Elton John’s ‘Lestat’ closing Sunday

updated 8:06 p.m. ET May 23, 2006

NEW YORK - They’re driving a stake through the heart of “Lestat.”

The $10 million Elton John-Bernie Taupin musical inspired by Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” will close Sunday after a disappointing run of 39 performances.

The show opened April 25 to negative reviews and has seen its box-office grosses steadily sink since then. Last week, for example, the expensive show, which stars Hugh Panaro as the neck-chomping vampire, grossed $448,525, playing to only 53 percent capacity at the Palace Theatre.

“Lestat” didn’t fare well with Tony nominations either. It received only two, one for Carolee Carmello (who plays Lestat’s mother) in the featured-actress category and the other for Susan Hilferty’s lavish costumes.

John wrote the music for “Lestat” and Taupin supplied the lyrics.

“Lestat” is John’s third Broadway musical, following his success with “Aida” and “The Lion King.” The pop star also contributed the music to the current London hit “Billy Elliot.”

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