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Lestat on Broadway
How AWFUL was it?

Some reviews posted on the NY Times, reflective of my sentiments, exactly...

Stultifying, Stagnant Stinker, April 4, 2006
Reviewer: podder
Words cannot describe how terrible this show really was. Unfortunately, this is yet another example of Broadway producers pushing something truly terrible out into the market and expecting us to pay $111 for the privilege of seeing something that carries big names painted onto the side of the trash barrel. Some people will undoubtedly love this show, but the "YEA" votes will only come from people who are fanatical Elton John and Anne Rice fans who would gladly pay anything to be in proximity to their idols. However, if you're looking for a show that makes you glad you came because it tells a story through a book and music that make you care about the characters and the concept, skip this show. P.T. Barnum was right - there IS a sucker born every minute, and I would be willing to bet that nearly everone at this show thought that Mr. Barnum was referring to US.

Just Plain Bad, April 15, 2006
Reviewer: rboy5529
Elton ... honey ... I love you, but give this one up. You apparantly have too many projects in the fire. This could have been a great production had you been able to focus solely on it. I saw the show in previews on April 15, 2006 at 8:00 pm. Carmella .. I can't say enough, but she doesn't have enough to carry the show. Although I must say her character after her 'change' reminded me of the character Anybodys from West Side story. I have been humming the Jet Song all night. Hugh was, in my opinion ... bad. His cues were way off, like going around a door frame instead of through it, or appearing onstage before he should have. Oh, and change the lighting so we don't have to see him spit, which happens quite frequently (beware the first few rows). The special effects were lame (especially the fire scenes), and I honestly wasn't impressed with the second act at all. The whole show didn't seem to be a group effort, and there wasn't one good song at the begining to bring it all together and get the audience involved. I saw two people leave in the first act, and the woman in front of my seat slept with her head on her husband's shoulder during the second act. I really wish I could have gotten a ticket to The Pajama Game.

Lestink! :(, April 17, 2006
Reviewer: mspahle
My sister, niece & I made a last minute selection at TKTS to see this show just across the streeet at the Palace & we figured it would at least be entertaining - what with the names of Anne Rice & Elton John associated. WRONG! The story line started off slow & kept its mundane pace. Scene changes required great leaps of faith to connect & dialogue was elementary at best. We were in the balcony so the bland songs (was Crimson Kiss supposed to be the highlight?)& corny special effects were compounded by the cyclical thrumming of the theatre air handlers just over our heads. The most entertaining part of our show experience was during the exit where we chuckled at the various metaphors patrons used to describe their exasperation at spending money on this show.

Anne Rice must be rolling over..., March 29, 2006
Reviewer: alaisa22
I saw this play March 28 in a NY preview. It was horrible. Rice's books offer so much material to work with- this musical took the worst. It reminds me of Webber's flop, the Woman in White. I was trying to figure out what the worst part of it was- the irritating voice of Gabrielle, the non-passionate homoeroticism, the overdone and incomprehensible "life's blood clips" or the songs. It's the songs. They're horrible. I would think that a team like Elton John and Taupin could come up with something better than I heard last night. The best song was Claudia's "I Want More" and that's because it wasn't a ponderous, philosophical dialogue-filled dirge. What ever happened to those lovely show-stopping numbers? Why do our British friends feel the need to put five pages of dialogue into one song? I don't get it. It's boring. The music, on its own, could've been good- but it was ruined by trite lyrics. There was barely any overture which led right into a really odd scene about Lestat being the "Wolfkiller". I question why the show didn't follow Rice's format of having Lestat as narrator. It would've gone over much better. I wanted to leave at intermission, but stayed because I'd paid for the tickets. I couldn't believe the ending. What a letdown. I did not leave this musical singing. I had more fun at Valhalla High School's production of Annie Get Your Gun.

i wish id read the other reviews, April 8, 2006
Reviewer: sheridan62
OMG just came back from the april8th 2pm showing--I never sleep during the day but in this case--uninspired--insipid dreadful music by elton john but if you missed it just go to anything else he's written- a big waste of talent-and had i read the other eviews all of whom have said it better than I, would not have gone

AWFUL and PAINFUL, April 3, 2006
Reviewer: jtferrise
Saw Lestat performance on March 27th and felt it was the worst Broadway play I have seen. The first act was the longest most painful hour and half I have spent in a long time and the only word to describe the first act AWFUL. Although the second act was better it was not enough to save this play. Many of the cast characters were weak and lack energy. If you are planning to see this play DON'T, you will be sorry that you wasted your money. I give the play a ZERO.

