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| Roman Polanski's successful film "Tanz der Vampire" was butchered in its American release and Polanski was distraught. Shortly after the making of this film, his wife Sharon Tate and his unborn child were murdered by members of the Manson Gang. You know the rest of his story... There was a new form of musical theatre beginning with the original concept album releases of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita", culminating in the mega musical productions of "Cats", "Les Misérables", "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Miss Saigon". All of these shows, as you know, were almost completely through-sung ("Phantom" being the exception. That does have dialogue.) "Chess", "Carrie", "Aspects of Love", "Metropolis", "Sunset Boulevard", "Jekyll & Hyde" and others were not as successful and the genre began to die. There was more of an interest in the traditional style of musical, e.g. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe etc. In Austria however, the new genre was thriving. Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze collaborated on the enormously successful production of "Elisabeth". Everything changed. Instead of just translating and importing the latest West End and Broadway musical hits, Austria began considering the idea of translating and exporting THEIR musical hits. The problem was, the English audiences no longer seemed to be interested in the style of musical Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had pioneered. It was going to be a challenge. In the early 1990s, Michael Kunze began working with Roman Polanski on a musical adaptation of his film "Tanz der Vampire" (known as "The Fearless Vampire Killers" in its American release.) Development continued for several years before Jim Steinman was commissioned to write the score. Because Jim did not speak German, Michael Kunze created an English draft of book and lyrics for Jim to work from. Once Jim had completed his task, the English book and lyrics were translated into German. I should also mention that the original screenplay of "Tanz der Vampire" was written in French. "Tanz der Vampire" opened at the Raimund Theatre in Vienna in October 1997 where it was an enormous success, almost the Austrian equivalent of "Les Misérables" and "Phantom". The production won several IMAGE awards (the European Tony Award, I believe.) and the cast recording was a tremendous seller. It still is. A lot of people were excited, especially the producers. "Elisabeth" was a hit but it would not have been easy to sell to the English audience. Vampires were universal, and the score was written by a legendary American rock composer. Of course it would have to move to the West End or Broadway. But here's the rub. Why didn't they just use the original English book and lyrics? Because they thought it was terrible, that he was a much better writer in his native German language (This shouldn't be a surprise.) But why didn't they employ another English writer like Jim or Herbert Kretzmer, somebody who had experience in translating/adapting popular foreign musicals? Because it was thought that the style of musical Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice pioneered was no longer an interest to the West End and Broadway audience. Furthermore, wherever the production played in English, Roman Polanski would not be able to enter that country to direct the show. The creator of the project was unable to be involved in any English version. But instead of trying to get the US government to change its mind, why didn't they realize that they could have employed an assistant (Roman Polanski's assistant worked on various productions of the show in the last decade) and/or enabled him to direct the production via satellite? I honestly don't know the answer to that question. AND SO, THE SAGA BEGINS... Polanski can't direct and they can't simply translate the musical because they think English audiences won't go for it. And they decide to bring it to Broadway when it really should have opened in the West End first. The audience would have embraced it more. It wouldn't have been so cutthroat... And then September 11 takes place... Another form of popular musical theatre emerges, the revival of the musical comedy. "The Producers" wins more Tony's than "Hello, Dolly!" and the Guinness World Record is broken. "The Rocky Horror Show" is successfully revived on Broadway and introduced to a whole new generation of live musical theatre lovers. The producers of "Vampires" would not have ignored this... The show had to be lighter. And even though the transition from dark German rock opera to English musical had begun, it was still too dark. The tone had to be lightened considerably... And, of course, they needed a star. 9/11 had taken place. The tourists were still wary, I'm sure. Nobody knew if a German rock opera would work on a Broadway stage. Jim was interested in recording a celebrity album, similar to the one he recorded for "Whistle down the Wind", and that's how the association with Michael Crawford began. AND ONCE THEY HAD MICHAEL CRAWFORD, THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE MUCH EASIER TO SELL... But no, Crawford was wary about playing another part like the Phantom. The character of Von Krolock morphed into the comic character, much like Abronsius, while the character of Abronsius morphed into a more serious character. He added an Italian accent because he thought it would make it easier to sing the songs. The saga continues... After 9/11 and the casting of Crawford, the directors John Caird and Jim Steinman, choreographer Daniel Ezralow and set designer William Dudley are all replaced. Producers Elizabeth Williams and Anita Waxman had left the show earlier, Sonenberg joining the producing team. John Rando becomes the new director and John Carraffa the new choreographer. Neither of them had much experience directing and choreographing a major Broadway musical. Rando didn't have the power necessary to control Jim Steinman and Michael Crawford who had very different ideas of what the show should be. The show enters rehearsals, and Jim is becoming increasingly disillusioned. It has been said that Jim had become so disagreeable with what was going on that he was barred from rehearsals. Michael Kunze, who was not initially involved with the English production, flew over to see how the development was going and he was mortified. Unfortunately there was not much he could do about it and merely approached the director and the producers with his ideas. He is not disappointed that the production failed. During previews, John Rando's mother was dying and he had to leave the production to be with her. The production was without a leader, and it therefore descended into chaos. Rando returned just before opening night but the changes were not enough. What actually opened at the Minskoff Theatre became one of the harshest reviewed shows in Broadway history and one of its biggest failures. The money ran out after a decent advance at the box office, (you can probably thank Crawford for that), and it closed on January 25, 2003. Jim was so upset with the changes that he never attended the opening night performance. After Vampires closure, "Batman: The Musical" disappeared without a trace (well, except for the demos that Jim released later on) and Meat Loaf announced (but not Jim!) that he would be working with Jim on "Bat out of Hell 3: The Final at Bat". The rest, as they say, is history... My understanding of the story, Ryan.
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