Musical ‘Lestat’ to get a makeover

Can a musical about vampires -- with music by Elton John -- rise from the dead after reviewers called it lifeless, dreary and dull and did their best to drive wooden stakes through its heart?

That’s the problem facing “Lestat,” a Broadway-bound musical based on Anne Rice’s bestselling “The Vampire Chronicles,” which just finished a six-week run in San Francisco, grossing $4.3 million but at the expense of those life-threatening reviews.

The producers of “Lestat” are revamping the show and hope that a newly hired creative consultant can revive it. They have pushed its New York opening back from April 13 to April 25, with previews beginning March 25.

To breathe life into the play, the producers, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, tapped Jonathan Butterell to join as a creative consultant as the musical undergoes revisions. Butterell’s Broadway credits include “The Light in the Piazza” and the recent revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.”