Margaret Hall

Writer, Teacher, Historian

The Vampire Musical: Broadway’s Greatest Money Sucker

 

On paper, the mythos of the Vampire should be a straightforward transfer to the New York stage. An inherently melodramatic story archetype, the thousands of pop culture interpretations should lend themselves to a comparable number of theatrical adaptations. This, however, has proven time and again not to be the case. To celebrate this Halloween season, I will be breaking down the history of each musical that has come to the Broadway stage (with a couple of Off-Broadway and Regional pit stops) in which Vampires have been the unholy name of the game.  By examining the past failures, I believe the answer to successfully raising this archetype from the grave can be found.

(Sorry folks, but the glory of Bela Lugosi and Frank Langella as Dracula in play adaptations won’t be on this list – this is a strictly musical affair.)

 


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