Stage Review: Nocturne Theatre draws fresh blood with Dracula: The Musical

Like Dracula himself, the critically reviled Broadway bomb refuses to die, and Nocturne Theatre shows why

After leaping headlong into horror with last year’s production of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, Meyer2Meyer Entertainment follows up with another Frank Wildhorn musical based on a Victorian horror story. Over two decades ago, Broadway critics staked Dracula: The Musical to a quick, ignoble death, but like its immortal vampire namesake, the show refused to remain buried, rising from the grave to take the stage in dozens or productions around the world.

Those seeking to understand the undead afterlife of this critically reviled Broadway bomb will find a convincing explanation at the Nocturne Theatre. Dracula: The Musical effectively telescopes Bram Stoker’s lengthy novel into a two-hour-and-thirty-minute stage production (with intermission) while transfusing fresh blood into the familiar tale via rousing songs that makes what’s old seem new again. Brought to life with the theatre company’s signature style – great vocal performances, imaginative costumes and creature design, clever theatre-in-the-round staging – this is Nocturne’s best horror/fantasy musical production to date.

Stage Review: Dracula: The Musical: From Broadway Death to Worldwide Resurrection

In some respect, Dracula: The Musical reversed the traditional trajectory, in which musicals might take a decade or more of workshops and local productions before reaching Broadway. Perhaps buoyed by the four-year run of of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical at the Plymouth Theatre (1997 to 2001), Frank Wildhorn managed to get his new Victorian horror musical from its 2001 debut at  La Jolla Playhouse in California to Broadway in only three years. That may have been too soon, as it came nowhere near matching its predecessor’s success.

It did, however, inspired a similar critical panning. “Drek-ula,” opined Theatre Mania’s August 19, 2004 review. “Juiceless, joyless, and — inexcusable for an adaptation of a classic thriller — shockless.” This reaction gives a clue as to why the production folded after four months; ironically, it may also hint at why the musical went on to later success: Broadway critics hated Wilderhorn’s work regardless of how will it could appeal to ticket buyers. As Broadway World’s Michael Dale wrote of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, it appeals to “people who typically don’t go to musicals.”

What is somewhat surprising about the negative press is that Wilderhorn was working with award-winning pros: lyricist Don Black (Goldfinger, Born Free) and playwright Christopher Hampton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses). Their book and lyrics included many often omitted elements of Stoker’s novel, which should have made the story stronger; instead, critics complained that they made sense only to readers of the book.

In any case, Wilderhorn and his collaborators went back to work, revising Dracula: The Musical, which was first resurrected  as a “concept recording” in 2005, featuring new songs (written for but omitted from the Broadway production), new orchestrations, and new performers. (There never was an original Broadway cast recording.) Unreleased to the public at the time, this was presumably a way of promoting the much revised show to theatre companies. James Barbour (who had memorably played the lead in the NoHo Theatre’s 2004 production of The Ghost and Mrs, Muir) played the Count, and listening to his powerful voice would certainly have whetted one’s appetite for producing the show. The recoding eventually made its debut to the public in 2011 as a digital album (billed as “The Studio Cast Recording”), later available on CD.

In the meantime, the new, improved show made its international debut in Switzerland in 2005. This was followed two years later by a production in Graz, Austrai, which gave us a complete cast recording of the now officially licensed version of the musical (replacing the Broadway original). Since then, productions have followed in Canada, Germany, Serbia, Japan, England, Sweden, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, along with a few in America. In fact, barely a year goes by without Dracula: The Musical rising from the grave somewhere in the world. Korea, in particular, seems to have a fascination with the show, having produced no less than four versions since 2014 (usually featuring a young actor in leather pants and brightly dyed hair as the Count). Many of these productions are available on YouTube for those wanting to check out how they differ from Nocturne Theatre’s production.

