Eponine's very complete LESTAT review- SPOILERS

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 9:30pm

When it came time to find the “family gathering place” for the holidays I made a push to spend it with my aunt and uncle in San Francisco, mainly because I wanted to come to CA and see Lestat, and boy am I glad that I did.

First and foremost I should say that I have never read any Anne Rice novels, never seen Queen of the Damned or Interview with the Vampire, and above all I think the vampire genre is rather silly. So what brought me halfway across the country to see this? Elton John’s music and two words; Hugh. Panaro.

Overall I had a blast seeing this show; it was worth every penny. Something I loved was that the “vampire” aspect was not rammed down your throat. The actors do not wear fangs and their problems are very real and tangible from Lestat’s loneliness and Gabrielle’s lost dreams.

Lestat is visually one of the most stunning shows that I have ever seen. It had a wonderful and equal mixture of projection and 3D set pieces; I loved the use of both. Although there were a couple parts of the show which relied a little too heavily on the projection aspect (the song about Paris with Lestat and Nicolas is a good example); the small set piece that rolled on was fantastic, but the projections in that scene were mundane and not very exciting. My favorite set piece was the house that belonged to Lestat, Louis and Claudia; also the set used during “Crimson Kiss” with the giant stone head. I was certain that it was going to start talking or that it’s eye would open, but alas, no luck.

The costumes were top notch (to be expected from Susan Hilferty). I loved how everything was period and yet in fabrics and colors that would never have been worn in those times; which helped throw the fact that this was a fantasy piece yet still set in a particular time period. My favorite costume was Armand’s second act black long-coat ensemble (Drew looked quite attractive in it) and my least favorite costume was Gabrielle’s “Crimson Kiss” costume (or as I call it; her Gandalf the White knockoff). That outfit actually looks better in the picture (with Hugh and Carolee in that scene) than from the audience. Carolee is a gorgeous lady and her character is such a free spirit but that costume is both unattractive and also ages her considerably (IMO). But that was my only gripe costume wise.

Hugh Panaro (Lestat): I saw him in Phantom and he absolutely blew me away. In this show he has the opportunity to show off his fantastic facial expressions and acting chops; a great character to sink his teeth into. Hugh takes the role and runs with it and he has a fantastic handle on the character for being so early on in previews. Panaro is a joy to watch and generates energy unmatched by so many Broadway performers today; my only complaint is that he does not have a show stopper to truly show off his singing with. He’s also got a very deep and beautiful talking voice, but I’m stumped by his accent. Where is he from?

Carolee Carmello (Gabrielle): I will be truly surprised if Ms. Carmello does not earn a Tony nom for this performance. It is a great role and she seems the most comfortable in her role than any of the other performers. She adds some great comedic moments as well as some of the most heartbreaking; a beautiful performance.

Drew Sarich (Armand, understudy): To anyone reading this who has a say in the casting of the new Armand, give Drew the role! I had the pleasure of seeing Drew perform on his very first performance in this role, he was incredible. Drew has a fantastic voice and stage presence matched by this great brooding darkness that was very forceful and quite sexy as well. He seemed a tad nervous at first (as can be expected) but that didn’t hinder his performance at all and he got much well deserved cheering from the audience during bows.

Jim Stanek (Louis): He does a lovely job in this role as the “gentler” of Claudia’s fathers. Definitely a well cast role and he gave a strong supporting performance. One of my favorite characters in the show.

Alison Fischer (Claudia): She brought down the house in her song “I Want More” and then followed it up by the beautiful “I’ll Never Have That Chance.” I usually hate child actors, but I greatly warmed up to her and her fantastic performance. She also had great chemistry with the adult actors especially Hugh and Jim.

Roderick Hill (Nicolas): He added to the top notch cast in this small supporting role as the troubled and talented Nicolas. He has a lovely voice and great acting abilities, especially after the major change in Nicolas’s character halfway through.

Michael Genet (Marius): You can tell that Genet is a fine actor and has many credits to his name (not to mention just about the coolest entrance I have ever seen in a Broadway show) but the story line following the character of Marius and the scenes containing the character left me confused and kind of bored; it is also a non-singing role. My prediction is that most of Marius’s scenes are going to be the ones that get revised before the leap to Broadway.

The Ensemble: The one thing about this particular performance is that the ensemble gave away the scenes that had just been fixed and changed. It was pretty evident during “The Origin of the Species” that it had been recently altered; that was certainly a scene and song that I had trouble following and was the weakest number in the show. They were however, in top shape during other numbers such as “To Kill Your Kind” and the finale “From the Dead” (which brought the house down).

