Vampire Movie Could Live On  Broadway?

With the opening of the vampire movie Twilight all over the news, it is only natural to speculate that the theatrical vampire story may find its way to the Broadway stage. Can Edward Cullen (or Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (or Kristen Stewart) sing and dance?  Well, they have their hands full at the moment. As we await news of the Twilight Musical, we offer this Broadway Magazine - Broadway List of the Top 6 Vampire Productions:

6. The Vampire (1909)by Edgar Allan Woolf and George Sylvester Viereck. The show played at the Hackett Theatre during January and February 1909 and is the first one out of the coffin and onto the Broadway stage.

5. Dracula (1927)adapted from Bram Stoker’s novel by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. This is the a landmark production. This hit production played for over 260 performances at the Fulton Theatre starting in October 1927, and starred the great Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula.

4. Dance of the Vampires (2002-2003)based on the film “The Fearless Vampire Killers” by Roman Polanski. Key creatives were star Michael Crawford, Jim Steinman (music, lyrics, book), David Ives (book), and Michael Kunze who birthed the German original version. These Vampires danced at the Minskoff Theatre for over 100 total performances.

3. Dracula (1931)also used the Balderston and Deane adaptation, but lacked the Lugosi. With Courtney White as the Count, the show played only 8 performances at the Royale Theatre (now known as the Bernard Jacobs Theatre).

2. Dracula, the Musical (2004)brought together Don Black and Christopher Hampton for a musical version of the classic tale. Tom Hewitt starred and sang as Count Dracula at the haunted Belasco Theatre. The show played for over 150 performances.

1. Dracula (1977-1980)is a landmark. The production had Edward Gorey designs, and starred the great Frank Langella as the Count you can count on. The hit played for 925 performances, and is still regarded as one of the most pitch perfect vampire productions ever staged.

-from Broadway Magazine

Photo: Actors Kristen Stewart (R) and Robert Pattinson pose for the ‘Twilight’ Portrait Session during the 3rd Rome International Film Festival.  Origli/WireImage.com

Tags: Bela Lugosi, Belasco, Bella Swan, Bram Stoker, Christopher Hampton, Dance of the Vampires, David Ives, Don Black, Dracula, Dracula The Musical, Edgar Allan Woolf, Edward Cullen, Edward Gorey, Frank Langella, George Sylvester Viereck, Hamilton Deane, Jim Steinman, John L. Balderston, Kristen Stewart, Michael Crawford, Michael Kunze, Robert Pattinson, Roman Polanski, Twilight

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Broadway Blog, Broadway Information, Broadway Magazine, Broadway News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.