Lestat Reviews- Page 4

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:26am

3Penny definitely did better than this!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:29am

Yes, I would definitely agree...

[knows_too_much]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 4:31am

Awwwwwwwwww does this mean that there will be no Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical?.... and I so wanted to see Sara Michelle Gellar in her Broadway debut

[Color and Light]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 4:44am

At least Buffy the Vampire Slayer's musical ahd a healthy dose of tongue-and-cheek to it. Part of what kills Lestat is that it takes itself far too seriously when it doesn't have material with enough gravity to do so.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 4:51am

I like to consider myself a fair person (unlike some "critics" here) and I sympathize for the people who may suffer at this show's fate. It seems so easy, for everyone, to sit around and judge a show without having any idea the amount of time and energy that has been invested. Not all shows succeed.

From the concept to the writing - which takes years alone - to the execution, the production announcements (which also take years) to the auditions, rehearsal processes, out-of-town try-outs and the production itself. These are huge goals and expensive endeavours coming from the combined forces of creative minds. Fair enough if you have an opinion but don't keep shoving it down my throat.

I'll be fair. I'll admit I was absolutely loathed with Dance of the Vampires and I have my opinions on that universally known. However, this is biased. I have been a fan of the music of Jim Steinman since a very small age: it was a major dream of mine to, one day, come over and see a Steinman musical onstage.. and not in the way that D.O.T.V. was butchered. I was so disappointed at what could have been an excellent opportunity to replicate the masterpiece running in Germany. But that wasn't to be...

Lestat was being built from the ground-up. I have no interest in any of the people involved with this production. I have interest with anything to do with Dance of the Vampires and will continue to make known my feelings and opinions on that failure (because I feel it's a means of exorcising my disappointment with what Steinman & his fans had to go through). I believe this is totally different.

These people have come together, all great talents (superior, by far, than the people who contributed to Dance of the Vampires). The one weak link, IMO, is Robert Jess Roth.. who I really felt was not suited to this show.

To make my point clear, I have spoken to many actors in the industry and they have told me consistently it's the fans on the message-boards who cause all the crap. 90% have never seen the show and judge it on word-of-mouth (from memory I think you only saw it in San Francisco. You have to see it in New York before you make your judgement.. not to mention repeating it ad nauseam and making me, basically, choke to death on it). I don't care what anyone says.. I'm not going to sit here and read absolute slaughter everytime I come here.

I expect to meet mature fans of musical theatres not vultures and predators who see a little snippet of something and damn it all for everyone else. And yes that's what I feel a LOT of people have been doing. It's immensely discouraging to me as a fan of musical theatre. It's all this crappy internet hype that feeds rubbish - misplaced opinions - to the real public who, subsequently, formulate uninformed opinions and lead to the demise of a musical. It's like the old "trading the red paper clip" routine on Google.. until you've traded in with a mansion in Beverly Hills.

I am a composer of musical theatre, I'd hate to think that 100% of my audience went home enjoying themselves then to have 1000% uninformed morons coming onto the web providing a load of crap that taint the rest of the public who, in my belief, will probably end up enjoying the show to a great extent. It deeply offends me and I will not keep my opinions quiet at the expense of a dozen "damnations" here and there...

I also don't appreciate being called a fool. I don't think I'm a fool at all, I think I've been through a lot and have the right to comment on things I think I understand. At least calling me a fool is an uninformed opinion because it's simply not true. Just like randomly walking in and judging a work-in-development, with no concept at how much time and money and effort has gone into it, is un-informed.

I apologize if this offends anyone but that is how I feel.

This board is one of the most cutthroat communities on the web, IMO.

Updated On: 4/26/06 at 04:51 AM

[knows_too_much]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 5:01am

I don't think it's fair to say it didn't have the material. I'm a fan of Anne Rice and her novels are rich and beautiful, but the movies havn't done justice to her writing, and from what I here niether has this show. If it's still open in July when I'm in NY I'll see so I can form my own opinion, but I have a feeling chances of that are slim at best. Other shows that have survived bad reviews(Phantom, Wicked, etc...) I knew people that wakled away loving them, but with Lestat the best I've heard is "I like it but..." So I'll most likly never have the choice to judge the show for myself, but it is unfair to say that it didn't have the source material unless you have read the books.

But yes Buffy would be full of tounge in cheek value and considering that there is still a Buffy Magazine(was just at Borders today and couldn't believe it)there's probobly a large Buffy audience to support the show.

[EAD1974]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 5:42am

"This board is one of the most cutthroat communities on the web, IMO"

Dude, I hate to say it, but I gotta agree with ya there. I only recently joined this board mostly to discuss Lestat as it was going through all it's changes. I've only gotten into Musical Theater in the last 4 years or so, so as I newbie I often felt like a poser posting here, as my knowledge of musical theater is FAR less than most of the people who post here. Still, I love the shows I love, and was eagerly looking forward to Lestat as the Vampire Chronicles are my favorite books of all time. But NOTHING could have prepared me for the negativaty around here, and really the downright snobbery. Not everyone obviously, there are a lot of great posters here, but this place is pretty thick with "I hates" more than "I loves". I'm far more of a horror/fantasy/comics/movie geek, and I thought THAT online community was the worst, until now! LOL Honestly, most of these of reviews have really hammered home how much elitism and snobbery there is surrounding musical theater, and it's frankly a turn off to a newbie like me. I really have no problem at all with negative reviews that criticize the songs or the staging or the performances...having seen the show in SF I also had problems with much of that. However, SO MANY of the reviews, both the professional ones and the ones here, are filled with things like "It takes itself too seriously" or "let's hope there are no more vampire musicals on Broadway after this!" and so on. Jesus, with an attitude like that about the source material, how can I think they are anything BUT biased against it? Frankly, I can't think of ANY other storytelling format, be it novels or Movies or Television, that has more elitism about what is "appropriate". ANYTHING is appropriate if done well. Hell, Schinler's List could be a could musical if done right ( OK, it would be hard, but you get my point )So many shows (like Wicked for example, which I actually love, btw ) take a complex book, gut it to it's core, and make a great musical out of it. What Wicked did was really easier; It's far easier to take something, change it almost totally for mass consumption and make a crowd pleaser out of it. What Elton, Bernie and Co. tried to do was maybe too ambitious...maybe they did bite off more than they could chew, but hell, at least they didn't compromise and decided to do it anyways. Sometimes, an interesting failure is more intriguing than a resounding success.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 5:50am

I admire that they gave it a shot. I admire that Maday had the guts to take on something like this (Anne Rice isn't the easiest writer to adapt). Something either fails or it does well.. there is no longer an in-between.

I also admire Frank Wildhorn for his persistence in the industry. He didn't lay down and die after "Dracula", he went straight out and got on with the next project. Somewhere, in the world, one of his shows is running.. probably at this very minute. The man has made achievements that no one can deny. I also think that Steinman, who composed Dance Of The Vampires, is a phenomenal talent who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don't know if you remember this but Maday's original choice for the "premiere musical" for Warner Bros. Theater Ventures was "Batman The Musical" with Music & Lyrics by Jim Steinman and Book by David Ives. Laugh at this all you want, because it probably seems the most silliest idea for a musical, but the song I've heard from it is the most beautiful, romantic and touching song I have heard from a musical in "known existence" in the last forty years. It was so touching, I wept.. I never stop listening to it and feel if Maday had have stuck to his original instinct Batman would have been a better, more commercial project for them. But who really knows...

I agree with everything you've just said.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 6:05am

knows_too_much, I wasn't refering to the source material itself, but rather what was left in the lyrics, music, and book of the show. I found Interview With the Vampire itself to be a great load of fun to read and was disappointed that so much of what made it charming was missing in Lestat. I might see it again, since I can get cheap seats and I'm curious to see how it has changed since I last saw it.

In my defense, I don't think I'm unfairly criticizing the show - I try to keep my public opinions about shows I dislike civil. I haven't gone around blindly badmouthing the cast of Lestat, because I believe they are a talented ensemble stuck with what I think is bad material. I don't look down my nose at anyone who enjoyed it, either, or any show that I don't like, for that matter. People, especially with the anonymity of the internet, are generally going to be more vocal opinions. I just take it with a grain of salt and keep from labeling people snobs or nitwits for their personal tastes.