Overall the major problems in the show were in the plot. Apart from not knowing anything about Rice’s books I also made the point of not reading the synopsis in the souvenir program before seeing the show (I wanted everything to be a surprise). I therefore found myself confused in many spots regarding Marius, the wolf killer stuff, the creation of all vampires and especially the ending (not to mention what has to be done to kill or severely damage a vampire). I was able to overlook much of this though because all the other aspects of the show were so strong; also most of these problems will likely be fixed or altered during previews anyway. The major thing is the obvious lack of showstopper; there needs to be one there and it needs to go to Lestat (Panaro). SPOILERS: My final suggestion regards the ending of act one, it doesn’t feel right having “Crimson Kiss,” a scene, and then Marius’s entrance be the end of act one. My thought is instead to have Lestat reprise “Crimson Kiss” or sing something else and have Marius join in the song THEN make his entrance in the climax of the music rather than there be talking and then Marius’s entrance. There needs to be very powerful singing involved in that entrance. END SPOILERS.

All in all the music IS better than Aida (and I’m a die hard fan); I don’t know Billy Elliot’s score so I can’t comment on that. The current problems are very fixable, and the state that I saw the show in is actually better than many shows that made it to Broadway in their final state. Aka: Lestat is in better shape now than Little Women was in its final state.

Go see this show if you have the chance. The performances are incredible, the visual aspect is cutting edge and the music is Elton at his best. This is a vampire show that deserves the chance to score big on Broadway, and I sincerely hope it does.


Updated On: 12/28/05 at 09:30 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 9:57pm

Great review...I couldn't have said it better myself! LOL! Thanks! :)

~Rosalynn

P.S. - Hugh really does need a song to belt, doesn't he?! Ha ha!

[QMAN03]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 9:57pm

Either they made life changing changes or you are the first one to like the show.

[QMAN03]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 9:58pm

Wait, you saw it and liked it too?

[Chloe]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 10:22pm

Thanks for the detailed review. I'm a big fan of Elton's also and am really looking forward to this show.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 11:39pm

Have you seen it Q?

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 12/29/05 at 12:05am

Thanks for the in depth review! Gives me hope for the show yet. :)

quote:
He’s also got a very deep and beautiful talking voice, but I’m stumped by his accent. Where is he from?

He's from Phildelphia originally, but I have no idea what kind of accent he may be putting on for the show.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/29/05 at 12:15am

He's from Phildelphia originally, but I have no idea what kind of accent he may be putting on for the show.

Have any of you seen William Michals as Chauvelin? It's like that, but mixed with David Duchovny's yuppie character in Beethoven.

[justme2]

Posted: 12/29/05 at 12:20am

wait...QMan says in another Lestat thread that he MAY see the show in March when it hits Browadway, but is knocking the show in this thread. So....have you seen it in SF already and disliked it, or are you just guessing that it sucks right now?

[jarretSF]

Posted: 12/29/05 at 11:57am

Good news I hope! Sounds like a much better evening than the 2nd preview I saw! I agree with you about the Marius character too. Maybe I will give it another chance in January!

[Quasi]

Posted: 12/29/05 at 1:23pm

Well it's great that Drew seems to be really good. I saw him in Berlin as Quasimodo in Hunchback of Notre Dame (lovely voice and great acting) and in Vienna in Barbarella, which was not a good show(but at least entertaining) and Drew blew everybody away. He has such a powerful and unique voice, he deserves more than being an understudy.

Greetings from Germany

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 12/29/05 at 4:03pm

I would go see Drew perform again in a second. He had a very magnetic performance, I truly hope he gets to be the final replacement for Armand.


QMan, go see the show first, you might have a different opinion. Or maybe not...

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 12/30/05 at 1:42am

Bump :)

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/30/05 at 1:47am

yay! thanks for the awesome review!

[badreligion]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 4:33am

I had the unfortunate opportunity to see this horrible adaptation of two wonderfully written and passionate books. The show SUCKED SUCKED SUCKED, it is going to bomb on Broadway, if it makes it. Hugh Panaro has no idea who The Vampire Lestat is and has no idea of the character and is a huge disappointment. Claudia is about ten years too old to play the character she plays. And the music and songs are laughable. My friends and I were laughing hysterically throughout most of the show. It is the worst piece of cr*p since Carrie the musical. Anne Rice has gotten more insane in the past 5 years and i've heard she approves of this show, which only shows why she ditched the original vampire chronicles to write a far more inferior vampire chronicles. oh did i mention this show sucks?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 5:14am

Tell us how you REALLY feel!

I can't wait for Anne Rice to unleash a paragraph-break-free diatribe here or somewhere else...

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 6:38am

People on this board are not apt to respect an opinion when it isn't supported by specific facts. You give no support for your arguments. Give us a more detailed review such as EponineThenardier gave and then we'll listen.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 6:54am

Wow. Thanks for the review. I too typed out a huge "research"-like review/article on the show I saw 12-28-05

I'm a little less positive and instead have plenty of constructive criticism, but respect your hopefulness. I just know there is a lot that MUST be done with this show before it's remotely considered "successful" - as is the point of an out-of-town try out.

Myself and several others agree that this show would be far more focused if they scrapped everything and instead recreated a strong story just around the Lestat/Louis/Claudia storyline (essentially, "Interview with the Vampire")

Give my review a read:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/eugloven/172878.html

Lastly, wow, are you serious? The music was attrocious and not even close to being "better than Aida." You're kidding, right? Did you even notice the complete inconsistancy in score and the repetative and forgetful melodies? Some songs sounded like (if I may borrow someone else's opinion) "Someone practicing their scales over and over again." Can you even remember any of the songs from Act I? No, my friend, this was not better than Aida.

