Presented by New World Stages
Author: Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen
Director: Gordon Greenberg
Original Music/Sound Design by Victoria Deiorio
Dialect coaching by Jerome Butler
Intimacy direction by Judi Lewis Ockler
Puppetry design by Tijana Bjelajac
Schedule of Performances
New World Stages / Stage 5
340 West 50th Street
New York NY 10019
1 hour and 30 minutes, no intermission
Review by Kitty Drexel
NEW YORK — Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is cutely queer. It isn’t in New England yet, but it could be when the rights become available. Performances are ongoing at New York’s New World Stages through November.
This Dracula, like so many of its predecessors, tackles Bram Stoker’s most famous novel with a modern spin and blatant sexual references. Persons seeking a severe homage to either the novel in letters or the 1992 film with Winona Rider and Gary Oldman should look elsewhere. This play lacks depth but makes up for it with absurd puppetry and the clever execution of thoughtful props.
Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is silly and justly serves an audience seeking diversion with an LGBTQ+ edge. There is nothing wrong with this. Entertaining entertainment has high value in a society that makes us question our innate homophobia, racism, and other hates/fears. If it takes our collective minds off of a world on fire and an already pointless election, more the better.
Dracula (James Daly) is queer and loving it. With a coming-and-going European accent straight out of the Keanu Reeves school of acting, Dracky moves to London to find a new abode and LOVE. Jonathan Harker (Andrew Keenan-Bolger) assists Dracky in moving. Drac sees a photo of Lucy (Jordan Boatman), and gets lost in her neck, er, eyes. Her father, Dr. Westfeldt (Ellen Harvey) and sister Mina (Arnie Burton as the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen) try to protect Lucy. They discover that the only way to defeat Drackums is to kill him with LOVE and some murder, obviously.
Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors has a cast of five. Actors (who aren’t Dracky) double and triple their roles. They move the story and perform feats of physical and emotional comedy. This show is perfect for four actors with comedic chops and one gigantically tall actor with 5% body fat and abs for days who doesn’t mind a bit of casual sexual objectification. It wouldn’t hurt box office sales to have one of those hanging around.
