dance of the Vampires
“Dance of the Vampires” back in Hamburg – vampires successfully defend themselves against the ravages of time
The Dance of the Vampires is back in Hamburg and still offers good entertainment more than 25 years after its premiere.
© Stage Entertainment
The vampires are dancing on the Elbe again: After the Broadway hit “Hamilton” had its last performance in October, the “Dance of the Vampires” has now found its new home in the Hamburg Stage Operettenhaus. They are still surprisingly relevant, but perhaps the undead would have benefited from a little rejuvenation beforehand.
It almost looks as if they have to end their search when the two of them end up stranded in an inconspicuous inn where people seem to have a great fondness for garlic. Here they meet the somewhat aggressive innkeeper Chagall (Oleg Krasovitskii), his wife Rebecca (Carina Nopp) and the maid Magda (Anja Backus).
Alfred (Vincent Van Gorp), the professor’s assistant, falls in love with the innkeeper’s daughter Sarah (Kristin Backes). However, she feels attracted to the mysterious Count von Krolock (Rob Folwer) from the nearby castle, who invites her to a ball. This Count is, of course, as you might have guessed, a vampire. Alfred and the professor soon understand this and set out to free Sarah from the Count’s clutches before he can bite her.
Rightly cult
The musical scores particularly well with the rocking sound of Jim Steinman (composed for Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler, among others) – even the first notes cast the audience’s spell over the princes of darkness. The songs are accompanied by Dennis Callahan’s impressive choreographies, as well as the opulent stage design and no less elaborate costumes. The classic vampire story, originally written by Roman Polanski and then adapted for the stage by Michael Kunze, uses all these delicious ingredients to become a piece that rightly has a loyal fan base.
The recipe for success has worked reliably since the premiere in Vienna’s Ronacher in 1997 – and it’s no different this time in Hamburg. The cast, which is really strong, from the ensemble to the main characters, does the rest. Above all, Rob Fowler, who fits the role of Count von Krolock surprisingly well thanks to his rock singing style. Closely followed by Anja Backus, who once again proves her talent as Magda. This is how a rock musical like this has to be sung.
Still relevant to society
Consciously or unconsciously, the musical still addresses current and socially relevant topics even 25 years after its premiere. Professor Abronsius, for example, played in a magnificently cranky manner by Till Jochheim, who simply doesn’t trust his poor assistant and regularly reprimands him, but then has to depend on him again and again, certainly reminds some students of their own experiences. You almost wish that Alfred would be less in love and instead show the professor some boundaries.
But when landlord Chagall behaves aggressively towards his maid and also cheats on his wife Rebecca, or even Alfred, wonderfully portrayed by Vincent Van Gorp as amiably loyal and stupid, stares a few times too long and too deeply into the rather deep cleavage of the female characters , and both are hardly actively criticized for it, then the piece sadly involuntarily proves its relevance. At this point you can unfortunately tell that it was created in the 90s – and that its basic idea came from the pen of Roman Polanski, who was accused of rape several times.
Now the story of a musical is difficult to describe. To simply delete these parts of history would be too simple and dishonest, because violence and sexual assaults against women, or “just” a paternalistic attitude of men towards women, are unfortunately still part of everyday life today. Making this visible and dealing with such topics in the theater is important in order to create awareness.
A successful premiere
Making the male characters look ridiculous for sexist and abusive behavior, as happens again and again in this production (of which the female characters who confront them also have their share), is better than letting such behavior pass completely uncommented. But perhaps there would also be ways to portray the female characters in a more empowered and, above all, less sexualized way with small changes. That would have been good for the production to freshen up the piece not only visually, but also in terms of the spirit of the times.
Then an evening with the vampires would definitely be even more fun than it is now. Because all in all, “Dance of the Vampires” offers one thing above all, even more than 25 years after it was first played (and 15 years after the piece was last shown in Hamburg): a great evening at the theater with music that thrills, a lot Humor and great choreographies. The cast more than deserved the standing ovation after this successful premiere.