Updated On: 4/26/06 at 06:05 AM

[EAD1974]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 6:14am

A Batman musical could have been interesting, but Batman has had such a hard time for the last 40 years trying to shake off the POW! ZAP! BAM! image of the 60's tv show, that if it come off wrong it would really hurt that character for a long time( Maybe even longer than Batman and Robin did! LOL ) I can only imagine how harshly the critics would go about trashing that show...good lord.

But now that you mention it, there was an episode of the Batman Beyond animated series ( about the Batman of the future, for you non-geeks ) that had an 80 year old Bruce Wayne attending a musical version of Batman and basically being tortured by the whole performance...it's actually pretty funny. Maybe the producers saw that episode and it scared them off!

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 6:23am

Before opening, I was eagerly waiting to see LESTAT on my next NYC trip in November, but after all the reviews I don't think I am that interested. Plus, it looks it won't be around by that time !
So, what do you think is going at the Palace after that ?

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 6:32am

EAD:

I am a huge fan of the Batman comics and the 90s movies (never seen the new one. I heard that the sequel will have the Joker... I don't think anyone could beat Jack Nicholson)

When I first heard there was a Batman musical I laughed my face off. But when they said Jim Steinman was involved it was like: "yep, this will be perfect". If you've never heard this guy's stuff *completely* ignore Dance Of The Vampires, get yourself a copy of the original German cast album, not to mention Bat Out Of Hell and Bat Out Of Hell II. This guy is totally insane (in an appealing way)

There were rumours, in the lead-up to D.O.T.V.'s premiere, that Tim Burton would be directing "Batman: The Musical". With Steinman alone you've almost immediately got the Burton movies on stage.. but with Burton himself involved it would have been interesting. They would have found a way to work the '89 movie to a musical setting which I think would be unreal. Watch the '89 movie and tell me if it doesn't "sing". In practically every scene I can imagine the characters exploding into song, especially the Joker.

There's an awesome scene, toward the end of the movie, where he's dancing wildly with Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) while the goonies are fighting off Batman. I can picture Rob Evan (who was to play Batman before Warner's canceled) with Meat Loaf as The Joker dancing around in the background.

The cool song I made mention of is "Not Allowed to Love" which is basically Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle singing about the repressed feelings for one another. Bruce Wayne is Batman and Selena is Catwoman, except they don't know who each other are.. Bruce and Selena are in love while Batman and Catwoman are arch-enemies. And then you have the Joker running the joint convincing everyone that Batman's some kind of arch-fiend waiting to sink his claws into everyone. It would have been a cool, dark ironic musical.

But, of course, you can never really tell how these things will go. I can also imagine Batman being this enormous flop and, probably, having the crap kicked out of it worse than Lestat.

Updated On: 4/26/06 at 06:32 AM

[algy]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 6:51am

The BBC has posted a story summarising some of the early reviews (coz us Brits apparently like to know what Eltons up to *rolls eyes*)

Critics lay into Elton's musical

Sir Elton John's vampire musical Lestat has had its Broadway premiere - but has been savaged by critics.

Industry newspaper Variety said the show was "beyond rescue", while the New York Times' influential Ben Brantley called it "a musical sleeping pill".

The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, said it was "laughable" and "deadly dull".

Using the novels of Anne Rice, the musical is based on the bloodsucking character played by Tom Cruise in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire.

Co-written by Sir Elton's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, it opened at New York's Palace Theatre on Tuesday following a short run in San Francisco in January.


That version also received stinging reviews, although Sir Elton told reporters "80%" of the show had since been changed.

"I'd be an absolute liar if I said I'm not nervous about it being a flop," he said.

"All I know is that we've done the best we can."

Lestat's critics have compared it to two previous vampire musicals that did not survive for long on Broadway.

Theres more but I'll not waste space w/it. If you're interested:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4941488.stm

[BluCat500]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:59am

I love when the central focus of flops are symbolic...the reviews are so much more colorful...

[OasisBroadway]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 8:56am

The Philadelphia Inquirer is very negative.

