No, really.
(Credit: Miriam Geer)
The space itself is nothing shy of magical. The architecture is a Ren Faire marriage of Tudor panel accents and olde English lettering, with wooden bleacher benches carved into the side of a mountain, butting up to a creaking, three-tiered stage. A canopy of mature oaks stretches in every direction, the ground littered with leaves. I was ready for things to get spooky.
But the play itself was, sadly...a let down. Ellen Geer (who adapted and directed the show) was not nearly selective enough with the material. The result: three plus hours, some of which was just plain bad theater. While there were some undeniably campy elements, such as ensemble members dressed in black acting as carriage horses and scary (um—hilarious) wolves, the most terrifying aspect of the show, in fact, was the characters’ random eruption into quasi-opera.
So, the show didn't live up to my hopes. But still, it was a great excuse to escape the urban grind of L.A. and flee into the woods for an evening. And while "Dracula" didn’t let 'em shine, the lead actors (Christina Howard and Alan Blumenfeld) are strong and worth checking out in the theater's other upcoming offerings: Noel Coward’s "Blithe Spirit," Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" and Theatricum’s signature, "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." Get thee to the trees!
For those of you still unafraid of vampires, and awkward theater, "Dracula" runs Fridays and Saturdays through September 29. Check our Theatricum Botanicum listings for other performances that may be of interest.
