huge draw-bridge and a tremendous ball scene. This is where Crawford has his big number in praise of appetite, a flat-out hilarious confession of a deadly carnivore with no time for garlicky goodie-goodies. And does he rise to that moment? Put it this way, Crawford has been the biggest British musical theater star of the past 30 years, from Billy to Barnum to Phantom. He still is. He flies like a bat out of hell." - Michael Coveney, London Daily Mail
"Dance of the Vampires [...] may well turn out to be a bat-out-of-hell hit. DOTV rises [...] thanks to a book loaded with comic one-liners that have the zany ring of the work of co-author David Ives. It fully comes to life in its deliriously Gothic set designs by David Gallo, tongue-in-cheek direction by John Rando, and a dead-on cast led by Michael Crawford, all of whom know how to bite into a gag [...] Mandy Gonzalez, who plays the show's heroine, Sarah [...] is this season's Sutton Foster, come out of nowhere to give a galvanizing performance [...] Mark Price is priceless as a put-upon servant who is happily turned into a vampire. Ron Orbach gives a juicy performance as a flawed father and husband [...] many people will find it wildly entertaining." - Barbara & Scott Siegel, Theatremania.com
"'On a cold winter night,' the wily vampire asks the fair young maiden, 'would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?' His pickup line, delivered in the first scene of the spectacularly [...] new Broadway musical Dance of the Vampires, paraphrases part of a song intro on Meat Loaf's 1977 album Bat Out of Hell. Dance's composer/lyricist and co-librettist, Jim Steinman, wrote the songs on that kitsch-rock opus, and I suppose he's entitled to a little self-referential fun. [...] Steinman's latest effort offers [...] the inspired cheesiness that made Bat one of pop's great guilty pleasures. This Dance will appeal [...] to the most die-hard lovers of [...] camp [...] David Gallo, Ann Hould-Ward and Ken Billington [...] clearly wasted [...] no dearth of imagination on flashy sets, costumes and lighting. Glitz aficionados might even want to check out Dance purely for the scenery and special effects." - Elysa Gardner, USA Today
"Arch musicals are in at the moment, and any show based on the Roman Polanski film The Fearless Vampire Killers is going to have a satirical sensibility perfectly in keeping with today's Broadway. With an established composer for the score (Jim Steinman), a popular director-choreographer team (John Rando and John Carrafa) and a high-wattage star (Michael Crawford), sheer force of will could clearly transform Dance of the Vampires into a hit [...] some of the most opulent set designs seen on Broadway in years. David Gallo has outdone even his previous exceptional work here. The least stunning of his concoctions - a spooky forest, a smoky inn, an attic bedchamber, a great Gothic bedroom - are remarkably atmospheric [...] his most impressive creations comprise a graveyard (complete with coffins) that floats in from the fly space, and a mammoth drawbridge emerging from complete demonic blackness. Spectacle, yes, but eminently theatrical [...] Max von Essen [...] is generally the best straight man in the wackiness of the world around him. He's also a remarkably durable singer [...] Rene Auberjonois brings a certain dignity to Professor Abronsius, the vampire hunter come to take down Krolock..." - Matthew Murray, Talkin' Broadway
"Steinman's songs are [...] largely high-powered anthems ('Braver Than We Are' for the young lovers, Alfred's 'For Sarah,' Krolock's 'Confession of a Vampire'), and several of them are melodically attractive. [...] Perhaps the most sublime [...] moments in this [...] evening come in the choreography, which includes no less than two dream ballets -- Alfred's 'Carpe Noctem' nightmare and the ineffable 'Red Boots Ballet' -- complete with dance doubles for the principals and flying chorus members. The mirror dance in the number for Alfred and the Count's gay son, Herbert, was a good notion [...] For this over-the-top sound-and-light show, David Gallo's scenery is elaborate [...] As for the star, Crawford remains a commanding, confident actor-singer [...] Unlike Phantom, Vampires offers him the chance to talk at length and do broad comedy. [...] René Auberjonois manages to retain his class as the Professor. As Sarah, Mandy Gonzalez unleashes a sizable belt. Max von Essen sings admirably and projects some befuddled sweetness as factotum Alfred. Poor Ron Orbach lost out on playing Franz Liebkind in The Producers, but does get to play Chagal; Mark Price has his moments as the servant who switches his allegiance from Chagal to Krolock." - Ken Mandelbaum, Broadway.com
