The Shows
There are three different versions of Tanz der Vampire. First Roman Polanski released his film The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon me but your teeth are in my neck (German title Tanz der Vampire) in 1967. The film was a parody of the horror films being mass produced at the same time by companies such as Hammer from the United Kingdom. In 1997 Jim Steinman and Michael Kunze worked together to create the German musical comedy based on Polanski's film. The musical was first performed in Vienna, Austria, subsequently moving to theatres in Stuttgart and Hamburg, Germany as well as performances in Estonia. In the December of 2002 the American production Dance of the Vampires was first performed on Broadway. Though using many of the same music and characters from the original German musical the story and script was changed dramatically and eventually failed the show.