Lestat Closes at Palace Theatre on May 28 After 39 Performances

The vampire musical Lestat will shutter on Sunday, May 28 after 33 preview and 39 regular performances.

Lestat, based on Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, tells the journey of one man who escapes the tyranny of his oppressive family only to have his life taken from him. Thrust into the seductive and sensual world of an immortal vampire, Lestat sets out on a road of adventures in a quest for everlasting love and companionship but is forced to reconcile his innate sense of good with his primal need to exist. The show features a book by Linda Woolverton and a score by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Hugh Panaro, Carolee Carmello, Jim Stanek, Allison Fischer, Roderick Hill, Drew Sarich and Michael Genet star. Lestat is the first Broadway production for Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.

"I am privileged to have worked with this amazingly talented company," Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures Executive Vice-President Gregg Maday said in a statement. "They truly embody what makes Broadway unique and special and why Warner Bros. is thrilled to be part of this community. We have learned a great deal during this process and remain committed to producing exciting projects for the Broadway stage, adapted from our deep, rich library."

Lestat, directed by Robert Jess Roth, had an out-of-town engagement at San Francisco's Curran Theatre and opened at Broadway's Palace Theatre on April 25 to mostly negative reviews. In his Broadway.com Review, Rob Kendt wrote: " No, musical-theater-train-wreck aficionados, it's not quite another Carrie, or even another Dance of the Vampires. Instead it comes off more like an unholy blend of the Disney musical Beauty and the Beast and the cult TV series Beauty and the Beast. In fact, I'll go out on a limb here and bet that, with its earnest embrace of Rice's labyrinthine mythology and its unabashed pop-Goth sensibility, Lestat will win over a small but ardent legion of swooning Riceheads. The rest of us will be more bemused than entranced."

Last week the tuner took in $448,525 and filled the Palace to only 52.95% on average. The show received Tony Award nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Musical Carolee Carmello and Best Costume Design of a Musical Susan Hilferty.

Broadway.com followed the journey of Lestat to Broadway with the first-ever online backstage video blog, featuring diary entries by leading man Panaro and exclusive peeks into the creation of the show. To visit the Lestat video blog, click here.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Lestat will be released on Mercury Records in July.