"Dance of the Vampires, the new musical currently running at the Minskoff Theatre, is a GREAT BIG SHOW! Rock and roll lighting flashes and blinds, dry ice wafts, leggy showgirls prance, and amplified voices throb. Jaw-dropping set piece after jaw-dropping set piece rolls in. Its attitude alone - one of unbridled, over-the-top showmanship - is enough to make it the biggest show on Broadway. [DOTV] is funny [...] [the] breezy, cavalier book by David Ives, Jim Steinman, and Michael Kunze contains a ton of jokes [...] Steinman's tuneful pop/rock pastiche of a score lays the bombast on thick, and leaves plenty of room for vocal histrionics. He even plagiarizes himself a couple of times [...] these moments [...] are quite entertaining [...] Director John Rando has fun mocking everything from 1960s Hammer horror films to 1980s pop/rock musicals, and choreographer John Carrafa has fun ripping off "Staying Alive" and "Thriller." Their work keeps Dance of the Vampires moving at such a crazy, breathless pace that I forgot to look at my watch all throughout the performance. And, the actors all have fun, too [...] Crawford trades on his personality, poses well on stage, and relishes the ridiculousness [...] [as] the young lovers, Gonzalez proves she can shriek and trill with the best of the pop divas, and Von Essen displays a gorgeous traditional Broadway voice. Best of all is Auberjonois, who plays the whole show as seriously as possible - which only makes him funnier [...] Dance of the Vampires is unlike any musical you've ever seen before, and any you will ever see after." - Michael Criscuolo, NYTheatre.com
"I liked it. I've had a soft spot in my head heart for Steinman since he wrote the Bat Out of Hell album for Meat Loaf, back in prehistoric vinyl days. The vigor of 'Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young' and his other songs for the film Streets of Fire, which I saw in Los Angeles in 1984, sent me racing along Mulholland Drive, to keep up with the propulsive beat. I swooned under the operatic pretensions of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' his 1983 hit for Bonnie Tyler. Steinman was the guy I kept calling for to rejuvenate, or just plain juvenate, the Broadway musical. [...] 50s rock 'n roll with a 70s preen [...] I knew from the first number - an angelic trio with a beguiling (what did they used to call it?) melody and some expert (the Andrews Sisters used to do it) harmony - that this would be my kind of score. [...] The production, in the rock-mock-Wagnerian style that tends to play better in London and Las Vegas than in Manhattan, boasts some fine voices and sexy dancers." - Richard Corliss, Time Magazine
"Everything is staged very beautifully [...] a perfect show, with [...] breathtaking choreography, sensual love songs, a lot of special effects and [...] grandiose scenery. At the end the audience applauds and gives the cast a standing ovation, and it's hardly thinkable that the critics will give the show a bad review. [...] here on Broadway it fits perfectly." - Anja Reich (translated from German)
Had the producers taken advantage of the practice of "pull quotes," maybe the show would have run a little longer. Think of what they could have done with these:
"Michael Crawford gives a powerhouse performance." - Robyn Carter, WCBS-TV
"What, I ask you, is any musical about vampires without a splashy production-number tribute to the glories of garlic? Yes, indeed, the herb that keeps the undead at bay is celebrated through frantic song and even more frantic choreography in Dance of the Vampires, a [...] new $12 million show at the Minskoff Theatre that has a [...] power all its own. [...] the road to Broadway [...] began in Vienna, where a German-language version staged by Roman Polanski [...] has had them rolling in the aisles for years." - Peter Marks, Washington Post
"Dance of the Vampires, which opened Monday at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre [...] an expensive, more than $10 million musical of mind-numbing silliness, a show that [...] dazes audiences who have to sit through its campy [...] meanderings. Dance of the Vampires doesn't take itself seriously. [...] its trio of authors, David Ives, Jim Steinman and Michael Kunze [...] accomplish - goofy, off-the-wall fun. [...] Crawford [...] has one of those piercing, megawatt voices [...] Krolock's big songs soar, even the one or two numbers designed to stop the show. [...] Auberjonois, an old pro cast as the determined vampire hunter, lends a credibility to the proceedings. [...] most of the supporting cast mugs with a fierceness [...] the choreography by John Carrafa produces [...] giggles [...] always look at designer David Gallo's gargantuan scenery. Graveyards. Those spooky woods. And a giant drawbridge that serves as the gateway to Krolock's castle is the show's answer to the chandelier in Phantom or the helicopter in Miss Saigon. It lowers to the floor of the Minskoff with an ominous thud. [...] Crawford makes a terrific first entrance. A black-leather coffin rises slowly from the beneath the stage floor and its creaking lid opens to reveal the star." - Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press
