Totale Finsternis: Costuming âTanz der Vampire,â Part I
EDITORâS NOTE: I pride myself on accuracy, so when thereâs an error, Iâll do my best to correct it. As such, please see my updated post here!
Welcome back, everyone! As promised, weâre going to be diverging quite a bit from the shows and costumes Iâve looked at in the past in order to try something completely different. There are a lot of costumes here, so Iâm going to structure this a little differently and try to look at a whole production in each of the two posts, rather than splitting them up by character. Thereâs a simple reason for this: the costumes are so detailed and so original, that they either need to be taken as a collective, or else each costume needs a full postâŚand I donât think I could manage that!
But what I can manage is to look at the overall Vienna production and give my thoughts on this Ăźber-eclectic production with its classic camp, gothic horror, and rock musical elements. Iâm really glad to have been turned onto this musical, because as those who follow the main blog know, one of my other hobbies is a vampire-themed RPG. I admit that I had never seen the original Roman Polanski movie upon which the musical is based, but the musical is apparently a pretty good takeâand for good reason, since Polanski himself created and directed the original production.
I linked the plot summary Sunday in the preview post, so Iâm going to just jump in to some of the amazing costumes that were conceived by Kentaur, a Hungarian costumer who has worked on a number of European productions (many the equivalent of off-Broadway, but quite a few mainstage), as well as the ever-fascinating Sue Blane. Letâs take a look!
Where to even begin with designs like these! To start with, I absolutely love that the 19th century inspirations are on full display: weâve got hoop skirts, weâve got riding cloaks, weâve got morning coats, weâve got (in the background) large and decorative hats, and on the main character (Graf von Krolok as played by Thomas Borchert) at stage left there is what appears to be a hybrid of leather and brocade on a waistcoat. In fact, letâs take a little closer look at our main character in another scene:
This entire costume is spectacular, and shows the characteristic mixing of styles that makes a Sue Blane production so utterly fascinating to analyze. The waistcoat definitely has a combination of fabric and leather, giving the Graf a hard-edged appearance that even the pale makeup and prosthetic fangs wouldnât have accomplished on their own. The pants/trousers are leather-esque (I doubt theyâre entirely leather; as Iâve mentioned before, stage costumes need to be able to breathe a little bit because of the heat of the stage lights) and give off a very masculine feel. The riding cloak (more commonly a cape, but as I recall, a cape generally doesnât have as much luxury put into it) is simple in a way, but the rich crimson satin folds and bunches to create a mixture of light and shadow that is absolutely necessary in a dark production like Tanz der Vampire.Â
I also love that the color of the capeâs interior is so dark a red; remember that this is a production about vampires first and foremost. The crimson puts one in mind of the blood the creatures are compelled to drink in order to stay alive, and thatâs a good choice in costumery; playing on what people expect to see is not always a bad thing, especially when you want your production to have an element of pastiche, that is to say, an element of mix-and-match that you do not necessarily find with traditional theatre. The color also provides a fantastic contrast to the rest of Graf von Krolockâs costume, which is done in shades of black (and black does have shadesâŚtry matching a set of black socks for proof!), deep purples, and a few hints of very deep blue on the waistcoat.
The waistcoat itself is quite different, and I like it. Rather than a simple, straightforward cloth cut, Ms Blane has added a bit of beadwork that you might not otherwise expect in a male costume. As Iâve mentioned several times, however, thatâsâŚreally not unusual for her. Everything about this costume is designed to have a bit of a wow factor; it may not be the most visually appealing costume, but it will be the most visually stunning costume on stage. In that sense, it puts me in mind of Ms Blaneâs master production work on The Rocky Horror Picture Show: the idea here is to go for over-the-top camp rather than going for a specific style, as one of Ms Blaneâs costume sketches shows:
It would be wrong, however, to say there is no overall theming and that the costumes of the Vienna production are simply a pastiche of vampire tropes. The costumes for the vampires fit that mold, but I think there is a good reason for this: in dealing with a dark subject and trying to make it a bit humorous (this is a Roman Polanski production, after all), it is important to inject that humor into the costumes as well. None of the vampires look ridiculous, as the first still shows, but they are visually different. Itâs an effort to make the macabre into the mundane, and itâs done spectacularly wellâall the while maintaining the Grafâs look as intimidating and frightening.
