New York audiences and press have been unkind to gothic rock and roll spoofs, from goofy sleepers like Zombie Prom and Zombies from the Beyond to the truly zany Bat Boy. That's not likely to change with Dance of the Vampires, a gigantic cauldron of puns, kitsch, heavy satire and shameless Mel Brooksian mugging that would be a lot more fun were it not so long and so aggravatingly LOUD (even non-musical dialogue is miked at teeth-rattling levels).
The eye-popping sets are something to behold, and the show's relentless desire to milk laughs wins us over in act one, but the last hour wants to play like surreal satirical melodrama (think Phantom-meets-Rocky Horror-meets-Urinetown) all at once. It's too much of a (sometimes) good thing, and again, why so LOUD?
