Preview: Carey Sharpe Sinks Teeth Into Vampire Rock Popera, ‘Blood/Love,’ in Hollywood

Just in time for Halloween season is an original musical packing lots of bite, thanks to fangs that cut deep. Not just skin deep, either, but narratively in what is being dubbed a “vampire rock popera” with an underground, Underworld-esque feel. Over only a six-week span, from September 26th through November 2nd, Blood/Love will bewitch audiences for 75 minutes at the Crimson in Hollywood.

No scenic design could match the suitably spooky ambiance of the Crimson, which acts as a goth-inspired nightclub where attendees will sense they’re more than just bystanders, but summoned watchers of a story (interwoven with music and lyrics) by Carey Sharpe and Dru DeCaro, a Grammy Award-winning artist. With director Daniel LeClaire at the helm, Jonathan and Oksana Platero (of Dancing with the Stars fame) as choreographers, Cam Anthony (The Voice season 20 winner) as a performer, and the inclusion of many more with impressive résumés, Blood/Love is a force to be reckoned with.

Much of that has to do with Carey Sharpe, who, in addition to her key creative contributions, is also Blood/Love’s protagonist: Valerie Bloodlove. Like Lestat in Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, she is immortal; however, it’s not a gift that comes without a crushing curse.

As Satan’s erstwhile queen, inclusive of all the wicked glory accompanying that, Valerie has been resigned to a meaningless life, dependent on the incessant ravaging of people for survival. Notwithstanding encouragement from her vampiric peers, it is a mortal man named Anzick (Brennin Hunt of Fox’s RENT: Live), albeit with an everlasting soul, who wakes Valerie from her despondent stupor. The timelessness of his soul, too, is not without a catch: Anzick, in a pact with evil incarnate himself, traded it for virtuouso musicianship. As a dilemma grips the lifeblood of both Valerie and Anzick, bound as they are by their transformative romantic love, the production finds its oxygenated source of rejuvenating enlightenment.

In an interview with LAexcites, Sharpe, a classically trained violinist, elaborates on, among other topics, the route she took to enter the world of theater following a “former” life as a pediatric nurse, and, how, it was the 2022 premiere of Blood/Love in her home state of Wisconsin that precipitated the upcoming Hollywood run.

What was the genesis behind the Blood/Love concept and the notions of immortality, the soul, condemnation, and sacrifice? Did your lived experience with congenital heart disease inform any of these ideas?

Sharpe: I turned 41 this year, and I was already in my late 30s when we started this project, so I’m very much in my ‘midlife’ era, and I certainly don’t think I am in crisis but I do think I’ve had an awakening over the past few years. Certainly as someone who has had a serious health condition literally since the day I was born, and now even more so that I am a mother, my mortality has always loomed over me a bit, as I think it does for everyone particularly as we start to get older.

When you think about vampires and being immortal, I think it does pose an interesting question — would any of us really choose to live forever? My character, Valerie, is the first vampire and she is really struggling with this. She has grown ever tired of her never-ending life on earth and is realizing that maybe it wasn’t all that she bargained for. As a vampire she has been soulless and ruthless and is starting to feel like there has to be more to ‘life,’ and, ultimately, she is presented with a way to save a human while sacrificing herself and accepting that was her fate all along.

You earned graduate degrees in nursing/public health and had quite the 12-year career working in pediatric critical care. At one point did you realize that you wanted to change your trajectory, and did that coincide with the day you took your actual first step towards doing so? Did music and stories always lurk in the back of your mind? 

Sharpe: I loved every single minute working in pediatric critical care — there was never a single day in 12 years that I didn’t look forward to going to work (sometimes working 24-hour shifts) and it truly was the greatest honor to take care of my patients and their families, but I got really burned out. As you can imagine, caring for critically ill and often terminal patients can start to become very sad.

I knew it was time to step away when I started getting busy opening my own theater, The Howard, and I was working 16-hour night shifts and then spending all day caring for my young daughter and working to open my business — something had to give. Music really was my first love; I started playing violin when I was 3 and I was singing before I could even talk. I used to write silly musicals as a kid and make my entire extended family participate, so nobody was entirely shocked when I started working on my own show.

The first time I actually performed on stage again in 2022 I was terrified, and even though growing up I had performed hundreds of times, it had been 16 years since I had last done so. Dru and Erin (Boehme) have both been hugely supportive since day one, and Daniel and our choreographers, Jonathan and Oksana, have helped me build my confidence again and I feel like I am at least starting to catch up to all the seasoned pros around me.

It’s so fascinating that much of your professional experience has little to do with theater or music. Not that you necessarily planned it this way, but do you think would-be artists are potentially better served picking a major in college, and/or an alternate career, that is unrelated to the arts? 

Sharpe: Sometimes I do wish I had gone to music school. I turned down a scholarship to a local conservatory to study violin and vocal performance, but chose nursing school instead. But there is no way I’d be where I am today if I would have taken that path — the 18-year-old version of me would not have had the maturity or life skills to create the large-scale production that I have now put together, and I very possibly would have gotten sick of the music industry before making it to this point if I would have started sooner — it’s not easy!

So I can’t really say. I think everyone just has to find their own path in life; we’re all just figuring it out! There is no guide book.  I don’t regret a single decision I have made, and I’m just thrilled where we are at with this show — it’s very much a dream come true for me.

Along with Dru DeCaro, you’re responsible for the book, music, and lyrics of Blood/Love. Not to mention, you also play the lead in Valerie Bloodlove. What’s it been like juggling all that responsibility and, among the many “hats” you wear, do you have a favorite?

Sharpe: By far my favorite thing to do is perform! Honestly, that’s why I started this whole thing; I really just wanted to sing again and write music. It has gotten bigger than I first imagined and now I feel like the sky’s the limit.

I love creating, I love being on stage. I really believe I was meant to be here. I have an incredible team around me that I adore, so I have been able to take some of the hats off, and together we make this magic come to life. Every single person is critical to the success of this show!

If there is one theme or major takeaway you want audiences to come away with after experiencing Blood/Love, what would that be?

Sharpe: Obviously we created a darker take on it with Valerie being the original vampire and her connection to the Devil and the underworld, but really the show is about finding your purpose and loving the people in your life.

In our show we focus more on the long-term friendships between Valerie and her two vampire best friends, Cleo and Demetrius, but there is an element of romantic love, too. We also tried to convey the message that none of us are beyond redemption and we all have the opportunity every day to choose a different path if we think we are on the wrong one.

I wrote Valerie very much with my own life experiences and perspective as a middle-aged woman in mind — what is important to me now may be different from when I was younger. And I think it boils down to loving the deeply flawed humans around you and finding meaning in your day-to-day existence — that’s really what life is about for all of us.

Cover Image: Carey Sharpe in Blood/Love at the Crimson in Hollywood, CA. Photo by Graham Washatka

Blood/Love will run at the Crimson in Hollywood (6356 Hollywood Blvd., first floor) from Thurs, Sept. 26 through Saturday, Nov. 2nd. Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:00 and 9:30 pm. Signature craft cocktails will precede performances in the lounge; and, following the 9:30 pm performances, guests can take part in a a DJ after-party in the Atrium nightclub. For more information on the show, and to purchase tickets, visit bloodlove.com.