New for Halloween 2024: Vampire rock opera Blood/Love
Blood/Love is a vampire rock opera (or “popera” as the publicity material would have it) scheduled for a six-week engagement starting later this month at the Crimson in Hollywood. The story follows Valerie Bloodlove, the original vampire, who has grown weary of immortality until she meets Anzick, a musician who has sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for success and stardom.
The evening’s immersive entertainment begins with vampires roaming the gothic nightclub’s cocktail lounge before the show moves into the theatre. Following the performance, an after-party is available in the Crimson’s night club, The Atrium. (The presentation recalls Hollywood and Vamp at the Bourbon Room in 2021, reviewed here.)
Carey Sharpe, who stars as Valerie, provided the musical’s book and music in collaboration with Dru DeCaro, with additional Music by Erin Boehme and Adam “Snake” Kobylarz. Jonathan & Oksana Platero stage the choreography. Daniel LeClaire directs and produces. The cast also features Cam Anthony, Brennin Hunt, and Daniel Franzese.
Blood/Love runs from September 26 to Saturday, November 2. Performances take place Thursday through Saturday until October 19, with additional Wednesday shows from October 23 onward. Start times are 7pm and 9:30pm nightly. Tickets are $59 for general admission; VIP seating is available.
The Crimson is located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, on the first floor. Get more information at bloodlove.com.
Read more information from the press release.
Blood/Love had its original production in 2022 at The Howard in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hometown theatre to Sharpe, LeClaire, and Boehme, where Sharpe and Boehme performed leading roles under LeClaire’s direction. They take the stage again to repeat their assignments in this new Hollywood production. Blood/Love also had a sold-out concert version in January 2024 at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre in New York City.
Writer and producer Carey Sharpe said to Broadwayworld, “Everybody loves vampires. They’re always popular: they’re sexy, they’re cool. And they are ultimately human, or they at least were human. This is about when the conundrums of life are enlarged by having to negotiate a life going on forever — the amplification of human nature.”
“A pact with the devil takes on a new dimension – giving these creatures plenty to sing about, now influenced with pop and rock genres. It turns out that the emotional life for vampires is not much di erent than for those of us with shorter life spans — and the action and score were influenced by goings on in our personal lives, during COVID lockdown when we were creating Blood/Love.”
“The story then all fits together because it was really driven by songs about our feelings at the time. For example, ‘Dead to Me’ is basically a fight between two best friends that have been friends for eternity because they are vampires, the breakdown of their relationship with betrayal, anger and hurt. But it’s not of a romantic nature, it’s just their friendship and how painful that can be.”
