Lestat Reviews

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 2:40pm

The Financial Times (UK) is up early. They give it Three out of Five Stars:

"With vampire musicals, it is customary to say that they are “bloodless” or that they “lack bite.” With Lestat, however, the latest Broadway entrant in the crimson-kiss sweepstakes, to reach for a thematic put-down would be too easy. To this $12m adaptation of the first two volumes of Anne Rice’s popular Vampire Chronicles, the book writer Linda Woolverton, the composer Elton John, and the lyricist Bernie Taupin have each contributed honourably. But the mark of too many creative hands is evident.
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A narrative shape is now discernible, and the second act is worlds improved since California. The look of the show – crosses, rock-arena projections, a stage that occasionally erupts into flame – is impressive. Occasionally, the dramatically over-intense evening threatens to compel attention. “Right Before My Eyes,” for example, which Lestat sings to a sleeping Nicolas, has the beauty of a classic John-Taupin ballad, right down to the opening piano figure. But mood, music, and characterisation more often blur.

If Lestat is regrettably inconsistent as a standard entertainment, it retains a certain pop-cultural resonance. In the 1980s, when the second and third books of Rice’s trilogy were published, its motifs (the taint of blood, the search for a cure) seemed eerily relevant to the AIDS crisis, and the homoeroticism was especially brave. Today, the 18-35 demographic may not care about the show’s lack of a conventional love story. Young adults may love the long-tressed Lestat, sung with conviction by Hugh Panaro, precisely because of his post-Bowie pansexuality – the vampire’s hunger for a fix goes beyond gender, race, or class. But the vampire-musical genre still awaits something truly transcendent.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/9134e034-d483-11da-a357-0000779e2340.html

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:17pm

Because we ALL listen to the UK Financial Times.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:18pm

wow - they actually preferred this to THREEPENNY OPERA.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:19pm

Far too kind.

[ThePinballWizard]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:20pm

Those crazy Brits will eat up anything. Sadly, their appreciation for theater is better than it is in the US.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:38pm

Actually I think Brendan Lemon -- the Financial Times critic -- is American and lives in New York. If it's the same Brendan Lemon, he used to be the editor-in-chief of OUT Magazine for many years (and a writer for the New Yorker).

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 03:38 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:41pm

Can't wait to read the reviews tonight.

[DG]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 3:47pm

". . . the book writer Linda Woolverton, the composer Elton John, and the lyricist Bernie Taupin have each contributed honourably."

Brendan pretty much lost me right there.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 4:36pm

". . . the book writer Linda Woolverton, the composer Elton John, and the lyricist Bernie Taupin have each contributed honourably."

LOL!!!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:06pm

Brantley trashes it:

"A promising new contender has arrived in a crowded pharmaceutical field. Joining the ranks of Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and other prescription lullaby drugs is "Lestat," the musical sleeping pill that opened last night at the Palace Theater.

Adapted from Anne Rice's cult novels "The Vampire Chronicles," and featuring songs by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, this portrait of blood suckers in existential crisis gives resounding credence to the legend that vampires are masters of hypnosis. Dare to look upon "Lestat" and keep your eyelids from growing heavier and heavier and heavier.

Remember when the fiends with the fangs were fun? In the late 1970's Frank Langella had 'em swooning in the aisles as the fatally erotic title character of "Dracula." But recently bat boys have been unable to get much respect from Broadway audiences.

Somewhere along the way it was decided that vampires were meant to sing and dance, leading to a series of undignified stage portrayals that should have had the Undead Anti-Defamation League up in arms (or wings) long ago.

"Lestat," the maiden Broadway production of Warner Brothers Theater Ventures, is the third vampire musical to open in the last few years, and it seems unlikely to break the solemn curse that has plagued the genre. Directed by Robert Jess Roth from a book by Linda Woolverton, the show admittedly has higher aspirations and (marginally) higher production values than the kitschy "Dance of the Vampires" (2002) and the leaden "Dracula: The Musical" (2004), both major-league flops.
______________________________________________________________

"Ms. Rice's novels can be similarly hokey. But the prose is steeped in an unwavering, baroque musicality that carries readers along despite themselves. "Lestat," which vacillates feebly between low tragedy and lower camp, has nothing like that self-assurance. The pulpy and mostly interchangeable songs by Sir Elton and Mr. Taupin, one of the most successful top-40 teams of all time ("Your Song," "Rocket Man"), are rarely the requisite purple but instead a synthetic shade of mauve.

