Blood Suckers Possibly Sucking?

The new Elton John musical based on Anne Rice's Lestat began previews this weekend in San Francisco in preparation for a March premiere on Broadway. The latest adaptation of Rice's Vampire Chronicles reunites John with lyricist Bernie Taupin as the pair collaborate on their first stage production together.

The musical is intended as a linear blending of Interview With The Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. As these are the two best novels in the series before Rice mutated into a Catholic Marquise de Sade, I've been fairly excited to see what Sir Elton would do with the material. While he doesn't wield the repetitious, mind-destroying powers of an Andrew Lloyd Webber, his previous Broadway endeavors have been pretty decentish. With that in mind, I eagerly gave the preview song from Lestat over at Amazon.com a listen.

I don't know.

I must say, Taupin's awkward lyrics with John's quasi-spoken opening immediately brought the truly, truly awful Jekyll and Hyde to mind. (You have not lived until you've found yourself rolling on the floor, heaving with laughter at the television production of Jekyll and Hyde starring David Hasslehoff).

However. The song, especially the chorus, did seem to really grow on me as I continued listening. Perhaps in the hands of an accomplished theatrical singer (Elton sings this version) and slightly altered instrumentals, "Make Me As You Are" will prove somewhat less frightening.

Here's hoping.

Comments

[hankhank]

Broadway hasn't had much luck with vampire musicals. Micheal Crawfords' DANCES WITH VAMPIRES lasted a New York minute.
Perhaps with the power of those two very popular books, we'll see a hit. They must think so to open at The Palace.
I haven't read Anne Rice's new Jesus book ,which got surprisingly good reviews, since she dared to write it in first person.
MS.Rice without the vampires can be shockingly good. Take a look at THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS (if you can find it) and the really incredible A CRY TO HEAVEN.

[Malcontent]

"Jekyll and Hyde" actually has some pretty good songs. "This Is the Moment" and "Someone Like You" come to mind.

[hankhank]

Yes , I think so too. Although Frank Wildhorn refuses to admit that song writing for characters exists. His interview in the Times before the opening of Scarlette (sp?) Pimpernel is classic. Right up there the crazy guy who wrote IN MY LIFE.

[sonicfrog]

God I hate musicals. I was a theatre major for two years and had to suffer through the director's attempts to have a revival of the things. There are a few older one I like and can watch, say Oliver, WSS, and SOM, but find myself allergic to "Cats!" and the like. I must be the worst homosexual ever.

[hank]

I spent 25 years working on B'way (mostly in musicals), and I have to agree with you. They've been dumbed down, either by corporate greed or plain lack of talent, to the point at which they are almost unwatchable.
Robbie let me know what you think of the DOG SEES GOD. I haven't heard anything about it.
Did you happen to see I AM MY OWN WIFE? It was one of the greatest pieces of theater I've ever seen.

[Craig Ranapia]

Then again if you're really into ageless creatures of the night Chita Rivera is more my bag. :) God bless her, still (high-)kicking arse at 73.

[hank]

Have you seen the huge photo in Times Square? She is a miracle!
Do you know that she was in a terrible taxicab accident several years ago, in which I believe she broke her leg?

[Malcontent]

Hank, I am the one who will see "Dog Sees God," not Robbie. I really do need to make our "About Us" page more prominent ...

[Jack Malebranche]

Vampires singing is utterly perverse. Here's a powerful outsider archetype that has, for millenia, struck fear in men. Something that deals with killing, death, and abandoning human morality for carnal nature and self-serving survival.

Leave it to a gay person to take something truly dark and tart it up into something stupid, frivolus and, well, gay. A musical can't be truly dark, it it can only ever be campy. Even classic operas are campy, though perhaps less so.

I hate musicals, anyway -- aren't they written for old ladies from the burbs? I'm sure the Golden Girls will be totally titillated by singing vampires.

[hank]

That seems to the imppression people have. It's a shame because they be really moving.
ASSASSINS was dark. Even creepy.
And I hear SWEENY TODD isn't for the blue haired crowd at all:)

I'm no opera groupie either. I aways wanted to have that Pretty Woman moment where "she gets it she really gets it". Sadly never happened for me, although opera people swear that the earth moves.

[hank]

oops too many pp's and no q.
and i kicked the can(out)

sorry Matt. thanks for the ABOUT US. i didn't even know that were here in the city.

i really should preview

[Roy]

I am going to see it here in SF!!!!!

[Jack Malebranche]

Hank - I'll give you black comedy, which can be very entertaining in musical form...but the possibility of maintaining suspension of disbelief when a cold blooded killer breaks out into song seems fairly slim.

But hey, I'm a knee-jerk naysayer...especially when something that's already been through the pop culture sieve once is being turned into a musical to extract some more profit out of existing material. And the Vampire Chronicles weren't exactly high art to begin with... Anyway, I'm sure I'll never know, as it's probably the last thing I would seek out. I wanted to stab myself in the eye when I had to sit through a touring production of "The Phantom of the Opera." Sometimes free tickets are not a blessing.

And speaking of opera...well, if you know the original language, it's probably campier, but if you don't, at least for me, it's easy to appreciate the power of the music and the spectacle of it all, without really even caring for the story per se.