Laughable/Horrible, April 1, 2006
Reviewer: pdm6288
If I could have given "0" stars that's what I would've done. Saw the play last night 3/31. Act I is horrific; it's so awful that it was laughable. Polite or no clapping from the audience, and low incredulous laughing because people couldn't believe what they were witnessing. Totally agree with reviews by aisa22 and ajnspirit15. Spent $200 on tickets for 17-year old daughter and self in October because daughter wanted to see it. Turns out she ends up with an SAT on 4/1 so I bring my sister and apologize all over the place. Offer to take her for drink at Marriot Marquis instead of staying for Act II, but she wants to see if it gets better. Act II improves with role of Claudia and "I Want More," but that is it! Hugh Panaro is so miscast, and I didn't care for Carolee Carmello in "Mama Mia" (Louise Pitre as the original Donna Sheridan was phenomenal)and I didn't care for her in "Lestat" either. Review cards were left on our seats, and in plain language told them "it sucks"; close it before you start losing money. Shortest curtain call I ever saw; saw no one standing. People behind us left 3/4's through the play. In the last month I saw "Les Miz" for the 4th time in CT--was wonderful; "Spamalot"--hysterical; "Wicked"--well worth the wait--amazing voices on the leads. I thought nothing could be worse than "Woman in White"--"Lestat" was far worse; it was the worst!!!!

should be less than 1 star, April 16, 2006
Reviewer: mkay7
Sadly, I too took in yesterday, April 15, matinee of Lestat. I am shocked that despite having the correct ingredients to make a successful show, that this one is one dead turkey. I am frightened to speculate just how unmerciful the "real" critics will be on opening night. I live to go to see Broadway musicals, make a living teaching dance, and am just shocked at how bad that show was yesterday. I find it hard to believe that it managed to get as far as it did. Too bad that many people like me shelled out a decent amount of money and I cannot find one redeeming this to say about the show.

Lestat Lesucks, March 31, 2006
Reviewer: ajnspirit15
This is my first one-star NYT rating and I don't give it lightly. This was one of the worst Broadway musicals I've ever seen. The book is amateurish, the sets bland (especially for a mega-musical like this), the direction stolid, and there is a tremendous amount of wasted talent on stage. I couldn't care less about any of the characters, the dialogue is awful, the plot uninteresting, and how many times do I need to watch these videos every time someone has their blood sucked (however weirdly interesting they may be). The worst thing about it? I felt that Elton's music didn't match with what the show was trying to convey. I felt like he said "Look! I found 15 songs in this old trunk... Here, Bernie, put some vampire lyrics to them!" The music is good on its own terms, but not in relation to the musical itself. The lyrics are nothing special either and I found that Taupin's rhyming scheme, or lack thereof, was yet another part of the larger problem. I obtained a student rush ticket, so I only paid $21, and I thought I paid $21 too much. In this day and age, if your show doesn't get a standing ovation, then there is something terribly wrong. Unfortunately for Lestat, I don't feel that any amount of fixing will help. I don't understand how the creative team can't look past the ends of their noses to see what a dreadful show this is. How they can feel justified in making people pay $110 for this dreck is beyond me.

The 3rd + (hopefully) FINAL Vampire Show, April 11, 2006
Reviewer: bwaypadg
I guess like everything else, bad vampire musicals also come in sets of three (the previous two being Dance of the Vampires and Dracula: The Musical). Hopefully, this one will deter producers and writers alike from trying it again. At one point, a character prays for death by whispering "let me go" several times. The entire audience was thinking "forget him! Let us go!" To put it another way, this show is so bad that in the elevator on the way down from the balcony, there were about 20 people and no one spoke. A few were stifling giggles. Leaving the theater, people had stunned faces, not believing that something this wretched could have money spent on it, or that they in turn had spent $110 on this. The performances, aside from Carolee Carmello, who deserves much better, are uniformly bad; and to save them further embarrassment, I won't mention them here. Elton John's music is bland, but Bernie Taupin's lyrics and Linda Woolverton's book are horrifyingly awful. Avoid Lestat at all costs, unless you want to be a witness to one of the worst musicals to ever hit Broadway.



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