A musical scored by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, which had a successful run in San Francisco but closed after only a month on Broadway, Lestat is an adaptation of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles.
The story follows Lestat de Lioncourt, a nobleman who's unappreciated by his family and makes his entrance after killing eight wolves singlehandedly. His father and brother scorn him, and he finally lets his dying mother convince him to go to Paris. Upon his arrival, he meets an old friend named Nicolas, steps out to get some air one night... and gets himself turned into a vampire.
Eventually, he reveals to his mother what he has become, and to his shock she asks him to turn her to save her from her illness. He agrees, and the two of them make their way to Paris again where they encounter the Theatre des Vampires. Lestat turns a willing Nicolas, becomes catatonic due to the transformation. So Lestat and his mother Gabrielle start off to find the one vampire who might be able to cure him, Marius. Lestat finds him, after Gabrielle has deserted him and Nicolas has died, and departs for the New World to reinvent himself. There he meets Louis and Claudia, two people who are about to teach him the meaning of the word 'unpredictable'...
As an official cast recording isn't released yet, the best place to hear the music is at the Lestat Download Center
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This Work Contains Examples Of:
- Adaptation Distillation: For an adaptation of two books and one Film of the Book, it's not half bad.
- Angry Mob Song: "Kill Your Own Kind", although Armand is the only one singing most of the time- the rest of the Theatre des Vampires only joins in during the chorus.
- Badass Adorable: Claudia.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Unusual example at the end of "After All This Time"; Armand and Lestat kiss for damn near a minute before Armand starts to make his exit, but they hate each other and it's an attempt to assert dominance on Armand's part.
- Crowd Song: "In Paris", Welcome to the New World"
- Dark Reprise: "Embrace It" and "Right Before My Eyes".
- Deliberately Cute Child: Claudia
- Drowning My Sorrows: How Louis and Lestat meet.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Louis, and to some degree Armand, whose hair is a dark enough red here to invoke this image.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Claudia's costuming resembles it somewhat.
- Enfant Terrible: Claudia and the teenage Armand.
- Epic Instrumental Opener
- Epic Rocking: "From The Dead", "The Thirst"
- Establishing Character Moment: When Lestat agrees to turn his mother, when Claudia almost compulsively kills the hired help.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality
- Grief Song: "Sail Me Away", and the reprise of "Right Before My Eyes".
- Heroic BSoD: Lestat gets one when Nicolas dies.
- "I Am" Song: Claudia's "I Want More", despite the title, is more this.
- "I Want" Song: Claudia's second song, "I'll Never Have That Chance".
- A darker version is "The Thirst", which is about the animalistic need for blood that Lestat discovers.
- I'm a Humanitarian
- Like an Old Married Couple: Lestat and Louis. Claudia even compares them to "two fussy mothers" when they chastise her for her dining habits.
- Melismatic Vocals: All over the place, but especially impressive in Claudia's "I Want More".
- My God, What Have I Done?: Pretty traditional reaction among vampires who have just made their first kill.
- Older Than They Look
- Rage Against the Heavens: "How can this be? This devil leaves/And God abandons me..."
- Tears of Blood: Lestat can tell when Claudia's not really crying because she doesn't weep blood.
- Tenor Boy: Averted by Armand, whose beautiful tenor vocals contrast sharply with his personality and the lyrics of his songs.
- The Big Easy: Most of the second half takes place here.
- Time Skip: Between Lestat's conversation with Marius and his arrival in Louisiana.
- Victorian Novel Disease: Gabrielle is dying of this.
- Villain Song: "To Kill Your Kind" and "After All This Time", both sung by Armand. The former has him ordering Claudia's execution, and the latter has him gleefully boasting about said execution, which was his revenge against Lestat.
- Welcoming Song: "In Paris" in the first act, and "Welcome to the New World" in the second.
- Your Vampires Suck: The characters make fun of a book that resembles Dracula for its unrealistic depiction of vampire powers.