"[...] the jokes work and David Gallo's scenery is opulent and witty, just as Ann Hould-Ward's costumes are extravagant. [...] the special effects - particularly those involving mirrors (remember that vampires cast no reflections) - are spectaculars, are are John Rando's staging and John Carrafa's choreography. Credit is also due 'fight director and illusionist' Rick Sordelet. Steinman has written music and lyrics that are never less than acceptable [...] Crawford [...] can still, as the villainous Count von Krolock, turn on that mellifluous yet sinister voice. As the young couple he threatens, the pretty, clear-voiced Mandy Gonzalez and Max von Essen, are a lively pair, and the unflappable Rene Auberjonois is superb as the incompetent Professor Abronsius." - Clive Barnes, New York Post
"[...] knockabout Gothic rock with a twist by Jim Steinman, who [...] is best known for his super-charged songs for Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion. [...] he certainly sinks his teeth into the vampiric chorus numbers, where scantily clad creatures of the night cavort through graveyards and screech to the moon. Crawford presides over this camp nuttiness like a long-haired loon, grinning at the fun and singing gloriously like a fallen angel, in a swirl of dry ice and a panoply of candles, just as he did in Phantom. [...] John Rando's production gathers steam as it goes along, with a great entrance for Crawford on a huge draw-bridge and a tremendous ball scene. This is where Crawford has his big number in praise of appetite, a flat-out hilarious confession of a deadly carnivore with no time for garlicky goodie-goodies. And does he rise to that moment? Put it this way, Crawford has been the biggest British musical theater star of the past 30 years, from Billy to Barnum to Phantom. He still is. He flies like a bat out of hell." - Michael Coveney, London Daily Mail
"Dance of the Vampires [...] may well turn out to be a bat-out-of-hell hit. DOTV rises [...] thanks to a book loaded with comic one-liners that have the zany ring of the work of co-author David Ives. It fully comes to life in its deliriously Gothic set designs by David Gallo, tongue-in-cheek direction by John Rando, and a dead-on cast led by Michael Crawford, all of whom know how to bite into a gag [...] Mandy Gonzalez, who plays the show's heroine, Sarah [...] is this season's Sutton Foster, come out of nowhere to give a galvanizing performance [...] Mark Price is priceless as a put-upon servant who is happily turned into a vampire. Ron Orbach gives a juicy performance as a flawed father and husband [...] many people will find it wildly entertaining." - Barbara & Scott Siegel, Theatremania.com
"'On a cold winter night,' the wily vampire asks the fair young maiden, 'would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?' His pickup line, delivered in the first scene of the spectacularly [...] new Broadway musical Dance of the Vampires, paraphrases part of a song intro on Meat Loaf's 1977 album Bat Out of Hell. Dance's composer/lyricist and co-librettist, Jim Steinman, wrote the songs on that kitsch-rock opus, and I suppose he's entitled to a little self-referential fun. [...] Steinman's latest effort offers [...] the inspired cheesiness that made Bat one of pop's great guilty pleasures. This Dance will appeal [...] to the most die-hard lovers of [...] camp [...] David Gallo, Ann Hould-Ward and Ken Billington [...] clearly wasted [...] no dearth of imagination on flashy sets, costumes and lighting. Glitz aficionados might even want to check out Dance purely for the scenery and special effects." - Elysa Gardner, USA Today
"Arch musicals are in at the moment, and any show based on the Roman Polanski film The Fearless Vampire Killers is going to have a satirical sensibility perfectly in keeping with today's Broadway. With an established composer for the score (Jim Steinman), a popular director-choreographer team (John Rando and John Carrafa) and a high-wattage star (Michael Crawford), sheer force of will could clearly transform Dance of the Vampires into a hit [...] some of the most opulent set designs seen on Broadway in years. David Gallo has outdone even his previous exceptional work here. The least stunning of his concoctions - a spooky forest, a smoky inn, an attic bedchamber, a great Gothic bedroom - are remarkably atmospheric [...] his most impressive creations comprise a graveyard (complete with coffins) that floats in from the fly space, and a mammoth drawbridge emerging from complete demonic blackness. Spectacle, yes, but eminently theatrical [...] Max von Essen [...] is generally the best straight man in the wackiness of the world around him. He's also a remarkably durable singer [...] Rene Auberjonois brings a certain dignity to Professor Abronsius, the vampire hunter come to take down Krolock..." - Matthew Murray, Talkin' Broadway
