In 1967, a comedy horror film known as “The Fearless Vampire Killers” was released to the public. However, nowadays, it’s more commonly known for its musical counterpart. But after the Broadway production, opinions on the musical began to shift greatly, as the two versions could barely be considered the same show anymore.
Tanz Der Vampire, or Dance Of The Vampires, is a Broadway musical by Jim Steinman, the same man who was responsible for many of singer Meat Loaf’s greatest hits. “For the musical, Kunze wrote the book and lyrics in English, then Steinman composed the music. Next, Kunze translated it into German,” said Playbill.
In the year 1997, the first production was introduced in Vienna, Austria. It starred former Phantom Of The Opera actor Steve Barton as Graf Von Krolock, a powerful and handsome old vampire, while Cornelia Zenz played Sarah, the beautiful daughter of the innkeeper, Chagal.
Fun fact: the iconic song “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” was actually written about vampires. “If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness, and love’s place in the dark. And so I figured, ‘Who’s ever going to know; it’s Vienna!’ And then it was just hard to take it out,” said Steinman in this 2002 Playbill article.
The original production was a success, to say the very least. People loved it, despite the bad reputation that is often associated with vampire musicals. But when the Broadway production went on stage in 2002, the results were different. A little too different.
“Steinman and others say their big mistake was turning a musical originally conceived as a serious Gothic rock opera into a Mel Brooks-style parody,” said the New York Post. People even referred to it as ‘The one new Broadway musical that really sucks.’
The New York Post also mentioned the new lead, another former Phantom actor, Michael Crawford, as part of the issue. “Crawford demanded – and was given – complete creative control over his character.” The iconic character’s name was even switched from Graf to Gianni Von Krolock.
Another conflict for Crawford was the similarities between Count Von Krolock’s haunting charm and Erik Destler’s tragic terror.
“He was also, oddly, worried that the role was too reminiscent of the Phantom. It is, deliberately so, which makes him taking the role in the first place kind of weird if that was his primary complaint,” said SYFY. “He wanted more jokes, and he wanted all the best jokes, even if they came at the expense of co-stars.”
Long story short, a lot of people blame Crawford for the production’s downfall. Which is completely fair, but also not entirely accurate.
The biggest issue is the comparison between the two shows. Though it would probably be a good standalone musical, the Broadway performance is anything but faithful to the original. So many things, from the lead vampire to the absurdity of the whole thing, were butchered in the rewrite.
Perhaps it’s not a bad show itself, but rather lost in translation.
