Dracula, The Musical

Book and Lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black
Based on the novel by Bram Stoker
Original Direction by Des McAnuff

Drink deep... and live forever! Join us for a terrifying and passionate new musical based on one of the most frightening novels ever written.

Des McAnuff, artistic director at the La Jolla Playhouse, has brought together the extraordinary creative team of Christopher Hampton, Don Black and Frank Wildhorn for this project. Together, they have created Dracula, The Musical, a thrilling drama of suspense and a Gothic romance of dreamlike temptation. Set in Europe at the end of the Victorian Age, the production follows Dracula's lust for new blood and a small band of mortal men and women who must face his overwhelming seduction and mesmeric supernatural powers.

Performing rights for Dracula have just been released by Music Theatre International. Stagings will be listed on the Dracula productions page as they are announced. You can find more information and request a license on the MTI website.

Broadway production photography by Joan Marcus.

San Diego, California, USA: The world premiere of Dracula, The Musical took place at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California. The show ran from 13 October through 25 November 2001, officially opening on 21 October. The show played to 115% capacity during its run at La Jolla, and had the highest paid capacity for any world premiere production in the Playhouse's history.

Belasco Theatre, New York, USA: Dracula ran at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway from 30 July 2004 through 2 January 2005. The show officially opened on 19 August, and played a total of 22 previews and 157 performances. The production starred Tom Hewitt as Dracula, Melissa Errico as Mina and Kelli O'Hara as Lucy. Production photos are available on Playbill Online

St. Gallen, Switzerland: The European premiere of Dracula, The Musical took place at the Stadttheater in St. Gallen (St. Gall), Switzerland. The show played a first season of performances from 23 April 2005 through 29 June 2005, and a second season from 13 September 2005 through 2 January 2006. Matthias Davids directed, Koen Schoots (Frank's Musical Supervisor in Europe) was musical director, and Kurt Schrepfer was choreographer. Roman Hinze provided the German translation for the show.

The cast for this production included Thomas Borchert (Jekyll & Hyde in Vienna) as Dracula, Drew Sarich as the alternate Dracula, Ann Christin Elverum as Mina Murray, Caroline Vasicek and then Nicole Sieger as Lucy Westenra, Jesper Tydén as Jonathan Harker, Chris Murray as Abraham Van Helsing, Stephan Vinzberg as Renfield, Martin Pasching as Arthur Holmwood, Alen Hodzovic as Jack Seward, Frank Winkels as Quincey Morris, and Marion Furtner, Ines Hengl-Pirker and Anna Thorén as Ensemble members.

Photos from opening night have been posted in the Project Photo Gallery. Additional production photos have been posted on several websites, including: Ann Christin Elverum's Site, Chris Murray's Site, Drew Sarich's Site, and Martin Pasching's Club Site.

West Windsor, New Jersey, USA: Cheng/Ferrara Productions and Mercer County Community College's Kelsey Theatre presented a new production of Dracula, The Musical at the Kelsey Theater, 20-31 October 2006. The cast was led by David Weitzer as Count Dracula (by special arrangement with Actor's Equity Association), Michaela Tomcho as Mina Murray and Charlene Angelini as Lucy Westenra. For a complete cast list and production photo gallery, visit the Cheng/Ferrara Productions Website.

This staging was the premiere of a newly revised version of the show, including songs not heard in the Broadway production. It was also the non-equity premiere of the show. It had new orchestrations by Nicholas Cheng (Frank's assistant), and Frank himself was directly involved in the development of the production. The show was directed by Frank Ferrara and choreographed by Jillian Potash

Graz, Austria: Dracula had its Austrian premiere at the Musical Festival Graz. Performances took place at 8:30 pm nightly, on 8 (preview), 9 (premiere), 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 21-25 August 2007. Thomas Borchert (Dracula), Caroline Vasicek (Lucy) and Jesper Tydén (Jonathan) all reprised their roles from the St. Gallen production. They were joined by Uwe Kröger (Rebecca) as Van Helsing and Lyn Liechty (Jekyll & Hyde) as Mina. The staging was directed by Andreas Gergen (from Schlossparktheater in Berlin), with musical direction and new orchestrations by Koen Schoots (Frank's European Musical Supervisor) and choreography by Michael Reardon (Rudolf in Budapest). A new German translation was provided by Herwig Thelen. Photos have been posted at rolfbock.at.

Regional Productions: Local and regional stagings of Dracula began in 2010, with stagings in the U.S., Canada and beyond. You can find details in the Calender Section of this site.

Hong Kong, China: Face Productions presented a youth production of Dracula at the Shouson Theatre at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, on 3 and 4 July 2010. The show was presented in English. More information is available on the Face Productions website.

