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Show History
History
Inspiration
Dracula The Musical was conceived by Christopher Hampton, Frank Wildhorn and Des McAnuff; Hampton and Don Black wrote the book and lyrics, while Wildhorn wrote the music. It is based on the famous horror novel, Dracula by Bram Stoker, which tells the story of vampire Count Dracula's attempted move from Transylvania to England. The creators made small changes from the original story to concentrate on the unique romance between Dracula and Mina. Most notably, Dracula in the musical asks Mina to kill him to avoid condemning her to live in death, whereas Dracula in the novel is stabbed by two different men who had been hunting him.
Productions
Dracula The Musical premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in a developmental engagement from October 9, to November 25, 2001, featuring Tom Hewitt in the title role. After rave reviews and playing to 115% capacity, the musical underwent several revisions and workshops before premiering on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre on August 19, 2004. Des McAnuff directed the production that once again starred Hewitt. It ran for 157 performances and 22 previews before closing on January 2, 2005.
Dracula made its international debut in Switzerland at Theater St. Gallen on April 23, 2005. The score was greatly revised with six new songs, which composer, Frank Wildhorn, apparently always wanted for the Broadway production. Another production soon followed in August 2007 at the Graz Summer Festival in Austria. In addition, the musical has made international debuts in the UK (March 2010, The Lowther Pavillion in Lancashire), Canada (October 2011, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta), Serbia (March 2010, Theatre Dzep in Novi Sad), and Scandanavia (February 2014 in Kristianstad, Sweden). In July 2014, Dracula made its Asian debut with a production in Seoul, South Korea.
Cultural Influence
- The La Jolla production of Dracula earned the highest paid capacity for any world premiere show in the venue's history.
- The costumes for the Broadway production of Dracula are on display at the Costume World Broadway Collection in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Trivia
- Celebrities that have starred in Dracula (aside from those listed above) include: Kelli O'Hara (Lucy), Melissa Errico (Mina), Drew Sarich (Dracula), Norm Lewis (Van Helsing/Jack), William Youmans (Renfield), Darren Ritchie (Jonathan), Kate Shindle (Mina), Rob Evan (Jonathan), Don Stephenson (Renfield), Thomas Borchert (Dracula), James Stacy Barbour (Dracula), Uwe Krger (Van Helsing), Jesper Tydn (Jonathan), Caroline Vasicek (Lucy), Euan Morton (Renfield) and Lauren Kennedy (Lucy).