Review: Vampyyrien tanssi

Dance of the Vampires

How many people remember Roman Polanski’s cult film like The Vampire Slayers? I’ve seen that movie numerous times in my childhood, it’s one of those that I saw from VHS so many times that I still know it more or less by heart. Well, hey, it’s been made into a musical! And we went to see it as a preview at Linnanmäki’s Peacock.

I love musical theatre. I haven’t seen everything that has been in Finland, but on a fairly wide scale, some I’ve actually seen abroad. I think the hype was the first one and I think I saw it a couple of times. Fortunately, musical theatre has undergone a great metamorphosis over the decades and I don’t think there is even a genre anymore that hasn’t been persuaded to be a musical. Even though I like musical theatre to be happy and cheerful, it’s been really rich to see not-so-hilarious works as well. Next to Normal comes to mind now, at least suddenly, during which I felt like I was dying from the crying and anxious feeling that awoke in me. But so much for reminiscence.

Polanski’s film landed already in the 60’s and this was turned into a musical in the late 90’s. By the way, the very original musical was directed by Roman Polanski. In Finland, Dance of the Vampires has been performed at least at the Seinäjoki City Theatre, and now the Helsinki City Theatre is offering its own version at Lintsi during the spring.

First of all, it must be said that if the film has risen to cult status, then the musical has also done the same trick. Dance of the Vampires (originally Tanz der Vampire) has a solid, perhaps even a little fanatical, fan base that can be seen in the audience. You can’t miss them. This actually evokes very conflicting feelings in yourself. Because I personally treat these as productions. On the other hand, I can’t necessarily think of a better object for fandom either. In any case, I find it refreshing that Finland’s largest musical theater only realized this now, and not a few years ago when the hype about vampires was at its highest. I got a fresh grip on this in a completely different way.

In the theatre in general, you could imagine that the closer you are, the better you see. On the other hand, it’s better to watch the dance of the vampires from somewhere else, than from the very first rows. Even if you manage to sit with your neck crooked throughout the performance, the sound quality suffers greatly when sitting in the front. A large part of the song was drowned under the grandiose music and my own experience suffered a lot. While most of the dance of vampires is singing, there is very little spoken dialogue. I can’t think of any other explanation for this than that we were sitting in a bad place. I refuse to believe for a second that Peacock, where musical theatre has been made for decades, could have such bad acoustics. Of course, it’s also possible that the sound crew was just polishing these things in the pre-screenings.

What can you say about the musical itself? An amazing, amazing spectacle. I don’t have a basis for comparison, but the Raili Raitala and Mikko Vihma stars we saw were just the right choice. Raitala was already working on the role of Sarah in Seinäjoki and I even spotted on a blog that Raili would be the best Sarah in Europe. Although I don’t compare the movie and the musical as such, it was a pleasure to notice that Sarah’s character was clearly created with the original performer Sharon Tate in mind. Sarah just can’t be anything but Tatemainen.

The execution, on the other hand, was breathtaking and I can only praise and admire the fact that Finland has the ambition to make musicals of this scale and the skill to make them happen. If the performers were on point and sucked every spectator dry (ehe ehe) all the way to the back row, there is at least as skilled people in the background team. The costumes and make-up were first-class, but I think the biggest praise goes to the set design team. Oh my god!! A special admiration for how the myth related to vampires and mirrors was realized. I appreciate it!

In terms of atmosphere, the musical was even darker than the movie in places. The original work is more of a parody than vampire movies usually are. On the other hand, the musical as a format, and especially in line with the vampire theme, may require that there is gloom involved. This time, in addition to costumes and masks, it was embodied with grandiose music and lighting. Which both hit the spot. I loved the electric guitar that came with power at times. Peacock was able to create just the right amount of horrible atmosphere, without forgetting laughter. There was plenty of that, too, especially in the second half of the performance.

To return to the performers, Antti Timonen, who was seen in the role of Professor Abronsius, completely stole my heart. The character was actually very different from the movie itself, but it was just good. In the musical, the character of the Professor would not have acted as a fool in the same way as in the movie. It was refreshing that the character had been updated just in time with the musical in mind. Overall, I did like that the musical was very faithful to its ancestor, the film. It would have felt like a waste if this had been taken too far from the original.

In the auditorium there were some children as well, but I probably wouldn’t take the youngest schoolchildren to see this yet. It’s not so much that I don’t think the musical’s sexism, playing with boob jokes or stretching sexuality is suitable for children, but that this is quite dark as a whole. Although pleasantly gloomy, these are not children’s vampires. They are made to look scary and for a reason.

Dance of the Vampires is definitely a great musical, and I don’t think it’s inferior to the musicals, Mekko, West End or Broadway versions. Every area was in the hands of solid professionals. This was definitely an experience! The vampires were personified just right, and they weren’t just sharp teeth. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to stand any more stereotypes about vampires. And this was fortunately avoided.

There was a lot of effort into the crowd scenes, and they were perhaps the best part of the entire musical. They were polished to the last detail that looking at them was pure eye candy, no hint of any mess and if it was seen, it was part of the thing and was controlled. Even though the year is just beginning, I would dare to say that this is this year’s phenomenon in the theatre. Don’t miss out on this!

Have a good theatre experience, remember the intermission refreshments and also be prepared to play Bonnie Tyler for a couple of days.