The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: Dracula – A Comedy of Terrors

By Ross

“I wouldn’t scoff if I were you,” we are told within the first few moments of the deliciously fun new play, Dracula – A Comedy of Terrors now taking a bite out of New World Stages in Manhattan. As written by Steve Rosen (Crime and Punishment – a Comedy) and director Gordon Greenberg (Broadway’s Holiday Inn), this bloody good comedy delivers its Transylvanian dirt with a hilariously inventive vengeance, especially when the Count himself is embodied by the delightfully hot and sexy James Daly (Shaw Festival’s Grand Hotel). Making his grand posed entrance inside a foggy mist sprayed ridiculously well into the air by a ever-so game cast of pros, Daly’s Dracula struts that ripped torso forward, giving us all numerous reasons to feel faint, and gladly exposing our necks just in case he’s feeling a bit peckish.

As directed with a feisty feel by Greenberg, this superbly funny comedy slashes its way through the story using clever calculated choices throughout. Backed by an able and flexible crew of solidly funny actors; the talented Jordan Boatman (BAM’s Medea) as Lucy (and others); the hilariously able Arnie Burton (Keen Co’s Lonely Planet) as Mina, Van Helsing (and others); the agile Ellen Harvey (Broadway’s Present Laughter) as Dr. Westfeldt, Renfield (and others); and the sneaky-sexy Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Broadway’s Tuck Everlasting) as Harker (and others), never fail what’s at stake. They all fly with a flurry over every quick change formulation that is thrown at them, easily winning each moment they step inside. Or through the window.

Thanks to the solid fun work by scenic and puppetry designer Tijana Bjelajac (La MaMa’s Living in the Exile), with delightfully ingenious costuming by Tristan Raines (Muny’s Guys and Dolls), a perfect lighting design by Rob Denton (Muny’s Chess), and some delectable original music and sound design by Victoria Deiorio (St. Clement’s A Christmas Carol), Dracula – A Comedy of Terrors delivers on its promise, finding the funny vein every opportunity given. Burton, as the uglier sister to Boatman’s wonderfully sharp Lucy, is a profoundly great hoot, giving so much more than we initially think is possible from such a characterization. It’s never-ending in its strangely emotional but ridiculously funny embodiment. Harvey marvels at every turn of a wig, swinging herself around as if her life depended on it. And Keenan-Bolger excels, surprising us all with his sexy solicitor stance once bitten, after playing it so well straight-laced and naive. I only, selfishly, wish both he and Daly gave us a bit more eroticism in their alliance…and maybe a bit more shirtlessness.

I’m not exactly sure why, but I kept wondering why this superb comedy wasn’t a musical, to be honest. But the play on words and frameworks is deliciously decadent and never-failing, almost musical in its hilarity, much like the fizzy musical farce further downtown led by the unsinkable Céline “Fu**ing” Dion and her doomed Titanique. But this boat is far from doomed. It swings fast and funny, hilariously drawing blood by the most perfect of casts. And we gladly give ourselves over to this silly and sexy Dracula – A Comedy of Terrors. Hoping that he might take a big old bite out of us. “Is anyone else dizzy?”

For more information and tickets, click here.