Elton John - Lestat (Songs From The Broadway Musical) (2005)

I thought I knew almost everything Elton John had done, but this one surprised me. 'Lestat' was a Broadway musical inspired by Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, with a score by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It started with a reading in November 2003 under the title 'The Vampire Lestat', with a cast including James Barbour as Lestat, and after rehearsals it premiered at the Curran Theatre, San Francisco, California on 17 December 2005 for a six week run. This was followed by an eight week run on Broadway at the Palace Theater from 25 March to 28 May 2006, for 33 previews and 39 performances, with the title role of Lestat being played by Hugh Panaro, and Carolee Carmello playing Gabrielle. Things didn't always go smoothly, with The CurtainUp reviewer noting: 'Press reports from out-of-town about songs, characters, scenes and performers being dropped and/or replaced indicated that there was plenty of work to do on this particular incarnation.' The pre-Broadway version of 'Lestat' was very different from the Broadway version, and even though it was the highest-earning pre-Broadway play in San Francisco history (beating out 'Wicked' and 'Cats'), the company had to drastically revise the play, with the San Francisco version having far more elaborate stage effects and production values. By the time it reached Broadway it was more interpretive and used fewer projections, and it also cut quite a few plot elements, with some scenes and their attendant songs being scrapped completely. Reviews of the Broadway production were uniformly negative. The New York Post's verdict was 'bloody awful', and the Newark Star-Ledger opined that it was 'just deadly.' Lamenting the show's soporific nature, Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote: 'Joining the ranks of Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and other prescription lullaby drugs is 'Lestat', the musical sleeping pill...Dare to look upon 'Lestat' and keep your eyelids from growing heavier and heavier and heavier.' The Washington Post critic Peter Marks mused that 'Lestat's contribution to art and equality is demonstrating that a gay vampire with a two-octave range can be just as dull as a straight one.'
The Original Broadway Cast Recording was recorded by Mercury Records on 22 May 2006 and was produced by Guy Babylon and Matt Still, but after the show's closing Elton John's management announced that there were no plans to release the recording. However, tapes of Elton's original demo recordings have leaked out, and so those of us who missed the stage show can now at least hear the songs as sung by Elton himself. They are not your standard demos of just piano and vocal, but fully orchestrated versions of the songs, and are very much in the classic 'musical' style. Most of them stand up pretty well, so perhaps it was more the staging and the plot that caused it to fail rather then the music, and even though this was one of Elton's rare flops, it's worth a listen to judge for yourself if the harsh criticism was justified.  

Track listing

01 From the Dead
02 Nothing Here
03 In Paris
04 Main Theme
05 The Thirst
06 Right Before My Eyes
07 Make Me As You Are
08 Among The Dead / To Live Like This
09 The Origin Of The Species
10 The Crimson Kiss
11 Entr'acte
12 Welcome to the New World
13 Embrace It
14 I Want More
15 I'll Never Have That Chance
16 Sail Me Away
17 To Kill Your Kind
18 After All This Time
19 Finale (From The Dead)