The work on the costumes for the human characters is no less impressive and visually appealing. Take, for example, the red dress worn by the female lead, Sarah (Marjan Shaki). Itâs a hoop skirt that flows and bends and is in a shade of crimson that is rather similar to the cape worn by her captor, the Graf. Itâs not an exact match, however, and I canât help but wonder if thatâs intentional; by making the dress a bit lighter, thereâs a slight sense of innocence granted to the character that isnât present in the vampire holding onto her. Thereâs a closeup from another perspective, this time of the dress resting on a chair, that lets us look a bit more in-depth (adapted from a still from the production company):
While the stage lighting here gives us a more rust-color, the image from earlier does show that itâs a bright, vibrant red. The dress overall is in satin, which is quite appropriate for the era in which the musical is set, and it has a flowing effect as a result. The bodice/bust is decorated with quite a bit of beadwork, though not much in the way of jewelled adornment; that doesnât surprise me, because I associate a Sue Blane production with focusing more on beading than jewels (in part because she started out with low-budget productions, and designers tend to remember those lessons their entire career). Thereâs also a bit of fringing available, which I think is Ms Blaneâs way of giving a subtle nod to the stage productions of the era Tanz is set in. Early theatreâs easiest way of making a gown look fancy was to add fringing to the external portions of the dress, and in this case we see a bit of it on the hoop skirt/bell of the dress, as well as earlier on Ms Shakiâs arms where the dress is supported. Iâll have more on the Red Dress when I do the Paris review because itâs an even more spectacular example, but I thought it important to give some attention to the Vienna original as well!
Thereâs one more group scene I want to take a look at from the Vienna production. This one showcases quite a few of the human characters and itâs interesting to look at for a couple reasons. One, there doesnât appear to be quite as much pastiche as there is in the costumes for the vampires that started out this review, and two, Ms Blane has done something to the costumes here to give them a very muted appearance:
For those who are familiar with classic 19th century-set musicals like Les MisĂŠrables, many of these may look a little bit familiar. The common tropes of underclass clothing are present here, but through her use of color and design, Ms Blane is making quite clear just how ordinary these people are. There is little to no adornment on any of the costumes, and they are presented as they come: there are wrinkles in the barmaidâs apron, the jackets on the men appear to be dusky and dusty at the same time, and everything is just so much more simple than the costumes for the vampires or the Sarah character. Thatâs by design; when you want to draw a stark contrast, you need to do that through your use of color and fabric choice. Notice I didnât say any of these costumes look cheap because they absolutely do not. Rather, they look simple by comparison, and thatâs a positive. These arenât designed to be the more memorable pieces, and indeed that helps us to remember the pieces on Sarah and the vampires. The one exception here is the Alfred character (played by Lukas Perman) in the red coat; itâs still a relatively simple, muted design, but it does stand out and ties in to the red theme we saw earlier with Sarahâs dress and the Grafâs cape.
Also, I really dig the strands of garlic that are being worn by about half the ensemble members in this shot. Itâs a nice hat-tip to the classic trope of vampires being unable to stand the smell of garlic, and while it may be a part of the book of the musical, for Ms Blane to somehow make them appear even more silly than the idea of garlic as vampire-bane itself is really an accomplishment.
Tanz der Vampire is a campy, raucous musical that has a costume designer and set of costumes to match. I like that the vampiric costumes are a pastiche of different designs, while for the most part the mortal designs are quite a bit more subdued. In some ways, it makes me long for the Austrian production reviewed here to do a national tour in the United States; the English translation of Tanz spectacularly flopped on Broadway, but that had more to do with the timing (it debuted scant months after 9/11 when the theatre was already seeing reduced sales) and the controversy surrounding the casting and design (read a bit on Michael Crawfordâs role if you want more detail).Â
But I think that the musical as costumed by Sue Blane could do quite well here if ever given the chance. I know any number of people in the theatre community who got their start doing Rocky Horror midnight showings and paying homage to Ms Blaneâs costume designs in the movie and original stage show. There is real potential for this to become a cult classic in the States if it were put on by the right people and used the right costumesâpreferably an updated version designed by Ms Blane herself.
That about wraps up my Vienna review. Later on this week, Iâll take a look at another of the successful productions of Tanz, this time the Paris production entitled Le Bal des Vampires. It got mixed reviews from the foreign press, but Paris Match certainly enjoyed it and heaped praise on the costume design, so Iâm pretty sure itâs going to be an interesting review!
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