"Mothered by author Anne Rice, the vampires surely have their own problems, but theirs are a walk in Central Park compared to those of the Broadway actors condemned to the stage of Times Square's Palace Theatre."

" Lestat, which opened last night, is no Anne Rice. In this highly packaged, machine-milled production, Lestat is Anne Rice-A-Roni."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/14428085.htm

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:01am

AM New York- ZERO stars!!!

www.amNY.com/stage

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:29am

"So, what do you think is going at the Palace after that?"

My guess would be either the new Bob Dylan-Twyla Tharp musical "The Times The Are A-Changin'" or "The Wiz".

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:47am

With all due respect, a Bob Dylan musical is the absolute LAST thing I would see on earth ! I may be in the minority and please don't attack me, I know he is considered a legend and a genious, but his music bores me to death !!!

[firescape]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:50am

rockfenris,
I think we are kindred spirits. LOL!! I know exactly where you are coming from. I agree with you %100. I am avid lover of theater and have been so my whole life. I have seen the greatest shows and the worst flops. Most of the flops deemed by the critics however I found were not as bad as they had painted them. In fact with all the shows i have seen in NYC I can hardly say that I walked out of one regretting every moment. I saw DOTV and though i understand your frustration, I had no prioe knowledge of the show or its reviews. I just happened to be in town for work and I saw Michael Crawford was in a show so I went on a whim with no expectations.......I had the best time. I totally got the intention behind the show...it was meant to be tounge in cheak. I was blown away by the overture and it set the tone perfectly. I walked out of there more impressed than I did walking out of Dracula, that is for sure. And I love Wildhorn's work. I even met him and talked with him before the show.

Listen, everyone knows the horrible reviews Lord of the Rings got in Toronto. I saw the show and loved it. I just dont trust negative people anymore on boards and critics. Kudos to the USA Today reporter, they spoke from their heart and not to try and be negative for the sake of it. I am coming to the city this weekend and I am also coming back in August. I already have my show picked out for this sat. but I hope to see Lestat for myself in August. Hey, it could make. LOTR has and has even extended its run. Go figure.

Hey, Rock,
Do you have that song from Batman. I have been following the progress of that concept for years. I would love to hear it!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:10am

Here is the Chicago Tribune's review. Not good.
Tribune

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:17am

Variety is Negative:

"Die young. Live forever. At least half that tagline likely will prove prescient in describing the fate of "Lestat" on Broadway. Warner Bros. deserves some respect for remaining committed to fixing a beleaguered project, pumping considerable financial and creative resources into the vampire musical since its critical hammering during the San Francisco tryout in January. But ultimately, the studio's nascent theatrical division has done no favors to the lost souls wandering the Palace Theater stage. After "Dance of the Vampires" and "Dracula," it might be time to nail the coffin lid shut on all belting bloodsuckers.
The show may be much improved, but it's still sadly beyond rescue. While its fundamental problems are manifold, chief among them is unwieldy, densely plotted source material that resists this kind of presentation; and a profound mismatch of that material with the creative talent involved.

In his first theatrical pairing with lyricist Bernie Taupin, Elton John's songs lean mainly toward lush, bloated ballads in the Andrew Lloyd Webber or Frank Wildhorn musical vernacular, occasionally dipping into a pop mode that only dimly recalls the songwriting team's evergreen collaborations of the 1970s. Rarely does the music adequately reflect the dark complexity or propel the busy narrative of goth-lit priestess Anne Rice's pulpy "The Vampire Chronicles" saga.

The more significant drawback, however, is a director, Robert Jess Roth, and writer, Linda Woolverton, ill-suited to the project. Having collaborated on Disney's long-running "Beauty and the Beast," Roth and Woolverton employ a storytelling style still stuck in the simplistic strokes of that kid-friendly show, lurching episodically from one incident to the next without getting under the skin of Rice's undead characters.

Denied psychological texture and anything beyond a cursory grounding in Rice's elaborate vampire mythology, this condensed tale -- set in the 18th century and lifted primarily from "Interview With the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat" -- seems merely silly, a collision of over-earnest melodrama and unintentional camp."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930323?categoryId=33&cs=1

Newark Star-Ledger is Negative:

"A vast border of black and purple crepe frames the stage where "Lestat" crash-landed last night.

