Dennis Harvey of Variety:
"The very idea of an
Anne Rice-derived vampire musical scored by Elton
John would seem to ensure something lurid, camp, silly. But those
qualities, it turns out, are not found in great supply in the Broadway-bound
Lestat — an achievement in itself, though also
cause for some disappointment. The current handsome, respectable entity could,
in fact, use a tad more risk-taking excess. Despite subject and talent
involved, it's lacking the memorable high points these watchable, listenable
nearly three-hour tuner needs to play as more than a rambling timeline of
several high-pulp novels' picaresque events… As one creative staffer was
overheard telling friends in the audience on opening night, right now it's a
'good rough cut' in need of fine-tuning. The biggest problem here is, however,
insurmountable: Condensing much of Rice's Vampire
Chronicle fictions (mostly Interview With the
Vampire and The Vampire Lestat), tuner
Lestat has way too much plot to wade through."
Robert Hurwitt of The San Francisco
Chronicle:
"Didactic, disjointed, oddly miscast, confusingly designed and
floundering in an almost unrelentingly saccharine score by Elton
John, Lestat opened Sunday as the latest
ill-conceived Broadway hopeful in the Best of Broadway series (following on the
heels of Lennon and Mambo
Kings)... It's too much story, with the authors almost
desperately shoehorning some of Rice's plot turns, narrative
flights and interminable vampire creation myths into a song here, an
overstuffed confrontation there or the large-scale video animation sequences
that blanket the set. The characters prove even more problematic, but then,
despite her creative departures from Rice's novels, very few
of the figures in Woolverton's script have much
character… The chorus and orchestra perform flawlessly under Brad
Haak's musical direction. The songs, however, range from mildly
interesting to, for the most part, banal and virtually undistinguishable."
Tiger Hashimoto of The San Francisco
Examiner:
"After Lestat is 'made' as a vampire
(without any warning or motivation), he mostly kills men in grisly, on-stage
murders that had me cowering and wincing — and I'm a martial arts
fan.… The vocal performances — especially Carmello
— are strong. The production has atmospheric sets (Derek
McLane) and costumes (Susan Hilferty). The special
effects are unrelentingly noisy and violent. In fact, the high level of aural
and moral toxicity — blended with talky religious mumbo-jumbo (are
vampires evil? Maybe not, but they are boring) — may just guarantee
Lestat's Broadway fate."
Chad Jones of The Oakland Tribune:
"The temptation
to say that the new vampire musical Lestat sucks is
almost overwhelming. But Lestat doesn't suck. Oh,
it's a mess all right, and though the creative team has nearly driven a wooden
stake through the heart of author Anne Rice's much-loved
Vampire Chronicles, there may be some faint glimmer
of an afterlife… The biggest problem in director Robert Jess
Roth's jumble of a production — and the one that isn't likely to
change anytime soon — is the score…. The two primary female
characters steal the show. It's as simple as that. But this musical isn't
called Gabrielle or Claudia. It's called
Lestat, and that's such a shame…
Panaro — with a generous assist from Linda
Woolverton's cursory book — makes Lestat less an
empathetic monster and more a target of ridicule. Panaro does
have a beautiful singing voice, but John and
Taupin have failed to provide him with a defining number."
Karen D'Souza of The San Jose Mercury News:
"For a
vampire musical, Lestat lacks teeth… Shaking his
mane like a lion, the actor [Panaro] strikes one to-die-for
pose after another as the flamboyant vampire. If pouts could kill, watch out.
But he never finds the pulse of this role. His Lestat is
neither fierce enough to scare us nor valiant enough to move us…. The
worst sin of all may be that the show takes itself so gravely seriously; a
little camp would have given it some tongue-in-cheek juice…The score is
likewise bland… Only rarely, as in the child Claudia's
songs, does the musical hit a vein… Unless its creators can find a way to
infuse more intensity, Lestat may be dead on arrival
on Broadway in the spring."
Pat Craig of The Contra Costa Times:
"The greatest
danger in the new Elton John-Bernie Taupin
musical, based on The Vampire Chronicles by
Anne Rice, is death by boredom… It's a great story, but,
as directed by Robert Jess Roth (with 'musical staging' by
Matt West), the new show doesn't capture the romance or the
otherworldly qualities of Rice's novel. It's more corny than
scary, and it doesn't approach Rice's sense of authenticity.
Hampered by cheesy production values and an uneven cast, the staging is
unconvincing at best. Linda Woolverton's book, which turns
much of the spoken dialogue into hackneyed cliches, doesn't help. And the
John-Taupin score — the famous
songwriting duo's first effort for the stage — gives it the kiss of
death."
Return to the Lestat in San Francisco information.