Etude: The Vampire Musical – Playing at the Des Plaines Theatre Through Nov. 3

150 years ago in the secluded mountains of France there lived a legendary and reclusive pianist and composer, a talent so prodigious that leading musicians, poets and philosophers traveled far and wide to study with this master. His name was Alkan. Everything about his existence is shrouded in mystery, including his “accidental” death in 1888. For you see he did not die…he survives to this very day as a vampire.

Our tale begins in Paris in the mid-19th century. Alkan suffers from a fatal disease that is consuming his body. The beautiful Regine, a vampire, appears, tells him she loves him and that she can save him. He accepts her dark gift and she makes him a vampire like herself. Alkan becomes the artist that he was meant to be, and his fame spreads far and wide.

Time passes and their notoriety grows. Other vampires, including the young and vivacious Colette, seek them out, and Alkan and Regine become the rulers of an ever growing kingdom of the undead. Composers pilgrimage to their hermitage in the French Alps, offering their blood in exchange for knowledge and power. Unknowingly, their careless nocturnal activities have attracted the attention the vampire hunters, a band of holy crusaders split into two rival factions led by Duvall and Jonas Schecter. Regine and Alkan swear eternal love to each other saying “Even death cannot keep us apart.” In a series of battles, Regine is killed. Alkan suffers in despair for the next 100 years awaiting his beloved’s return.

Alkan and Colette flee to America, ever pursued by the undaunted vampire hunters. In the 1980s Alkan and Colette become rock stars. By chance, Alkan is introduced to Ian Hunter and Claire, struggling musicians. Claire is the spitting image of Regine. Summarily dismissed, Hunter is approached by the eccentric Jonas Schechter, mysteriously still alive. He indicates that Claire is in grave danger.

Hunter is shocked to learn that Alkan, the focus of Claire’s affection, is one of the most powerful vampires of all time, and he reluctantly allies himself with Schecter. Alkan and Claire fall in love, and Claire reveals that she is dying of AIDS. Alkan “saves” her as he was saved. Jonas Schecter’s plot comes to fruition resulting in an epic battle…

…and they died happily ever after.