Here's the list from the world premiere production at the La Jolla Playhouse in California:

Act One:
Prologue	Jonathan
A Quiet Life	Dracula
One More Lonely Night	Jonathan, Mina
First Taste	Vampire Girls, Jonathan
Fresh Blood	Dracula, Ensemble
The Master's Song	Renfield, Ensemble
How Do You Choose?	Lucy, Mina, Quincey, Jack, Arthur, Ensemble
The Mist	Lucy
The Mist (Reprise)	Dracula
One More Lonely Night (reprise)	Mina, Jonathan
The Wedding Song	Company
Nosferatu	Van Helsing
The Invitation	Lucy
Prayer For The Dead	Company
Van Helsing's Proposal	Van Helsing
Finale Act One	Van Helsing, Arthur, Quincey, Jack, Jonathan, Mina, Dracula
Act Two:
The Mist (reprise)	Mina
Risks Worth Taking	Van Helsing, Jonathan, Quincey, Jack, Arthur, Mina
The Master's Song (reprise)	Renfield, Dracula
The Heart Is Slow To Learn	Mina
There's Always A Tomorrow	Dracula, Mina
Deep In The Darkest Night	Van Helsing, Quincey, Arthur, Jack, Jonathan, Mina, Ensemble
Before The Summer Ends	Jonathan
I'll Be Waiting For You	Dracula, Mina
Deep In The Darkest Night (reprise)	Quincey, Arthur, Jack, Jonathan
The Heart Is Slow To Learn (reprise)	Mina
Finale	Dracula, Mina

Here's the list from the Broadway production, which took place at the Belasco Theatre in 2004:

Act One:
Prelude	Jonathan
A Quiet Life	Dracula
Over Whitby Bay	Jonathan, Mina
Forever Young	Vampire Girls
Fresh Blood	Dracula
The Master's Song	Renfield, Jack
How Do You Choose?	Lucy, Mina, Quincey, Jack, Arthur, Company
The Mist	Lucy
Modern World	Company
A Perfect Life	Mina
The Weddings	Company
Prayer for the Dead	Company
Life After Life	Dracula, Lucy
Act Two:
The Heart Is Slow to Learn	Mina
The Master's Song (reprise)	Renfield, Dracula
If I Could Fly	Mina
There's Always A Tomorrow	Dracula, Mina
Deep in the Darkest Night	Van Helsing, Quincy, Jack, Arthur, Jonathan, Mina
Before the Summer Ends	Jonathan
The Longer I Live	Dracula
All Is Dark/Life After life (reprise)	Dracula, Mina
Finale	Dracula, Mina

Dracula, The Musical is based on the novel by Bram Stoker

Des McAnuff (Original Director) was just recently named the permanent artistic director at the La Jolla Playhouse, this being his second term. He was serving as an interim artistic director for the 2001 season, when this announcement was made on March 12. McAnuff's first tenure as artistic director at the La Jolla spread from the theatre's rebirth in 1983 through 1994. During that time the theater earned over 200 awards, including the 1993 Tony Award for "America's Outstanding Regional Theatre." Among the 21 productions he directed during these years were How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which played on Broadway for sixteen months starting in 1995; The Who's Tommy which went on to both Broadway and London, winning McAnuff Tony and Olivier Awards as Best Director of a Musical; and Big River which played on Broadway from 1985 to 1987 and won a Tony for Best Musical, as well as garnering McAnuff a second Tony for Best Director of a Musical.

From left to right: Des McAnuff, Frank,
Don Black, Christopher Hampton

Christopher Hampton (Book and Lyrics)'s plays, screenplays and translations have won him world-wide acclaim. He wrote such prestigious works as Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Philanthropist and Savages, all of which have been staged both in London and on Broadway. His writing credits also include Tartuffe, Tales from Hollywood, and Treats. He has done translations of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning Art, Chekov's Uncle Vanya, Moliere's Don Juan, and also Hedda Gabler and A Doll's House, both of which played Off-Broadway. He wrote the screenplays for the acclaimed films Dangerous Liaisons, for which he won an Academy Award; Total Eclipse, which he adapted from his own play; Mary Reilly, a twist on the tale of Jekyll and Hyde; and Carrington which he also directed.

Don Black (Book and Lyrics) has written over a hundred songs for movies, and is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber and also John Barry. His Broadway credits include lyrics for Merlin, Aspects of Love and Song and Dance (the song cycle from this is also known as Tell Me on a Sunday). His first musical was a collaboration with John Barry titled Billy. He and Barry are better known for writing several James Bond theme songs, including "Thunderball," "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Man With the Golden Gun." Black has written for such recording artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Smokey Robinson. He wrote the Olympics theme song "Amigos Para Siempre" with Webber. Black's other honors include an Academy Award for his song "Born Free" (written with Barry and originally performed by Sinatra), a Golden Globe Award and five Ivor Novello Awards.

Dracula is not the first time Christopher Hampton and Don Black have worked together. They collaborated on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. For this they earned Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score of a Musical.