The Crimson is the perfect club/performance space in Hollywood for this Vampire Musical. It exudes gothic intrigue among time worn volumes of esoteric literature. It is a pity that more do not read this literature and acquaint themselves with these fascinating stories and mythologies. Blood/Love is an all-new, all-original vampire rock popera about love, friendship, heartbreak, and redemption” from the program notes. Writer/producer Carey Sharpe, songwriter/producer Dru DeCaro, director/producer Daniel LeClaire, were the creators. I would like to sincerely congratulate the creative team who brought this together as putting up an original musical is extremely difficult in terms of economics, energy, focus, time and attention. Kudos is due them all.

)Left to Right): Pauler Lam, Oksana Platero, Jonathan Platero in "Blood/Love" - Photo by Ross Catterton.

)Left to Right): Pauler Lam, Oksana Platero, Jonathan Platero in “Blood/Love” – Photo by Ross Catterton.

This show is new and original. Luckily, that also means it has room to address a few issues that mar an otherwise excellent potential. There was no program and It was difficult to follow what was happening and why. Most of the story line is laid out in the songs with very short scenes tagging the ends. The opening number introduces three “Old Souls” with one shirtless young male in their midst. These are: Carey Sharpe (Valerie), Erin Boehme (Cleo), and Cam Anthony (Demetrius). All have fine voices. The male is played with and referred to but the three are too busy singing to give him much attention. He did not seem to be the main course for the three but was instead an irritant to them performing for us. He is discarded or killed like many throughout the evening by a swipe of the hand in midair, a gesture not even close to his neck or vitals. This was clearly a decision by the director or choreographer, and it weakened the Vampires’ power. It was not stylized enough to be a killing stroke. At one point, during a song, Sharpe swipes her hand out in front of her and four humans drop dead around her. This seemed as if the director did not want Sharpe to have to bother with physically killing four people while she was singing. I do not know, “Sweeney Todd” comes to mind. This was a missed opportunity to actually show Valerie’s power rather than to have it represented by gesture.

Left to Right Rissel Peguero, Alexander J. Brown, Yaina Peguero in "Blood/Love" - Photo by Ross Catterton.

Left to Right Rissel Peguero, Alexander J. Brown, Yaina Peguero in “Blood/Love” – Photo by Ross Catterton.

As a matter of fact, great pains were taken to separate the dance and action from the singers to the dancers. To have the dancers enact a physical version of what the singers are doing or going through is not musical theater but a type of pantomime that can be useful but not definitive. The lead Vampire, Sharpe, falls in love with a rock star, Anzick (played admirably by Brennin Hunt) and while they canoodle by the bar, two dancers come out representing them and their passion and perform a ballroom duet with lifts and throws and spins. It was all very flashy and Vegas worthy but what did it have to do with what an immortal and a human rock star were feeling for each other at the bar? It is as if the singer/actors were not entrusted with learning any moves or choreography in their own right. The scenes tagging the songs felt like an afterthought and were not flushed out. The dialogue needs work as it can slip into banality, as if Charlie’s Angels were Vampires.

Oksana Platero and Jonathan Platero in "Blood/Love" - Photo by Ross Catterton.

Oksana Platero and Jonathan Platero in “Blood/Love” – Photo by Ross Catterton.

The answer lies with the director, and in the background of the choreographers certainly. They were Jonathan & Oksana Platero of “Dancing With The Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” They were great movers and obvious ballroom experts, but the style of ballroom competition was not suitably meshed with the Vampire story in order for it to be believable. Instead, we were treated at different intervals with big ballroom moves and lifts, percussive head rolls and what were meant to be sexy poses that had nothing to do with the actual Vampires in the story.

The story itself could use some shaping up. It pulls from different mythologies and lore concerning vampires, Greek motifs and even Christian theology. We learn that Sharpe had been Satan’s former Queen who is currently a Vampire with two other Vampire friends. She is bored with killing people and the same old thing, drinking blood. She meets and falls in love with a rock star who has made a deal with the devil in order to become famous. She has a choice to take his place in Hell with Satan or to abandon him to his fate and follow her own. This is all well and good but the narrative becomes a bit confusing when they refer to the Underworld, Satan having a “Queen,” Anzick selling his soul to the devil, etc. There is a mix of mythologies that is not clear throughout the story. The “Underworld” refers to the Greek realm of death and everlasting punishment or reward and is where Hades is King and Persephone his Queen. They do not have Vampires. Anzick is an Orpheus character charming everyone with his music. He is followed throughout the show by three women who are reminding him of his fate which would make them either the three furies or the three fates. This follows the Orphic scenario. Satan In Christian doctrine has no Queen. According to ancient texts and certain apocrypha he may have Lilith as his consort and is separate from Lucifer. Satan does not create Vampires, he is jealous of mankind. John Milton has a great deal to say about this as well.

Left to Right: Oksana Platero, Jonathan Platero, Erin Boheme, Pauler Lam, Magda Fialek, Timothy, Lewis in "Blood/Love" - Photo by Ross Catterton.

(Left to Right): Oksana Platero, Jonathan Platero, Erin Boheme, Pauler Lam, Magda Fialek, Timothy, Lewis in “Blood/Love” – Photo by Ross Catterton.

Now a musical can be about whatever one wants, it does not need to make sense to the casual audience member well versed in Vampire Lore, Greek Mythology, and early Christian Doctrine. But it would be so much better if it did! There is a great deal of Vampire stories out there in books and movies. Dracula, Dracula Untold, BBC Dracula, Nosferatu, Underworld, Blade, Twilight, the Ann Rice Vampire novels are just a few. It would seem to tackle this subject matter in a musical would require a more thorough comprehension of the genre. This show has a great beginning in the music. The songs as vehicles to forward the plot are all there. The plot needs to be as strong in the scenes and the singer/actors need to act physically during the show. That is why so many Broadway personalities are triple threats. They can sing and act and dance.

Also know your venue. There is an important scene where Hunt overdoses and Sharpe runs to his side to help him. He slipped to the floor and her whole monologue was down on the floor with him while 90% of the audience could not see it. Only those in the nearest aisle had the chance to actually view the interaction. Granted, the Crimson venue was small and difficult for traffic amongst the players. There were other areas and a set of stairs right behind them where the scene would have been seen by all. Although the songs spoke of great events and time passed there was not the commensurate desire in the acting during the songs or scenes. These were not entities whose very existence depended on the blood of humans in order to survive. They were not engaged in the desperate thirst for blood nor in its passionate, supernatural effects once acquired.

Carey Sharpe in "Blood/Love" - Photo by Ross Catterton.

Carey Sharpe in “Blood/Love” – Photo by Ross Catterton.

The live musicians were excellent and helped to elevate the experience. There were two on guitar on either side of the stage. There was also a hauntingly beautiful electric violin solo by Sharpe during a quiet moment on the chaise lounge, it was cut off after only one phrase. It was as if the director thought the audience would get bored by it. That was a missed moment with just her and the violin playing out her angst and turmoil instead of telling us about it. Happily, there are more shows with the possibility of smoothing out some of the details mentioned here.

The dancers were: Magdalena Fialek, Timothy Lewis, Katie Lee and the husband and wife team choreographers, Jonathan and Oksana Platero. Sadly, there was no program and therefore no way to acknowledge the two guitarists and the three fates.

Blood/Love continues through 19, 2024. For more information and to purchase tickets, please their website.


Written by Brian Fretté for LA Dance Chronicle.

Featured image: Left to Right: Alexander J. Brown, Brennin Hunt, Yaina Peguero in Blood/Love – Photo by Ross Catterton.