Archive for May, 2006
Broadway Reviewed: Lestat
The critics have not been kind to Lestat, the recently debuted Broadway show based on the works of Anne Rice.
Ben Brantly, The New York Times: Joining the ranks of Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and other prescription lullaby drugs is `Lestat,’ the musical sleeping pill.
Michael Kuchwara, The AP: Apparently, a lot of work has been done clarifying the plot since the musical tried out in San Francisco last December. Even at that, Lestat’s neurotic musings eventually grow wearisome.
Perhaps my favorite of these quotes proves the point Im trying to make better than I can; from Chesley Plemmons: Lestat (Hugh Panaro) is a young man who became a vampire vis-a-vis a bite from Armand (Drew Sarich), an “admirer.” Now he’s doomed to wander the Earth in search of Marius, the chief vampire, who can end his “thirst” and give him eternal sleep.
If youre going trash a show, Chesley, at least watch the thing.
As fans of the Rice novel know, Lestat was not brought across (if I can steal the terminology from Forever Knight) by Armand, he was brought across by Magnus, and he doesnt wander the Earth to find Marius, except to cure his friend. Marius, in fact, only appears for a total of ten minutes in the musical, to play spiritual advisor.
The Good
The music for this show is good, if not very evident of the author. Elton John wrote the music and Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics. Whether or not this is a good or a bad thing depends on your taste. You can hear much of Elton John in the songs. While to me this is a good thing, I like Elton John. Folks who don’t, might not like the songs. The songs, however, are very strong for a musical. The only drawback is the songs are very, very wordy. This goes to something I will mention later, in that there is just so much story to tell in such a short period of time. Taupin is trying to communicate so much per song that it ends up almost taking away from the songs in the end. However, the debut cast is just so good that they pull it off. If it wasnt Hugh Panero, and ex-Phantom, it might be a tougher sell.
As for the quality of the songs, they are great as songs from musicals go. Of the 18 songs listed in the program, I only hated 2 of them. The problem is, all of them are in the first act, and all of them follow each other in the first bit of the show. If youre the easily bored type, this might turn you off the show for the duration. Beautify Boy, In Paris, and The Thirst are all pretty bland. They also, in these three songs move Lestat from home, to Paris, and into Vampirehood in a brisk 10 minutes. After this lull, the musical picks up pace and, while Lestat doesn’t really get past his self-pity the entire first act (and the pity-party is picked up by Louis, the Brad Pitt character in the movie, in the second act), the energy stays high for the rest of the show. The first act closes with a huge number called The Crimson Kiss which is a tremendous display of Gabrielle’s (played by Carolee Carmello) power.
Another great display of talent comes from the girl who plays Claudia. Both of her solo songs, I Want More and Ill Never Have the Chance gives you an actual sense of her character development. Even though the 30 years of her life as a vampire passes in 5 minutes, these two songs actually create a character development stronger than you get from Lestat over the entire two hours, and more growth than Louis ever experiences.
Also I was very impressed by the sets. Some were very simple, like Nicholas’s apartment, and some were very complex, like Louis and Lestat’s home, but all of them moved along smoothly and they looked great. Marius’s entry at the end of the first act was absolutely amazing, with them managing to make it look as though the sky split, allowing Marius to fly out with a booming LESTAT!
The Bad
The script tries to take all the Vampire Chronicles and mush them down into two 45-minute acts. As such, you end up with a disjointed, rushed story that hits the highlights of Lestat’s life without ever really fleshing out any of the details. Hes out fighting wolves, then suddenly he is back in his house where his father tells Lestat that hes his fathers greatest regret. Then, were suddenly in Paris where Lestat meets his boyhood friend/lover Nicolas. Seconds later, theyre at Nicolass apartment where the homosexual overtones kick in to high gear almost immediately. Then hes brought across by Magnus. Then his mother appears again. The person is left racing from moment to moment through Lestats life with no real depth or fleshing out of any of it. Youre left trying to figure out whats going on while Lestat is asking philosophical questions like whether or not hes evil and if killing to survive is really killing.
As an extension of this, Taupin tries to fit a lot of information into every song. What you end up with is super wordy, super descriptive songs. Even still, you cant help but feel like you’re missing something as you go from point to point to point without ever slowing down to catch your breath and explore what just happened. But, again, I guess this is something to be expected when covering 200 years in 2 hours.
Which leads to the shows second problem. Lestat is too emo. He spends most of the musical complaining about his bout with eternal life, something most people in the crowd cant really comprehend. Meanwhile, he Embraces (yeah, all the terminology coming out here) his mother who, being faced with real death at the time of her Embrace, seizes upon this new opportunity with the lust and fervor you would expect of a dying person being given a new, perpetual lease on life. Meanwhile, Lestat is busy lamenting over the fact he has killed his friend, whose soul was too pure to accept the Embrace and has gone mad. His own mother gets sick of this and leaves him to his friend telling him, basically, I gave birth to you, you have given birth to me. We are even. Then, they share a kiss, which is just creepy.
The Rest
If youre uncomfortable with homosexuality, this show is not for you. From what I understand of Rices vision of the vampires world, this is pretty close to her work. Lestat keeps men close to himself, first Nicholas, then Armand, then Louis. He brings Claudia across to create a child for Louis and he to share. Doing this, we get to check out the ideas of gay marriage, gay parents, and gay relationships all in one neat package. Later, when he returns to Paris to reunite with Armand, we see that Armand react as a jilted ex-lover. While there are plenty of people who this wont bother (especially on Broadway) the tourist probably wont get into this storyline like they will of the simple good vs. evil theme they could find in Phantom of the Opera.
A good number of the reviews I read complained of the campiness of the show. I didnt find this to be a problem. I found some parts of the show to be campy, but mostly they were either 1) supposed to be campy because thats what was called for or 2) the normal camp that goes with any Broadway show. At one point, the vampires who have joined the mortal world at Lestats behest, put on a stage show of their own. Both of the plays within the play are super cheesy, but this is the point. They are vampires putting on play about vampires. Of course theyre campy, it would look wrong if they werent. The second type of camp is the type of camp seen during the Masquerade number of Phantom of the Opera. Its just a grand part of a Broadway production. This type of camp is seen in the opening of Act 2, when Lestat gets to New Orleans. There were a couple things that were a little too over the top: the lights flashing and the spooky music whenever Lestat bites someone, the story of Marius bringing across Armand but all of these do have a place in the show, even if theyre over the top.
What this whole review is saying can be boiled down to: I think the critics who reviewed this show were insane. I will completely agree it started slow, but as for a sleeping pill, its an overly harsh assessment set by people who either 1) were tainted by the San Francisco reviews 2) didn’t understand the source material or 3) didn’t pay any attention to the show, like our friend Chesley up above.
Don’t let the reviews scare you off this show. While it certainly wasn’t the greatest musical Ive ever seen, it certainly wasnt the worst either. If youre near Broadway and you’re looking for something to do, go see it. If you’re a tourist and you’re only going to see one musical, see Wicked.