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What: Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors
Writers: by Gordon Greenberg, Steve Rosen
Director: Gordon Greenberg
Cast: Jordan Boatman, Arnie Burton, James Daly, Ellen Harvey, Andrew Keenan-Bolger
Where: New World Stages — Stage 5
340 West 50th Street
Run: Through January 7th, 2024
One thing you can count on every Halloween is an appearance of Dracula or, at least, some form of a vampire added to the mix. That could mean a re-run of the many classic films with the undead count such as Universal’s original version of “Dracula” (with Bela Lugosi) or Hammer’s “The Horror of Dracula” (with Christopher Lee). But this scary season doesn't necessarily require an appearance of the original bloodsucker himself. It could include some resurrection of his character in a movie, play or live visual presentation in some Haunted House.
In 1897, when Irish author Bram Stoker published his long-wrought novel “Dracula” for just six shillings, he didn’t realize that he’d created one of the most iconic figures of all time. Though this story of an aristocratic, undead mastermind was popular in its day, little did Stoker know that his blood-drinking, soulless monster of the night would become the source of countless permutations, reinterpretations, and re-examinations of this creature and its implications. There’s even aBram Stoker Festival in Dublin whichcelebrates the Gothic, the supernatural, the after-dark and Victorian as well as the Count himself.
Of course, along with Stoker’s horror classic, the inevitable humorous satires, parodies, and various send ups cropped up. From a tale of the ageless Count needing to leave his ancient homeland to resettle in England to tap fresh blood, the original gothic narrative has often been revised with sometimes hilarious results.
Now, through “Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors,” this battle with the master of the undead receives an outlandish rethink. Enabled by a compact, five-person cast — Jordan Boatman, Arnie Burton, James Daly, Ellen Harvey, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger — this rapid-fire comedic reimagining of this archetypal tale garners guffaws and lots of snickering.
Taking off from the original’s classic characters, they’re transformed into these versions: sweet Lucy Westfeldt, vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing, insect consumer Percy Renfield, and behavioral psychiatrist Wallace Westfeldt among others. Here they find themselves in a faux British country estate which doubles as a free-range mental asylum. With its cast of slapstick, quick change comics who switch roles with the aplomb of fast handed pickpockets, this “Dracula” not only makes you scream, it does it with laughter. The show also exposes a fundamental ridiculousness that illustrates just how resilient the original concept is: it can take jabs even at its core of terror and still retain a certain majestic-ness.
Through its compact 90-minute show, elements of goth, camp, and variant sexuality are thrown into a gender-bending, quick-change romp. With all the wacky characters, a pansexual Gen-Z Count Dracula tops the list of existentially challenged characters.
As a buddy of iconic gay Victorian author Oscar Wilde, the actual Stoker was believed to be a closeted gay man in a repressive England, so his novel was rife with suggestive sexuality and gender reversals. Director/co-writers Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s send-up of this novel is meant to be viewed through a very contemporary lens.
Just as the book transcended other Gothic horror of its day, this comedy rises above being simple holiday fare. Make your way to the Westside’s New World Stages for a comedic jab at the jugular.
For more information, visit www.DraculaComedy.com
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Philadelphia Orchestra. Photo by Chris Lee
At Carnegie Hall on the evening of Tuesday, October 17th, I had the incomparable pleasure to attend a superb concert presented by the outstanding musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra under the brilliant direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
The program began auspiciously with an excellent performance of Jennifer Higdon’s propulsive, impressively orchestrated Fanfare Ritmico from 1999. I include the composer’s comment on the piece here:
Fanfare Ritmico celebrates the rhythm and speed (tempo) of life. Writing this work on the eve of the move into the new millennium, I found myself reflecting on how all things have quickened as time has progressed. Our lives now move at speeds much greater than what I believe anyone would have ever imagined in years past. Everyone follows the beat of their own drummer, and those drummers are beating faster and faster on many different levels. As we move along day to day, rhythm plays an integral part of our lives, from the individual heartbeat to the lightning speed of our computers. This fanfare celebrates that rhythmic motion, of man and machine, and the energy which permeates every moment of our being in the new century.
Also remarkable, and even more memorable, was a masterful realization of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s extraordinary Symphonic Dances, his final work. The first movement, marked Non allegro, is dynamic and rhythmic following a brief, quiet opening—and with a more meditative middle section—but ends softly. The succeeding Andante con moto is charming and playful with some dramatic moments while the finale is exuberant for much of its length but with unusual, lyrical interludes and ends climactically.
Even stronger was the amazing second half of the event, a fabulous account of Rachmaninoff’s magnificent Symphony No. 2—with this composition, musical Romanticism reached its apogee. The Largo introduction to the opening Allegro moderato is subdued and solemn but the movement is leisurely for most of its development but acquires great emotional intensity as it becomes more turbulent. The eccentric ebullience of the ensuing scherzo—its tempo is Allegro molto—is offset by the movement’s song-like second theme and its Trio too is especially exciting. The stellar Adagio is incredibly beautiful in its melodious sumptuousness and features some pastoral echoes while the closing Allegro vivace is affirmative if with somber undercurrents.
The artists deservedly received an enthusiastic ovation.