Stage Door News
Stage Door News
When composer Marek Norman and lyricist Richard Ouzounian wrote Dracula: A Chamber Musical in 1997 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker’s famed novel, Norman never dreamed he would have the chance to revisit his work exactly 20 years later.
So, after successful runs in Halifax, Stratford, Beverly, Mass. and Charlottetown, PEI, Norman put away the musical and moved on to other things.
“When Richard and I created the work it was around the period that was just coming up to the 100th anniversary of the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and there was just a rash of productions and works created to celebrate that anniversary, and ours’ was one of those. I think within about a three or four year period, audiences got a little tired of seeing so much Dracula, so we put it back in its coffin for a bit,” Norman recalled.
Little did Norman know, when he moved to Stratford three years ago to take up a position as composer in residence with the INNERchamber, Andrew Chung, the company’s artistic director, would give Norman the opportunity to put a whole new spin on his previous work.
After having created two original productions since beginning his tenure at INNERchamber in 2014 – one, a musical ensemble/dramatic production called A Day Like No Other, and the other, a dance/musical suite based on Norman’s musical, Wanderlust – the composer was asked to crack open the coffin and bring Dracula back to life for a pre-Halloween performance that is set to be grander than anything put on by INNERchamber before.
“Dracula, for INNERchamber, is a very large undertaking. It involves seven singers and an instrumental ensemble of six, including Marek and myself,” Chung said. “So we have thirteen people, and even though Dracula: A Chamber Musical is being staged in concert format, it is still a large production.”
Having planned such a large concert, Chung and Norman decided INNERchamber’s usual venue, Factory 163, wouldn’t cut it, so they opted to stage the show at Knox Presbyterian Church instead.
“The Knox space is beautiful to begin with, and it’s grand and it has a sense of omnipresence about it. It really is highly theatrical in its own way – most churches are. And that all plays into what we’re trying to do there. I would say, honestly, for the sake of this particular incarnation of the piece, Knox is playing as much a character as any of the actors,” Norman said.
In a slight departure from Norman’s original score, the composer has added percussion to the INNERchamber concert to add emphasis to moments of excitement, drama and surprise, and to make full use of the worship hall’s acoustics.
The cast itself is jam-packed with local talent, many of whom have performed in past Stratford Festival plays. In a story that has less to do with blood, garlic and bats, and more to do with the raw intimacy of personal relationships between tortured souls, David Rogers will sing the part of the titular role, Mark Uhre will play Jonathan Harker, Ayrin Mackie will be Mina Murray, Jen Rider-Shaw will sing as Lucy Westenra, Marcus Nance will play Van Helsing, Cyrus Lane will appear as Dr. Seward and Sean Arbuckle will sing as Renfield.
Directed by Marti Maraden, Dracula: A Chamber Musical will play for one night only on Oct. 30 from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time either at Fanfare Books or through the INNERchamber website at www.innerchamber.ca, or at the concert itself on Oct. 30.
By Galen Simmons for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: David Rogers will sing Dracula. ©2017 Irene Miller.
2017-10-25
Stratford: INNERchamber revives Marek Norman's musical "Dracula" on October 30