Report: Polanski's Vienna Vampires Hoping to Haunt Bway w/ Crawford | Playbill

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News Report: Polanski's Vienna Vampires Hoping to Haunt Bway w/ Crawford Back in October 1997, Austrian producer Andrew Braunsberg told the New York Times he was hoping to bring the musical Dance of the Vampires, a hit in Vienna, to Broadway the following season.

Back in October 1997, Austrian producer Andrew Braunsberg told the New York Times he was hoping to bring the musical Dance of the Vampires, a hit in Vienna, to Broadway the following season.

That never happened, in part because the show's director, Roman Polanski, fled the U.S. in 1977 rather than stand trial on a statutory rape charge (a charge that he has, from the start, denied). Little has changed on that score, though media sources reported that Hollywood notables and executives were working behind the scenes to convince the Los Angeles District Attorney's office to allow Polanski back into the U.S. Braunsberg told the Daily News in February 2000 that would allow him to bring Dance of the Vampires to Broadway by the end of that year, with Polanski to direct.

That didn't happen either, but like the title creatures, the show refuses to die. London's Sunday Times now reports (Aug. 13) that Michael Crawford, of Phantom of the Opera legend, is in negotiations to play an aristocratic vampire in the show, directed by John Caird. According to the Times, Crawford, 59, would be paid nearly 20 million pounds to do the show, making him "the world's highest-paid theatre star" if the deal goes through. Composer Steinman called Crawford "a towering talent... He would be worth every cent we can pay him."

Dance of the Vampires, an adaptation of Polanski's 1967 film horror spoof, "The Fearless Vampire Killers," which was originally titled "Dance with the Vampires") has music by Jim Steinman (Whistle Down the Wind, the upcoming Batman), with book and lyrics by Michael Kunze. The latter has translated numerous Broadway musicals into German, as well as penning the book and lyrics for the European tuners Elisabeth and Mozart!.

Dance of the Vampires premiered October 1997 at Vienna's 1,215 seat Raimund Theatre and ran through January 2000. (Directed by Polanski and produced by the Stella company, a copy of the Vienna production is currently running in Stuttgart.) Budgeted at $7 million (U.S.), the show won six German IMAGE Awards the following year, including Best Musical, Best Music, Best Book, Best Actor, and Best Featured Actor and Actress. A source in the marketing department at Holland's Theater de Maaspoort Venlo informed Playbill On Line that according to the German magazine "musicals," workshops of Dance of the Vampires were held in New York in April and May at the Chelsea Studios. Featured were the late Steve Barton as Count von Krolock, alongside William Youmans, Tom Alan Robbins, Bertilla Baker, Sarah Uriarte, Kate Shindle, Jason Wooten and Urinetown's Ken Jennings. Reportedly, the show is being heavily reworked for Broadway.

Polanski's last theatre directing stint came in November 1999, when he staged a new Italian production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus at Piacenza's Teatro Comunale. Actor Crawford's last stage work was in the Vegas "FX" show. Prior to his Broadway success, the actor won an Olivier for the London mounting of Barnum and also had featured roles in the films "Hello, Dolly!" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," both based on stage shows. In his latest disk, "The Disney Albums," Crawford tackles various Mousterpieces, most from the post "Little Mermaid" era.

Director Caird (Les Miserables) told the Sunday Times that Vampires would reach Broadway first and then head to Los Angeles and the West End.

 
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