So, tonight was my last night in Vienna, and I decided that I really did want to try to go to Tanz der Vampire. All I knew was that it was a musical, and nothing else (well, besides that vampires were involved, lulz). The show was sold out, even the standing room, but there was a woman who wanted to sell two tickets back, and I was able to get one from her, so I really lucked out.
It was .The. most .AMAZING. thing I've ever seen.
GAAAAH! *spews*
Alright, I'll calm myself down so I can share some of the details with you all <3
I just bought the program afterword, so I don't really know what the plot was exactly, at the moment, but there's a synopsis available on the official website (http://www.tanz-der-vampire.de/), however it's only in German... So for those of you who don't read German, there's a brief overview of the story at http://www.danceofthevampires.com/story.html
There're also some tidbits on Wikipedia ;3
Though it was called a musical, I found it really to be more like to an opera than a musical, in that the music was almost completely continuous throughout the whole thing. In that way, I guess it was a little like Tosca - the music and singing, but with spoken dialogue as well. The music was fun to listen to, and the plot moved along quickly, for the most part (or maybe it was just that I saw Wagner's Parsifal last night, haha). The set, staging, and costumes, were all amazing! The set absolutely blew my mind - there was SO much detail in everything, and there were a LOT of different scenes shown. They also used a really interesting technique at different times, projecting images on a scrim screen (scrim is a fabric that's opaque when light is shown on one side, and transparent on the other), in front of the acting on stage.
I found myself completely caught up in the world that was created, and even though I didn't understand all of the German, I was able to enjoy it and was very intensely involved in the character emotions and actions. If nothing else in Vienna made this trip worth it, Tanz der Vampire most definitely did!
As an aside, I was curious if anyone else had seen the musical, anywhere in the world (since it's been around), and what you thought of it.
If you haven't seen it, DO!
Cheers~!
~Jaggy