Dracula: A Chamber Musical | |
---|---|
Music | Richard Ouzounian |
Lyrics | Marek Norman |
Book | Richard Ouzounian |
Basis | Bram Stoker's novel Dracula |
Productions | 1997 Halifax 1998 Halifax |
Awards | 2000 Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series – Juan Chioran |
Dracula: A Chamber Musical is a 1997 Canadian musical adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula . The book and lyrics are by Richard Ouzounian and the music and orchestration are by Marek Norman. After premiering at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1997, Dracula in 1999 became the first Canadian musical to be staged at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. [1]
Dracula was a popular success, enjoying a six-month run. [2] Ouzounian, who was head of creative arts programming for TVOntario, arranged for the musical to be filmed and broadcast in collaboration with CBC Television. [1] The special earned Juan Chioran a 2000 Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series for his portrayal of the title role. [3] Dracula has since been staged in regional theatres across the United States and Canada.
Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor, travels from England to Transylvania to finalize a contract for Count Dracula 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, who joins him in Budapest, where they are married. Mina's friend Lucy Westenra accepts the marriage proposal of Harker's friend Dr Jack Seward, but their idyll is shattered by escaped lunatic Renfield, 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. Van Helsing diagnoses Lucy's illness as the attack of a nosferatu 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.
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 swears 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.
Horror scholar and critic David J. Skal 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". [5] Writing of a 2002 production mounted at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts, Variety called the efforts of Ouzounian and Norman "flawed by sameness" but "thoroughly professional without being able to shake off the influence of Webber in 'Phantom' mode". [2]
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc.", indicating a wealth of experience, education and expertise. He is a doctor, professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist, and metaphysic. The character is best known through many adaptations of the story as a vampire slayer, monster hunter and the arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, and the prototypical and the archetypical parapsychologist in subsequent works of paranormal fiction. Some later works tell new stories about Van Helsing, while others, such as Dracula (2020) and I Woke Up A Vampire (2023) have characters that are his descendants.
R. M. Renfield is a fictional character who appears in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. He is Count Dracula's deranged, fanatically devoted servant and familiar, helping him in his plan to turn Mina Harker into a vampire in return for a continuous supply of insects to consume and the promise of immortality. Throughout the novel, he resides in an asylum, where he is treated by Dr. John Seward.
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Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character and the main female character in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.
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Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family, she is Mina Murray's best friend. Early in the story, Lucy gets proposed to be three suitors, Arthur Holmwood, John Seward, and Quincey Morris, on the same day. Turning the latter two down due to already being in love with Arthur, she accepts his proposal. Before getting the chance to marry, Lucy becomes Count Dracula's first English victim, and despite Seward contacting Abraham Van Helsing for help, she transforms into a vampire. Following her return as a vampire and attacks on children—dubbed the "Bloofer Lady" by them—she is eventually cornered into her crypt by Van Helsing and her suitors who destroy her, putting her soul to rest.
Dracula, the Musical is a musical based on the original 1897 Victorian novel by Bram Stoker. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.
Jonathan Harker is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. An English solicitor, his journey to Transylvania and encounter with the vampire Count Dracula and his Brides at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.
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Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler, who was also known as Vlad Dracula, and by Sir Henry Irving, an actor for whom Stoker was a personal assistant.
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Dracula is an adaptation, first published in 1996, by American playwright Steven Dietz of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel by the same name. Though it has never run on Broadway, the author lists it among his most financially successful works, and it is frequently performed near Halloween in regional and community theaters. Closely following the plot of the novel, the play chronicles Count Dracula's journey to England, his stalking of two young women, and his pursuit and eventual defeat by the heroines' suitors and their associates.
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