"Steinman's songs are [...] largely high-powered anthems ('Braver Than We Are' for the young lovers, Alfred's 'For Sarah,' Krolock's 'Confession of a Vampire'), and several of them are melodically attractive. [...] Perhaps the most sublime [...] moments in this [...] evening come in the choreography, which includes no less than two dream ballets -- Alfred's 'Carpe Noctem' nightmare and the ineffable 'Red Boots Ballet' -- complete with dance doubles for the principals and flying chorus members. The mirror dance in the number for Alfred and the Count's gay son, Herbert, was a good notion [...] For this over-the-top sound-and-light show, David Gallo's scenery is elaborate [...] As for the star, Crawford remains a commanding, confident actor-singer [...] Unlike Phantom, Vampires offers him the chance to talk at length and do broad comedy. [...] René Auberjonois manages to retain his class as the Professor. As Sarah, Mandy Gonzalez unleashes a sizable belt. Max von Essen sings admirably and projects some befuddled sweetness as factotum Alfred. Poor Ron Orbach lost out on playing Franz Liebkind in The Producers, but does get to play Chagal; Mark Price has his moments as the servant who switches his allegiance from Chagal to Krolock." - Ken Mandelbaum, Broadway.com
"Dance of the Vampires, the new musical currently running at the Minskoff Theatre, is a GREAT BIG SHOW! Rock and roll lighting flashes and blinds, dry ice wafts, leggy showgirls prance, and amplified voices throb. Jaw-dropping set piece after jaw-dropping set piece rolls in. Its attitude alone - one of unbridled, over-the-top showmanship - is enough to make it the biggest show on Broadway. [DOTV] is funny [...] [the] breezy, cavalier book by David Ives, Jim Steinman, and Michael Kunze contains a ton of jokes [...] Steinman's tuneful pop/rock pastiche of a score lays the bombast on thick, and leaves plenty of room for vocal histrionics. He even plagiarizes himself a couple of times [...] these moments [...] are quite entertaining [...] Director John Rando has fun mocking everything from 1960s Hammer horror films to 1980s pop/rock musicals, and choreographer John Carrafa has fun ripping off "Staying Alive" and "Thriller." Their work keeps Dance of the Vampires moving at such a crazy, breathless pace that I forgot to look at my watch all throughout the performance. And, the actors all have fun, too [...] Crawford trades on his personality, poses well on stage, and relishes the ridiculousness [...] [as] the young lovers, Gonzalez proves she can shriek and trill with the best of the pop divas, and Von Essen displays a gorgeous traditional Broadway voice. Best of all is Auberjonois, who plays the whole show as seriously as possible - which only makes him funnier [...] Dance of the Vampires is unlike any musical you've ever seen before, and any you will ever see after." - Michael Criscuolo, NYTheatre.com
"I liked it. I've had a soft spot in my head heart for Steinman since he wrote the Bat Out of Hell album for Meat Loaf, back in prehistoric vinyl days. The vigor of 'Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young' and his other songs for the film Streets of Fire, which I saw in Los Angeles in 1984, sent me racing along Mulholland Drive, to keep up with the propulsive beat. I swooned under the operatic pretensions of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' his 1983 hit for Bonnie Tyler. Steinman was the guy I kept calling for to rejuvenate, or just plain juvenate, the Broadway musical. [...] 50s rock 'n roll with a 70s preen [...] I knew from the first number - an angelic trio with a beguiling (what did they used to call it?) melody and some expert (the Andrews Sisters used to do it) harmony - that this would be my kind of score. [...] The production, in the rock-mock-Wagnerian style that tends to play better in London and Las Vegas than in Manhattan, boasts some fine voices and sexy dancers." - Richard Corliss, Time Magazine
"Everything is staged very beautifully [...] a perfect show, with [...] breathtaking choreography, sensual love songs, a lot of special effects and [...] grandiose scenery. At the end the audience applauds and gives the cast a standing ovation, and it's hardly thinkable that the critics will give the show a bad review. [...] here on Broadway it fits perfectly." - Anja Reich (translated from German)