"Lestat," which opened last night at the Palace Theatre, is based on part of Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles." Rice's work was also the subject of the slinky movie "Interview With the Vampire," which cast Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as androgynous magazine-cover ghouls. "Lestat" features less glamorous actors singing hymns to their inner undeadness and engaging in ungodly amounts of neck-biting -- sessions that, yawn, leave marks but no real impression.
What this latest vampire musical shares with its fellow vampire musicals is a big price tag -- "Lestat's" spreadsheet involves a reported 12 million smackers -- and the goal of a "Phantom"-caliber mystique. The only thing distinguishing this musical from its late, unlamented predecessors is that the lead vampires play for the, er, other team. In other words, "Lestat's" contribution to art and equality is demonstrating that a gay vampire with a two-octave range can be just as dull as a straight one.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks