Dance of the Vampires Bites It; Jim Steinman Musical to Close on January 25

Unable to overcome some of the worst reviews to greet a Broadway musical in years, Dance of the Vampires will close at the Minskoff Theatre on Saturday, January 25, after 61 previews and 56 regular performances.

Based on Roman Polanski’s film The Fearless Vampire Killers, the show has music and lyrics by Jim Steinman and a book by David Ives; the original German book and lyrics were written by Michael Kunze. Starring Michael Crawford and featuring Mandy Gonzalez, Max von Essen, and René Auberjonois, the production was directed by John Rando and choreographed by John Carrafa. It features scenic design by David Gallo, costume design by Ann Hould-Ward, lighting design by Ken Billington, and musical direction by Patrick Vaccariello.

Dance of the Vampires opened at the Minskoff on December 9. In their TheaterMania review — one of very few largely positive notices received by the show — Barbara and Scott Siegel wrote that “DOTV rises from its would-be grave thanks to a book loaded with comic one-liners that have the zany ring of the work of co-author David Ives. It fully comes to life in its deliriously gothic set designs by David Gallo, tongue-in-cheek direction by John Rando, and a dead-on cast led by Michael Crawford, all of whom know how to bite into a gag.”

On the other hand, in his TheaterMania column of December 16, Peter Filichia wrote: “There’s still four and a half months to go, but Dance of the Vampires will undoubtedly remain unrivaled as the turd of the season.”