The Blood Count Is Down

LA JOLLA —  High in the Carpathian Mountains, in a castle whose corridors echo with the sound of Frank Wildhorn music, the Count describes himself as someone “not attuned to mirth.” The same goes for “Dracula, the Musical,” now in its world premiere engagement at the La Jolla Playhouse. The collaborators behind this tastefully flashy enterprise take their vampire myths seriously, as did Bram Stoker, whose 1897 novel inspired a century of sequels and unholy offspring.

Perpetually on the move, this “Dracula” is watchable. Director Des McAnuff stages it to within an inch of its un-death. And those fearing the aural Gothic lard of Wildhorn’s “Jekyll & Hyde,” or the bombast of “The Civil War,” may be surprised at Wildhorn’s comparatively muted soundscape here.

But “Dracula” lacks a certain something that says, in effect: Sing, you sinners! Despite all the forbidden love and ecstatic neck wounds, the ultra-familiar story never opens up into a realm of satisfying musical escapism, or even satisfying schlock. It’s more a musically illustrated picture book. In the more effective oogly-boogly moments, in fact, Wildhorn provides the background atmosphere (with an assist from incidental music composer and musical director Constantine Kitsopoulos), while the book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton fall silent. Zap, we’re hit with another visual effect. Here’s Dracula scooting up a windowpane. There’s that nifty self-propelling coach. Make way for McAnuff’s chorus of flying vampire chorines--applicants, apparently, for the Roger Corman cleavage-in-distress scholarship--moaning “aaaaaahhhhh-uhhhh, aaaaaahhhhh-uhhhhh,” and the like.

In this “Dracula,” quite faithful to Stoker, Jonathan Harker (Tom Stuart) has barely been introduced before he arrives at the castle of the Count (Tom Hewitt, lately of the Broadway “Rocky Horror Show”--the guy should buy his fangs in bulk). Dracula is readying plans to move to London. His I-want song, “A Quiet Life,” begs for, yes, “a quiet life, without fuss or complication.”

Harker’s intended, Mina (Jenn Morse), nearly falls under the spell of the Count, as has Mina’s strangely transformed friend, Lucy (Amy Rutberg). Harker is a classic Victorian dweeb just asking to be set upon. Dracula’s trio of harpies delivers its getting-to-know-you number, “First Taste,” while leading him into a foursie. Dracula gets in on his bloodlust action, yearning for the unsuspecting Mina by way of “Fresh Blood,” whose melody line owes a lot to Noel Coward’s “Someday I’ll Find You.”

So it goes. Any “Dracula” at this point in our popular culture carries with it a been-there, sucked-that quality. The usual suspects include bug-eating Renfield (William Youmans), who exhorts his master to “sing his song / sing it loud and strong.” (While he’s at it, he may as well make it simple and last his whole life long.) The plodding Dutchman, Van Helsing (Tom Flynn, honoring the Larry Olivier-Anthony Hopkins guess-the-dialect strategy), arrives just in time to shovel the exposition and order the garlic.

Librettists Black and Hampton heighten the importance of Mina by making her Dracula’s angel of mercy, rather than a mere observer of his demise. As well she should be; Hewitt’s Count, gliding through the role with steely charisma and a fine basso distrusto voice, owes everything to this woman. As he admits: “She makes me feel there’s more to life than blood.”

McAnuff’s staging harks back to an earlier collaboration with scenic designer John Arnone--”The Who’s Tommy”--in its fluid transitions and controlled energy. The set pieces--doors in Dracula’s lair, a divan just right for swooning--zoomp up from the floor, or glide in from the wings. Costume designer Catherine Zuber’s flowing period contributions recall Eiko Ishioka’s designs for the overheated Francis Coppola film version.

As in “Tommy,” McAnuff deliberately suppresses any applause moments; one scene scoots into the next, which in a rather cynical way ensures a huge hand at the end. Who’s it for, though? Even with an artfully plummy turn from Hewitt, “Dracula” is not a show in which the performers get noticed much. (Neither was “Tommy.”) You can’t not notice Howell Binkley’s insanely overeager lighting design, heavy on the isolated shafts and pools and dreamy effects.

For a good while, McAnuff’s stagecraft pushes the old story along. In Act 2, McAnuff opens up the rear of the stage for some lovely deep-focus effects. But after “Dracula” is said, dead and done, it dissolves in your head. All the visual sleight-of-hand can’t make up for a largely unremarkable score, excellent orchestrations by Michael Starobin and Doug Besterman notwithstanding. And there’s a downside to McAnuff’s tightly controlled methods; the actors feel like pieces in a slick but not terribly rewarding puzzle. And what’s with everyone flying around in harnesses all the time? I’m not saying the flying effects are excessive, but Dracula’s backup trio has already logged enough miles for an upgrade into a more exciting musical.

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“Dracula, the Musical,” La Jolla Playhouse, Mandell Weiss Theatre, University of California San Diego, La Jolla Village Drive at Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Nov. 25. $21-$65. (858) 550-1010 or https://www.lajollaplayhouse.com. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

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Tom Hewitt: Dracula

Jenn Morse: Mina Murray

Tom Stuart: Jonathan Harker

Amy Rutberg: Lucy Westenra

Tom Flynn: Abraham Van Helsing

William Youmans: Renfield

Joe Cassidy: Jack Seward

Lee Morgan: Quincey Morris

Chris Hoch: Arthur Holmwood

Jodi Stevens: First Vampire

Jenny-Lynn Suckling: Second Vampire

Emily Kosloski: Third Vampire

Michael Cullen/Angelo Scolari: Child

Margaret Ann Gates, Guy LeMonnier, Lynnette Marrero, Tracy Miller, Sara Tobin: Ensemble

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Book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Music by Frank Wildhorn. Directed by Des McAnuff. Choreography by Mindy Cooper. Musical direction Constantine Kitsopoulos. Orchestrations by Michael Starobin and Doug Besterman. Scenic design by John Arnone. Costumes by Catherine Zuber. Lighting by Howell Binkley. Sound by Acme Sound Partners. Projections by Michael Clark. Fight director Steve Rankin. Flying effects director Paul Rubin. Production stage manager Frank Hartenstein.