Nearly freezing to death in the nearby woods (He, Ho, He), the two are taken in by Chagal, an innkeeper who spends most of his free time lusting after Magda, his beautiful chambermaid, much to the disdain of his long-suffering wife, Rebecca (Knoblauch – "Garlic").
The professor, upon noticing the countless strings of garlic hung about the place and around people's necks, is overjoyed, confident of the nearness of his goal, and immediately starts probing Chagal for information.
After exploring the rooms upstairs in which they are staying (Bitte, meine Herren – "Please, Gentlemen"), Alfred discovers and is smitten by Chagal's beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter, Sarah.
Unbeknownst to Alfred, late at night Sarah is serenaded by a mysterious stranger, who promises her eternal life and power (Gott ist tot, – God is Dead").
The next morning, the Professor bears witness to a small business exchange between Chagall and Koukol, a hideous hunchback living somewhere in the woods (Alles ist hell – "Everything's Bright").
With Alfred gone, Sarah fantasizes about the fantastical, romantic vampire ball she could be missing and decides to accept the Count's invitation (Stärker als wir sind – "Stronger Than We Are").
In the middle of the night, Magda sneaks downstairs to look at Chagal's corpse, expressing mixed feelings about his death (Tot zu sein ist komisch - "To be Dead is Strange").
A chase ensues and the two finally corner Chagal, who begs for mercy and promises to show them the route to the vampire's castle where his daughter supposedly is held if he's spared.
Herbert tries flirting with the confused and terrified "hero" (Wenn Liebe in dir Ist – "When Love is Inside You"), which culminates with him lunging at Alfred's neck, but the Professor comes in the nick of time and hits the young vampire with an umbrella.
Von Krolock commands his vampire flock to attack Alfred and his mentor, but the former manages to form a makeshift cross out of two candelabras, causing a diversion.
For the tenth anniversary of the musical, Tanz der Vampire returned to the Raimund Theater for the week of February 3–11, 2007 in a scaled-down concert version.
[13] As early 2001 approached, however, and a reading for potential producers and investors was announced in the news section of Steinman's fan website, things began taking on a more concrete shape.
John Caird was to co-direct, and comedic playwright David Ives was helping to reconfigure the book with a view toward a more comic angle instead of a straightforward adaptation of the successful Austrian version, which was deemed to be written in a style no longer accepted by Broadway critics and audiences.
It was decided that a star lead in the role of Count von Krolock would be just the trick; feelers were put out to names as diverse as David Bowie, John Travolta, Richard Gere and Plácido Domingo.
[16] Ultimately, the team came to an agreement with Michael Crawford, best known on Broadway at the time as the title character in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera in the 1980s.
He demanded complete creative control of his character,[14] he wanted a "retirement package" of up to £20m a year ($180,000 a week in American money),[18] and he also preferred to have "first refusal" on (i.e., the option to reprise) the role in London and Los Angeles.
[18] Of the four points of negotiation, Crawford won two, creative control and first refusal, eschewing the original salary (after initial press reports caused an outcry over his massive payday) for a much slimmer $30,000 a week.
By the time an official deal with Crawford was announced,[21] by now downgraded to a yearlong contract in the role rather than three, he had been pulling his weight in the creative control department; as Sonenberg put it, "[He has been] working with us the last several months on input on the book.
With most of the show's major creative team (including co-director Caird) based in London, a myriad of logistic delays were caused by mass cancellation of flights, among other variables.
A creative team was also finally being assembled, including set designer David Gallo, whom Steinman liked because Gallo told him upon meeting for the first time that he was probably the only set designer in America who still subscribed to Heavy Metal Magazine, and that he bought Bat Out of Hell because he saw the album cover artwork (conceived by Steinman and executed by Richard Corben) and decided he had to have it before he even heard the music.
A cast also rapidly shaped up around Crawford with the input of the new director and choreographer in a fresh set of auditions, with then-ingenues Mandy Gonzalez and Max von Essen in the young lead roles of Sarah and Alfred, René Auberjonois (after similar prolonged negotiations to Crawford's) as Professor Abronsius, Ron Orbach (late of the out-of-town run of The Producers) as Chagal, and Leah Hocking as Magda, among others.
A celebrated rock composer, a critics' darling who had authored several Off-Broadway plays, a Tony Award-winning director, and a high-wattage Broadway star were the captains of this ship.
'"[24] Kunze, the original author of the German work, had much to complain about when it came to changes, but most of all that there was no "final moment" where one concept for the production was crystallized, partly because the director didn't seem "able to decide what was good or bad about both Jim Steinman's and Michael Crawford's ideas."
Adding to the lack of a definitive creative head was the director's unplanned absence, due to his mother's death, which sidelined Rando from the production during several weeks of previews.
'"[14] However, unable to express his opinions without fighting with Crawford or the rest of the team (to the point that sharp- and quick-witted Steinman was viewed as verbally abusive by certain cast members), he opted instead to stop coming to the theater regularly, according to his account.
An attempt was made at arriving at a comfortable middle between the "two shows at war with each other," and original author Kunze was finally consulted for his opinion of what should be changed (far too late, in his view).
[26] Ultimately, thanks ironically to the German author of the original piece, the show arrived at much of its final form: during previews, 30% of the dialogue was cut to allow room to expand the score and arrive closer to the original almost sung-through concept; the vampire costumes were redesigned to look less freakish; a new staging of the shock ending set in modern times suggested by Kunze was inputted.
[14] By the time of opening, however, this mutual tomfoolery seemed to have been reined in; producer Bob Boyett had no complaints about Crawford's behavior, calling him "a great star and a total professional" and saying that he "didn't find him to be difficult at all."
According to The New York Times, it was "one of the costliest failures in Broadway history", losing roughly $12 million, easily eclipsing the infamous musical Carrie.
The musical score written by Steinman leans heavily on material from his earlier projects, mainly from his less-known shows like The Dream Engine and The Confidence Man (co-written with Ray Errol Fox), although it also features music from his widely known records like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (remade as "Totale Finsternis"), the melody, but not the lyric, from a Bat Out of Hell II song called "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" (remade as "Die unstillbare Gier") and "Original Sin", originally written for the Pandora's Box album of the same name and later sung by Meat Loaf in Welcome to the Neighborhood (parts of which were remade as "Gott ist Tot" and "Einladung zum Ball").