[elphclaudia]

I had to bring it up.

The cast starred:
Lestat - Hugh Panaro
Armand - Drew Sarich (u/s Lestat)
Gabrielle - Carolee Carmello
Claudia - Allison Fischer
Louis - Jim Stanek

I saw it the day before it closed with Drew Sarich as Lestat and it was AWESOME!

Anyone else see it?
*hides in fear of being hated*

[lola]

How was it? I wanted to see it so bad (I love Anne Rice) but didn't make it to New York in time.

[The Very Angry Woman]

[elphclaudia]

[shakalakababy]

I saw it once in san francisco and really did not enjoy. The first act was long and dull and the plot was really confusing, i had no idea what was happening half the time. The second act got a bit better because claudia's character came in and i thought she made things more interest. I hate to admit it but i liked the "I want more" song. I also liked the music that played whenever someone was bitten by a vampire. But for the most part the show was rather poorly written and hard to follow

[elphclaudia]

When it came to Broadway, it was much easier to follow.

I Want more was very good and I, too, liked the music they played when someone was bitten.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

I have the script and the score, and I have to say, it's Elton's worst musical yet, music-wise, because he strays too far out of his comfort zone of clever pop-gospel-theater-rock. Is he a great songwriter? Yes, especially in his prime, when he was called "The Human Hit Machine." Can he do anything, in any genre, and make it brilliant? No, he is not Andrew Lloyd Webber. Not a truly insipid show, but it's not for everyone. It's for fans of Anne Rice or vampires, or maybe even of Elton John. And as the saying at my uni goes, "If you like vampires, you'll like anything."

Not as good as Dance of the Vampires, but better than Dracula. I'd like to see this one staged as self-parody eventually.

[Forest]

Never saw it, sadly. (Darn that Pond!) However I've seen clips and heard songs from the soundtrack, and what I've heard and seen I LOVE. Longtime fan of Anne Rice, I was naturally curious about how they adapted it to stage. I know there are many fans who hate the musical for various reasons, and yes, there are inconsistences/licenses taken with the plotline. However, on the whole, it sticks pretty close. I for was was very happy to see Nicolas get stagetime in it, as well as a short, but pretty number too.

[The Very Angry Woman]

[elphclaudia]

There IS a cast recording!

They recorded it on May 22, 2006. It was set for release in July 2006 and they pushed it back to August, Then September, then October and then November. It was never released.

There is a campain to get it realised.

Go here: http://www.releaselestat.net/

[The Very Angry Woman]

[elphclaudia]

Thank you.... *is confused*

[filmphan821]

I saw this a couple of weeks after it opened, and was kind of surprised how fast it was taken off of Broadway. I suppose the vampire genre is hard to sell as a musical, but I felt it had some things going for it. Don't get me wrong, it definitely had it's problems, but there were things I enjoyed about it as well. Some of the songs I actually really liked..Crimson Kiss, Right Before My Eyes, and After All This Time. I also liked I Want More which I thought stole the show. With a few loose ends tied up and some revisions I think this show could have been really good. Just the novelty of it was a nice experience though..because it was something different. Though I'm not all that informed on vampires, I do find them interesting so that was kind of cool to see in a musical form. I liked it, enough to buy the cast recording if it had been released.

[DontDoSadnessxx]

i think with this particular vampire musical you really needed to read the books or at LEAST seen interview to have some clue of what was going on. I love this musical a lot.
Every show has its flaws. Hugh panaro and drew sarich kicked ass in this show.
and they took the tatsel videos off youtube.
luckily my best friend got the dvd from the lestat online forum. =P and i have a semi good quality full cast recording i recorded myself off the show on google video
AND a cd of compilations live from san francisco.
=] anyone wants anything just message!

[krisavalon]

It is definitely long and convoluted, but I love the music.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

The script is okay- not bad, fairly faithful (not as much as the movies though), and like you said, different. However, it could have been done better is the general consensus. I was responsible for the common final draft copy of the Lestat libretto thats' seen around the internet, and I'm in talks to get the score, so though I'm not an in-depth fan of it, i'm as close as it gets to an expert on the actual show materials. Any questions? Ask me.

[Paula74]

I followed the show very closely because of Hugh. It certainly wasn't perfect, but...in general...I enjoyed it and I have definitely seen worse shows (with longer runs, too).

I honestly believe that, even if they had fixed some of the larger flaws with the show itself, its fate wouldn't have been much better and that one of the biggest problems they had was their terrible PR.

From the start, a lot of people had NO clue this show was out there. I know many fans of the books were unaware of it until the final weeks or after the closing. Same with Elton John fans. So often, someone will come to Hugh's site or stop me at my local Starbucks when I'm wearing my Lestat cap and asked me about it. Very often, their response is, "I didn't hear about this!" They made no effort to tap into the existing fanbases...the Rice fans, the Elton John fans, the fans of the respective cast members.

Since I was interesting in getting the word out at Hugh's site, I had contacted the show's PR reps in late November, just before the SF previews. I got no response, despite three tries. I tried again just before the first NYC previews. They assured me they'd include us when they did press closer to the premier. Needless to say, they didn't get back to me.

I had asked Hugh if he'd be interested in doing an interview about the show for his site. He said he'd be glad to so I again contacted the PR people. They said, "We'll check his schedule and get back to you right away." Weeks went by and, of course, I didn't hear from them. I figured Hugh might have been too busy, but some sort of reply would have been nice. Finally, I mentioned it to him backstage about two weeks before they got the closing notice. I said, "Hugh, I know you said you'd be willing to let me interview you, but if you've got too much going on right now, just let me know...I'll understand." Well, it turns out he never even knew I'd asked about it...they never checked his schedule.

Another problem they faced was timing. A lot of the people who'd expressed the most interest in the show just couldn't get there during that period from late March to late May. A good part of the show's target audience had to deal with school, exams, jobs, family. I constantly heard from people who were eager to see it and were planning their summer vacations around it. I had a lot of friends who couldn't buy tickets until they made their arrangements to be in NYC over vacation.

And, of course, they missed out on the tourists. They booked a theatre facing one of the busiest areas of Broadway, but it didn't stay open long enough to attract the summer tourists...I used to meet friends in front of the theatre after the show was closed and I can't tell you how many tourists would see the signs, pause, and head to the box office doors...only to find them locked.

They didn't put much effort into promoting the show. They did a TV spot that showed Lestat at a laptop and with a billowing cloak, but which gave no idea of how the music sounded or what the show was about for people not familiar with Anne Rice. When they revised the ad for NYC (the scene where he wrote his memoirs was cut so the laptop was pointless), they add snippets of songs that didn't really sound so great...according to Hugh, they just edited his voice into Sir Elton's old demos for the show.

Aside for a billboard, they didn't do much to promote the show around the Broadway community. No street team, no sampler CDs. They did a half-hearted box office opening, but announced it less than 48 hours before...the only people who showed up were the few who knew about it from Hugh's site. The only other pre-premiere event they did was a cocktail party at Hard Rock Cafe with Hugh, the producer, and the director. But it was an EJAF benefit and the ticket prices were far more than the average fan could afford.

So, there was no good advance PR and, when the bad reviews hit, there was no PR effort to counter them.

Hugh and I ended up discussing the problems we were both noticing in mid-May. I knew things were doomed when he asked me if I'd be willing to talk to the producer and share my feedback and suggestions. But I didn't have the chance to...less than a week later, they got the notice.

[DontDoSadnessxx]

[ConverseSneaker]