Stage Review: Dracula: The Musical: On Stage at the Nocturne

So, how does Nocturne Theatre resurrect this critically reviled vampire? With bloody bravado and ravishing relish.

Wilderhorn’s music has been called “derivative” but it adds emotional notes to plot points and characterizations, which the cast use to revive and energize this oft-told story for a modern audience. Performers use “Over Whitby Bay” to bring a touch of wistful romance to Jonathan Harker and Mina, whose relationship is somewhat bland in the novel. Justin Meyer sinks his teeth into “Fresh Blood,” which sweeps up listers with the realization of why the Count wants to leave Transylvania (something only vaguely hinted by Stoker): the fearful locals know how to protect themselves from him, but in London he will be another face in the crowd, able to hunt unsuspecting victims at will. You really feel his need – his thirst, if you will – for the revivifying sanguinary prospects ahead of him.

Considering Meyer2Meyer Entertainment’s penchant for visual flair, it is no surprise that the gaudy depictions here recall the florid look of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This makes perfect sense; Wilderhorn’s musical also takes a few cues from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film; however, the Nocturne production really leans into it, with corsets worthy of Victoria’s Secret and seductive vampire attacks that are overtly sexual instead of suggestively so. And just to really drive the point home, Meyer’s Dracula appears as an upright-walking, human-sized bat, as Gary Oldman did. (The design here is not a copy, just similar in concept, and it is fabulous.)

Having a clear unifying concept is a good way to keep a production from spinning off in too many directions, but in this case it has an unfortunate side effect. The opening instrumental  music has been used by previous productions in various ways (often to suggest Harker’s ride to Dracula’s castle). Here, it is rendered as background music for a prologue depicting the Count as a warrior (presumably Vlad the Impaler) during his human lifetime. As in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, he succumbs to vampirism after his wife is killed, and this Transylvanian bride sure resembles the Mina he will meet centuries later in England.

This is not a plot point in Stoker’s story, but that’s not the real problem. The problem is that the musical depicts the Count as a ravenous predator eager to feed on helpless victims until after he falls in love with Mina. He is not a forlorn lover crossing “oceans of time” to reunite with his lost love; he is a monster redeemed by love. Wilderhorn, Black, and Hampton’s take is the more interesting one, and its impact delivers a thrilling, very bloody climax at the Nocturne.  It’s just that introducing the reincarnation motif blurs what should be a very clean character arc for the Count, from the depths of darkness to the light of redemption.

Stage Review: Dracula -The Musical: Conclusion

Quibbles over the Prologue aside, this production of Dracula: The Musical delivers a red gushing geyser of lascivious vampire entertainment. It’s a flamboyant approach, more bold and colorful than grimly Gothic, and it works. It’s not just the costumes and creatures. The small set pieces help clarify changes in locations, as characters appear in the bow of a ship, or Dracula serenades Mina from a balcony overhead. playing his own accompaniment – live – on piano.

The live accompaniment extends to the rest of the score, which is performed by a small rock ensemble: bass, keyboards, drums, and electric guitar. This is the first Nocturne musical production we have seen using live musicians instead of recorded music, and it is electrifying. The songs themselves provide all the notes the singers need to push the audience’s emotional buttons, ranging from suspense to horror to romance. (Sitting in the last row, we had slight trouble understanding all the lyrics, but other than that there is not a bad seat in the house.)

Perhaps because of Christopher Hampton’s influence, the drama of Dracula: The Musical is more well delineated than in Wilderhorn’s Jekyll-and-Hyde adaptation. As the musical’s libretto squeeze a lot of plot into a relatively condensed running time, this production squeezes a multitude of events into its relatively modest space, doing so in ways the flow naturally from scene to scene, without the benefit of a curtain drop. It’s a musical that does not rely on songs to gloss over plot holes, and in the hands of the cast and crew here, it yields one of the most enjoyable stage productions of the Dracula story we have ever seen.

Dracula: The Musical at Nocturne Theatre Photo Gallery

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