The musical staging by Matt West consists of halfhearted pastiches, which include a vampire mythology number that bizarrely reworks Jerome Robbins's "Small House of Uncle Thomas" ballet in "The King and I." Derek McLane's sets are surprisingly minimal, with the most arresting effects generated by the light show that occurs anytime a new vampire is created. (The lighting is by Kenneth Posner, with "visual concept design" by Dave McKean.)

As for the actors, they mostly tend to make you think that vampires are a petulant lot, always complaining in sing-song voices about how lonely they are and what a drag it is to live forever. Theatergoers who want to resist the soporific spell of this whinefest may possibly find amusement (or indignation) in dissecting "Lestat" as an old-fashioned allegory of homosexuality as a life-warping affliction."



http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/theater/reviews/26lest.html

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 06:06 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:11pm

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter is Negative:

They're not making it any easier to refrain from the inevitable comment that "it sucks."

One would think that, after the expensive debacles that were "Dance of the Vampires" and "Dracula, the Musical," lessons would have been learned about the unsuitably of singing bloodsuckers on the Great White Way. But the folks at Warner Bros., apparently under the impression that the association of Elton John and novelist Anne Rice would make all the difference, have bravely charged ahead with "Lestat," inspired by Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles." The result is a third entry in an unholy theatrical trinity that should hopefully discourage any future such attempts.

Depicting the travails of its title character, first seen in "Interview With the Vampire," this laughable musical extravaganza unfortunately lacks the campy excess that made its predecessors so much unintentional fun, and is for the most part deadly dull. John's score, written with his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin, has a decidedly tossed-off feel; Linda Woolverton's book veers uneasily from melodrama to lowbrow humor; and director Robert Jess Roth's staging feels more than a little skimpy.
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Roth's solo previous Broadway credit is "Beauty and the Beast," so it comes as no surprise that his work here has a distinctly cartoonish quality. Visually, the expensive production is no great shakes to look at, either, with the now ubiquitous series of projections substituting for detailed scenery.

At several points, the main action is interrupted by scenes featuring the ragtag "Theater of the Vampires" troupe, with interpretive dance, no less. "If this makes you uneasy, feel free to leave (the) theater now," warns their leader. It is advice well worth taking."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002385812

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:11pm

Ouch, I guess we could have expected that. At least Allison Fischer got some sorta praise.

[ThePinballWizard]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:12pm

OUCH! Well sadly enough. I completely agree.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:20pm

"If this makes you uneasy, feel free to leave (the) theater now," warns their leader.

I can't believe they would leave a line like that in the show! That's an open invitation.


"When did everybody decide I'm the one who's the flop?"

[C is for Company]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:23pm

"are rarely the requisite purple but instead a synthetic shade of mauve."

Sometimes I think he enjoys writing these reviews too much!

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:24pm

He keeps a selection of paint chips from Home Depot in his notebook.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 8:07pm

I hate to say "I told you so" so I won't. Anyway, here is the "Talkin Broadway" review.

"Every performance must be just as eternal onstage as it is in the house.".

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Lestat.html


And from Variety....

"The show may be much improved, but it's still sadly beyond rescue.".

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 08:07 PM

Posted: 4/25/06 at 8:26pm

Oh well... I kind of expected it, since the critics probably gave the death sentence even when Lestat was on the drawing board. I just hope that the cast is recognized for their talent.

For some reason, I take these reviews really personally. LOL!

~Rosalynn

[mominator]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 8:26pm

Ouch, but sadly not unexpected.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 8:44pm

How many reviews left?

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 9:05pm

Has Lestat had any favorable reviews yet?

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 9:06pm

NY Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, NJ Star Ledger and maybe a few others like NY1, NY Observer, Time Out NY, Entertainment Weekly....are some of the reviews that haven't been posted yet.

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 09:06 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 9:11pm

Those are the ones not yet in, correct?

[Color and Light]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 9:11pm

I disliked the show intensely, but man, I feel for the cast. I guess a job is a job, though.

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 09:11 PM

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 9:13pm

Sorry. Yes. Those are some of the reviews that haven't been posted yet.