Better to drape the Palace Theatre marquee in all that funereal bunting, since the new musical it proclaims is dead on arrival.

From a frantic opening, as the blood-spattered title figure exults over his massacre of a wolf pack, to an abrupt finale as he declares his immortality 250 years later -- and, oh, the tedium makes it feels twice as long -- "Lestat" is a lifeless, joyless botch of Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles."

Damned beyond redemption by Linda Woolverton's unimaginative adaptation, which sketches a series of repetitive plot points, the musical is shrouded in a bombastic score by Elton John and Bernie Taupin that echoes only with emptiness.
____________________________________________________________

Will this relentless cycle never end? Bats in the belfry, Bela, will this monotonous pop-operetta never end?

Noooo ... because here comes yet another thundering power ballad from John, shackled to clanking lyrics by Taupin, such as Lestat's "Sail Me Away" lament: "I'm tired, I've been torn, a cruel, wretched storm/Churns like a gale in my bones/Oh sail me away, carry me back to my home." And here's a gem from a different aria: "Tear the wings off angels that would lift me from your heart." Such fustian wordplay might wing upon a Victor Herbert melody of 1906 vintage, but today they drop like chunks of blue ice from the nowhere of John's shockingly banal music.
________________________________________________________________

Hack director Robert Jess Roth's gloomy bore involves melting video images, criss-crossing scenic panels and resounding sound effects that suggest a minimalist spookhouse. Actually, the scariest thing about "Lestat" is that Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures reportedly dumped more than $12 million into this terribly under-cooked Rice pudding. "

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/11460297097720.xml&coll=1



The Daily News is Negative:

"Otherwise the material itself is flat - never truly imaginative, never betraying a sense of irony, which might act as a leavening agent (as in the 1977 nonmusical "Dracula," with Frank Langella's unforgettable performance).

The supporting cast is strong, especially Michael Genet as a senior vampire. Derek McLane's sets - especially a brooding Sphinx - are full of the appropriate phantasmagoric charm. Susan Hilferty's costumes are similarly lush.

The mediocrity of "Lestat" might be an obstacle for the average theatergoer, but it should provide none for fans of Elton and Rice."


http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/411989p-348456c.html


Journal News is Negative:

""Lestat," a new musical that opened last night at the Palace Theatre, is almost bad enough to be good.

Almost, but not quite.

This show has been worked on so much since a disastrous tryout in San Francisco that what's left is the beat-up skeleton of a musical. It has been cut down so much that there's practically nothing left.
________________________________________________________________

But there's not much scenery to speak of, either in Paris or New Orleans. Most of the $12-million budget for this show seems to have gone into the costumes by Susan Hilferty, and the hallucinogenic projections each time somebody gets it in the neck.

Perhaps "Lestat" is a missed opportunity. Or maybe it's just a doomed effort to translate Rice's hopelessly dense prose to the Broadway stage.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060426/LIFESTYLE01/604260301/1031

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:21am

Funny how some people can go on and on about a show if they happen to like it, but those of us who don't like a show are attacked by those same people. Only their opinions are valid and no one else should speak up. Wishing people personal harm for expressing opinions is not acceptable. I doubt if the opinions expressed on this board sway the critics when they review a show. they hated "Lestat" in SF and they hate it in NY. Those are the facts, like it or not. I say, get over it and if you don't like what someone has to say 1). Ignore it and 2). Don't attack them on this site.

Updated On: 4/26/06 at 11:21 AM

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:28am

Jimnysf, I think everyone's issue is the way you deal with your loathing of this show. I've spoken to people who haven't even seen the show, and have no respect for your opinion because of the way you present yourself.

[sanda]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:36am

I won't spend my money for this. God, I cannot even afford all the best shows out there. If you have money, go ahead to see whatever crap that you like. My budget is limitted and I only support the best.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:37am

Walt, I see you have finally surfaced, again. As I said, enough with the personal attacks. Since you decided to go there, I will say this. (To quote from your personal attack on me, one of several you have made I might add) I don't respect your opinions either because of the way you present yourself. So there.

Updated On: 4/26/06 at 11:37 AM