Hmmm...maybe I'll put on Faust this evening while I work...

[hank]

Yes I agree. SWEENY TODD is black comedy. In fact it's Grand Guignol, which is black comedy with blood and laughs.
The world now seems to be about revivals. No matter if you hated it the first around. Here it comes again
Speaking of FAUST, I saw it at City Opera last year . Well the first half anyway.
They super-title the lyrics now, so there is no escape.
When we first saw Faust he was of course, very old and lame, but after his pact with the devil, he became very young and fat.
He obviously didn't read the fine print. There was also a door that refused to stay closed,occuping way too much of his time. And they dressed him in pink.
It was sort of like the play within the play in the Producers.
I had to leave.

Did you see the Phantom movie? whew!

[hank]

Oh also, although the TVC (whatever that is) has condemned both Brokeback and Capote as futher attacks on Christmas,(never having see either) I recommend Capote. A great performance.
I haven't seen BB yet
Guess I have to turn my gay card

[Jack Malebranche]

Faust in pink? Well, he is kind of a whiny, overly romantic, fruity character.

I'll be waiting for Brokeback on DVD--but I turned in my card ages ago.

And that's a point I wanted to make somewhere...especially with regards to straight men (not that I am one). People go to see, and rent, the sorts of movies that appeal to them generally. Most men, myself included, would rather see an escapist action film or a thriller or some sci-fi blockbuster. How many complex, emotionally moving, Golden Globe nominated love stories will most men go to see this year in the theaters? Not many, if any. So, why would they go to see Brokeback?

If I haul my ass out to a movie this month, it will be for King Kong, which should probably be viewed on the big screen. Everything else can wait until I feel like seeing it on DVD. And let me tell you, I'll have to be in the right mood for Brokeback, even then. It doesn't look like the sort of film I usually watch. If I feel like something artsy, I have a long list of obscure or particularly interesting films I want to watch, and most of them were made ages ago. If I want to just relax with a beer or six, it will be with some big budget action/thriller/sci-fi flick.

Capote sounds great, by the way...I will rent it at some point.

And I will never, ever see the (musical) film version of "The Phantom." Life is too short.

[hank]

lol
it's a great big bloated whipped cream fantasy.

My partner and I sre going to seeBB tomorrow.
And we know we're in for a serious day.
I'm very surprised and happy to see that indeed it appears straight men ARE seeing BB. Prob dragged in by their girlfriends, but nevertheless.
Last week I went to see BREAKFAST ON PLUTO. WOW! Made by the director of THE CRYING GAME. Very heavy , and yet funny.

[Jack Malebranche]

I'm sure some straight men are seeing Brokeback, especially in urban areas. Something tells me they are the same ones that were being towed around by their wives in Trader Joe's the other day. I saw one with a giant fuzzy purple scarf on, pushing a shopping cart with a baby in it, while his wife told him what was what. All I could think was, "Jesus, fella, butch up!" Then I started looking around, and all of the straight men with bitches in tow (how else can you really tell?) looked like mamma's boys. I know it's not like this outside of urban, liberal areas...but, STILL...

[Robbie]

Hank - I do like Rice's earlier works. I'm not sure what went wrong around the time she wrote Memnoch, but something did go terribly, terribly wrong.

Mal - Another good song from J&H is "A New Life." I just can't watch it when it's on cable. David Hasslehoff bouncing around the stage, swinging back and forth, trying to do the dual face song. It's unintentional hilarity.

[hank]

Have you read A CRY TO HEAVEN? It's about the castrati in Venice.
Beautifully reseaeched.

I think she OD'D on the vampire things. Thepressure from the publishers and the fans must be terrible, if at heart you really are an artist.

Why she picked Jesus,scares me a little. And I hope she didn't become Catholic. Did she?

[Robbie]

Yeah, I loved Cry to Heaven. Her earlier works are absolutely brilliant. The first four Vampire Chronicles and the Witching Hour are inspired. And then she ruined both series. Tragic.

She did convert back to Catholicism. I want to say I read it happened in 1998. So, yes, now she's an uber-Catholic.

I must say, this Lestat song really is growing on me.

[hank]

She has a gay son,(really good writer) and I believe her husband also was gay.
With the Vatican doing a virtual witchhunt under this creepy creepy new pope, I absolutly can't understand how she can justify going back to that repressive institution.
She must be one of those GayPatriot types.

[Robbie]

I'm not a fan of her son's writing. My gay friends have tried to get me to read him, but I've never made it past page five. The prose is just awful (IMO).

Anne is a very liberal Catholic. She doesn't agree with the Vatican, she supports gay marriage, she's an ardent Democrat, etc.

But, her conversion is still hard-core in some ways. Very, very devout, even if she pays little attention to the pope. She's gone a little crazy, not to put too fine a point on it. A little loopy, her. But hey, she's rich - she can afford to be.

[hank]

I don't you're allowed to be a "liberal Catholic". There is no wiggle room.And they never admit that they've been wrong (is that where Rush got it?). Poor Galileo was dust before they grudgingly came around.

Her son I'm afraid inherited her 'purple prose gene.
Sill he's very young and he's bound to pare it down.
His fingers must ache:)

[hank]

Rush? Bush I meant...oh well two peas...