Dance of the Vampires - Why did it fail?- Page 2

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/28/12 at 9:06am

One detail that is not quite right is the impact of 9/11 and the resulting effect on the physical production.

I may have over-hyperbolized (is that a word? is now), but the impact of 9/11 did lead directly to John Caird being off the show and the German designs not being used.

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 12/28/12 at 11:57am

Once a Month beat me to it, because I too wanted to say "two words: Michael Crawford."

A couple of things: Crawford's character was a supporting role until
MC came on board. He wanted to play a Bela Lugosi-type role, show be damned.

They gave Crawford script approval, at which point the director quit and took most of his team with him.

David Ives was involved before Crawford...but he was famously quoted referring to himself as just a "stenographer", given Crawford's demands. Including, for example, cutting all of Rene Auberjonois' laugh lines.

The readings of the show (before 9/11 postponed everything) were quite thrilling. Bill Yeomans, Sarah Uriarte Berry and Max Von Essen were the leads, Steve Barton was brilliant as von Krolock, and the supporting cast was excellent.

Hiring Michael Crawford in a role suited for a serious baritone and giving him script approval were such bad, bad ideas. Plenty of smart people got the hell out of dodge. But it's Broadway; there will always be talented people looking for work.

I really liked the show's promise. It was depressing to see the finished product.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/28/12 at 9:13pm

David Ives was involved before Crawford...but he was famously quoted referring to himself as just a "stenographer", given Crawford's demands. Including, for example, cutting all of Rene Auberjonois' laugh lines.

To be fair, if those excised laugh lines included more doozies along the lines of "He'll be on her like a metaphor," Rene should consider himself lucky.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 12:23am

"I may have over-hyperbolized (is that a word? is now), but the impact of 9/11 did lead directly to John Caird being off the show and the German designs not being used."

It's true! Caird and the design team couldn't get out of London because of all the subsequent flight cancellations owing to 9/11.

And I know for a fact that "he'll be on her like a metaphor" stayed in the show.

Updated On: 12/29/12 at 12:23 AM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:34am

^ I wasn't saying it was cut, Matt, just that if Rene's punchlines that were cut were anything like that, he should be so lucky.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:18am

Oh, my apologies, I misread it.