"Dance of the Vampires" on the Parquet Floor of Horniness and Social Decency : a Peep Show for Wagner and Schiller

Titelangaben

Triest, Tillmann:
"Dance of the Vampires" on the Parquet Floor of Horniness and Social Decency : a Peep Show for Wagner and Schiller.
In: Grosch, Nils ; Jubin, Olaf ; Ljubijankic, Miriam Lisa (Hrsg.): From Vienna to the World : The Musicals of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien. - London : Methuen Drama , 2026 . - S. 257-278
ISBN 9781350568907

Weitere URLs

Abstract

Musical theatre has always thrived on excess, and few shows embody this more extravagantly than "Dance of the Vampires" (Tanz der Vampire). Since its world premiere at Vienna's Raimund Theater in 1997, the show has kept audiences coming back with a persistence that is, in its own way, vampiric. It has survived cast changes, cultural shifts and even the ignominious collapse of "Hamilton" in Hamburg, which it was promptly called in to replace. What accounts for this stubborn vitality? The answer, this chapter argues, has something to do with desire, namely the show's own, its characters' and, not least, the audience's.
Schiller's concept of dualism, developed in "On the Aesthetic Education of Man", provides the analytical framework for reading the show's central opposition between reason and lust, an opposition that shapes its characters, drives its plot and opens up, for the audience, a temporary space in which to entertain what everyday life normally suppresses. Jim Steinman's score, meanwhile, is examined through the lens of 'Wagnerian Rock', a term that captures his characteristic combination of leitmotifs, extreme dynamic contrasts and an orchestral grandeur that makes even the most outrageous moments feel earned.
The chapter also addresses what the musical's continued popularity tends to obscure. Specifically, it turns to the sexist treatment of female characters, the homomisic stereotyping of the gay character Herbert, the anti-Semitic resonances embedded in its vampire mythology, and the unresolved question of Polański's authorship. Whether these elements are knowingly parodied or simply reproduced remains, productively, an open question.