It's great to have hope in a show, but let's not blow things out of proportion. Updated On: 1/1/06 at 06:54 AM

[EAD1974]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 7:18am

I just registered to thank you all for the reviews for Lestat...right now It's been very hard finding any reviews for the show online and I've been dying to find out. THE VAMPIRE LESTAT and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE have been my favorite books since I was 13 years old and in the early 90's in stood in line all day to get my books signed by Anne Rice twice ( yes, I'm one of THOSE fans )By the sound of it, it sounds like we Vampire Chronicles die hards will be pleased but casual audience members will be confused or bored. That is depressing to me as I really want this show to be succesful as a die hard fan. I'm not a huge Musical theater person, although I enjoy it, but I have only seen 5 or 6 Broadway shows in my life. I really liked Wicked ( which it seems a lot of hard core musical people seem to hate ) But even there I only think two or three songs were memorable...It was the story which I loved. I'n seeing the show on the 19th and am very excited. Again, thanks for all the reviews and keep em coming!

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 7:27am

Welcome EAD1974. It's not so much a hate for Wicked itself as an extreme dislike for the teeny bopper audience that has scraped away our patience by claiming it is the best musical ever written without havng even seen any other musicals. Many who now dislike it enjoyed it before it became preteen screaming girl mania. You seem like a very dedicated (and more importantly sane) fan of the Anne Rice novels so you are very welcome here.

Updated On: 1/1/06 at 07:27 AM

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 3:45pm

Thanks to Gunn and everyone who appreciated the review. It's nice to know that people read it.

And EugLoven, wow! Nice review, it was great reading it. I actually agreed with much of what you said, but I do like this score better than AIDA. Then again I am a Wildhorn fan and like slightly campy music, and although much of the score sounded very similar; I enjoyed the basic tune of it.

Basically people either love it or hate it. It ain't Sondheim in way of depth, but it was good fun and I throroughly enjoyed it.

Bottom line, go see it and make up your own mind. Because there is a huge spectrum of opinions and it is best to make your own.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 3:55pm

wow, i enjoy reading everyone's thoughtful details about this show. Its good to see that people of intellectual status are seeing this show and backing up their feelings with details as opposed to a select few who dont know what the hell they are talking about. Thank you!

[MsArataJ]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 9:47pm

Allow me to preface this by saying I was expecting a lot. I am a huge Anne Rice (particularly Vampire Chronicles) fan. I've read all of the books, and at times am totally obsessed. Nothing excited me more than to hear that there was a musical.

Then I was very disappointed, as was my friend who came to the show with me. As was everyone around us (including a few people who got up and left the show). It wasn't exactly terrible, but I felt my friend put it best: "The actors didn't even seem like they thought the music was good." The music really is laughable at times, and even had the entire row in front of us audibly giggling. The words are stiff, things are rhymed that shouldn't be rhymed, and the lyrics are rarely moving. When Claudia sang, it was the only time you ever felt the music... if that makes sense. Most of the time it never engages you. There was just no energy. I felt like the actors knew the lyrics sucked, for lack of a better word. They didn't seem to care, or even know anything about their characters. The show was, in general, lackluster.

The set was amazing, they definitely get props for that. However, some of the creative choices were...silly. Images flash on a screen, but they kind of make you want to laugh. I felt awkward watching them and looking around at people holding back laughter...I felt bad for the people running this show! (as an example--I think it's when Lestat is being made--they show this image of a fetus and all this weird music plays. It's just odd). I don't think a broadway audience is going to respond well to this show.

Lestat's greatest fault is the music. I would say the acting was bad, but I think the acting could only be as good as the music.
I didn't like the choice to make Marius this dark skinned bald man either... since he has long, long WHITE hair and VERY VERY white in the novels. But that's off on a tangent!

Those are my thoughts. I absolutely love musicals, and I don't think it has what it takes to survive. The man sitting next to me leaned over at the end and said "It could have been worse?" and I have to agree with him--it could have been. BUT, that's just not acceptable for Broadway.

[TLKfan]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:00pm

Actually I liked the show. The first half was not good but I totally got into the show the second half.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:40pm

I saw the show again yesterday.

There was a noticeable difference in the performances between the first week of previews and right after the reviews came out, or maybe I'm just perceiving it. You can tell not everyone in the cast stayed away from the papers, let's just say.

The show has improved considerably. You can tell the creative team knows it has its work cut out, but they're doing what they can.

I'm more optomistic now that this show can have a halfway decent run on Broadway -- not that it'll recoup, but it might be comparable to Jekyll & Hyde in terms of a following and quality.

I didn't like the choice to make Marius this dark skinned bald man either... since he has long, long WHITE hair and VERY VERY white in the novels. But that's off on a tangent!

Well, he is very white and has very white hair in "The Origin of the Species." I had never read the books or seen the movie, so until I read several other reviews, I had no idea Marius was not supposed to be black.