The cast was picked from 430 actors who arrived from all over Hungary, said producer Edit Simon.
Jim Steinman, who has written such international hits as ?Total Eclipse of the Heart?, composed the music for ?Dance of the Vampires? and the libretto was written by Michael Kunze. The musical has been performed to great acclaim in Vienna, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Tokyo and Berlin.
Simon has been preparing for the Hungarian premiere of the musical for two years. The production team includes director Cornelius Baltus, who has worked with Polanski at almost every premiere of the musical, choreographer Dennis Callahan from New York?s Radio Hall, and the renowned Hungarian stage and costume designer Kentaur. The libretto has been translated and adapted by Tibor Miklós.
The budget for the production will be around HUF 200 million, said Simon. The Hungarian Theatre has been rented out for one year, and the contract contains an option to extend this for another year. The production will performed about 100 times a year.
The production will be run with two alternating casts and a third backup cast.
The first Budapest cast will include Géza Egyházi as Count Krolock, Zsanet Andrádi as Sarah and László Sánta as Alfred. Other players are Csaba Jegercsik, Béla Pavletits, Tímea Kecskés, Dávid Pirgel and Judit Dobos. The second cast will include Sándor Nagy, Dóra Stróbel and János Szemenyei in the lead roles.
Polanski has consulted with the heads of the production in Budapest three times so far, said Simon.
