Dracula: A Chamber Musical is a 1997 Canadian musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 adaptation of Bram Stoker's

Bram Stoker

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

 1897 novel Dracula

Dracula

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...

. The book and lyrics are by Richard Ouzounian

Richard Ouzounian

Richard Ouzounian is a Canadian journalist and theatre artist. He is currently the chief theatre critic for the Toronto Star and the Canadian theatre correspondent for Variety.-Life and career:...

 and the music and orchestration are by Marek Norman. After premiering at the Neptune Theatre

Neptune Theatre (Halifax)

The Neptune Theatre is the largest professional theatre company in Atlantic Canada with a capacity of 497 and is located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It performs a mixture of new and classical plays....

 in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, in 1997, Dracula in 1999 became the first Canadian musical to be staged at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Dracula was a popular success, enjoying a six-month run. Ouzounian, who was head of creative arts programming for TVOntario

TVOntario

TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...

, arranged for the musical to be filmed and broadcast in collaboration with CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

. The special earned Juan Chioran a 2000 Gemini Award

Gemini Award

The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...

 for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series for his portrayal of the title role. Dracula has since been staged in regional theatres across the United States and Canada.

Act I

Jonathan Harker

Jonathan Harker

Jonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the...

, a young solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

, travels from England to Transylvania to finalize a contract for Count Dracula

Count Dracula

Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...

 to purchase Carfax Abbey. Harker is held captive in Dracula's castle for several weeks before escaping. He sends a telegram to his fiancée, Mina Murray

Mina Harker

Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...

, who joins him in Budapest, where they are married. Mina's friend Lucy Westenra

Lucy Westenra

Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931...

 accepts the marriage proposal of Harker's friend Dr Jack Seward, but their idyll is shattered by escaped lunatic Renfield

Renfield

R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,...

, who warns that his master is coming for Lucy. She is soon seduced and bitten by Dracula, who has arrived in England and fallen in love with her. As Lucy weakens, Seward sends for his former teacher Abraham Van Helsing

Abraham Van Helsing

Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...

. Van Helsing diagnoses Lucy's illness as the attack of a nosferatu

Nosferatu (word)

The name Nosferatu has been presented as a Romanian word, synonymous with "vampire". However, it seems to be largely a literary creation and its basis in Romanian folklore is uncertain.- Origins of the name :...

 but is too late to save her. Lucy rises as a vampire and Van Helsing, Harker and Seward destroy her. Dracula vows to destroy Harker's love as Harker has destroyed his.

Act II

Dracula and Van Helsing vow to battle to the death. Mina reads Jonathan's account of his captivity and pledges to remain at his side regardless of what Dracula may do to separate them. However, Dracula seduces and attacks her, beginning her vampiric transformation. Harker vows to free her from Dracula's thrall. Van Helsing and Seward burn the Abbey but do not find Dracula. Renfield and Mina, each sympathizing with the other, promise each other to resist Dracula's evil influence but Dracula discovers them, snaps Renfield's neck for betraying him and flees to Transylvania with Mina. Van Helsing, Seward and Harker pursue them. Moments before sunrise the men corner and destroy Dracula, freeing Mina from the vampire's curse.

Stratford cast

• Juan Chioran - Count Dracula
• Roger Honeywell - Jonathan Harker
• June Crowley - Mina Murray
• Benedict Campbell - Renfield
• Amy Walsh - Lucy Westenra
• Michael Fletcher - Abraham Van Helsing
• Shawn Wright - Jack Seward

Critical response

Horror scholar and critic David J. Skal

David J. Skal

David J. Skal is an American cultural historian known for his writings on horror films and horror literature.-Early life:...

 cites Dracula: A Chamber Musical as "[p]erhaps the most satisfying stage treatment around the time of Dracula's hundredth birthday". He singles out Chioran for praise, calling his performance "an impressive amalgam of twentieth-century Draculas" and "menacing yet darkly romantic". Writing of a 2002 production mounted at the North Shore Music Theatre

North Shore Music Theatre

North Shore Music Theatre is the largest operating regional theater in New England. It is located in Beverly, Massachusetts and is one of the few remaining theatre-in-the-round stages left in the United States.-History:...

 in Beverly, Massachusetts

Beverly, Massachusetts

Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 39,343 on , which differs by no more than several hundred from the 39,862 obtained in the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community on the North Shore, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides...

, Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

called the efforts of Ouzounian and Norman "flawed by sameness" but "thoroughly professional without being able to shake off the influence of Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

 in 'Phantom'

The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...

 mode".

External links

• Dracula: A Chamber Musical at Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...