The director has found ways to re-create an old standard.
The director has found ways tore-create an old standard.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
his Count Dracula doesn't wear fangs or enter a room to the sound of moody organ music. He also doesn't scare sweet, delicate, mysteriously ill Lucy Seward; in fact, she perks up when he's around.
"Dracula," the Youngstown Playhouse production that opens Friday night, isn't typical Halloween fare.
"Halloween subject matter, perhaps," says Robert Vargo, who's in his second season as the Playhouse's managing director.
Vargo was seeking ways to reinvigorate what's become a familiar story. He began to look at it with a monochromatic eye. As a result, sets, costumes and makeup are strictly black and white. The intent is to give the show a vintage look and feel, just like an old movie.
A key item in every act -- a rose, a glass of sherry, oozing blood -- will stand out in vivid red, he noted.
Vargo also chose to emphasize the Gothic romance that's at the heart of "Dracula."
"That's what they intended it to be and it's been perverted through time," he said. "They" are dramatists Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, who based their script on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel and copyrighted the first "Dracula" play in 1927.
Other interpretations: Asked why other plays and films have taken different approaches to Stoker's story, Vargo said maybe those people didn't have confidence in the material. Perhaps it was because actor Bela Lugosi -- the most famous Dracula -- didn't have the good looks to go with the love story.
Or maybe they didn't believe their society would tolerate the seamier side of the story, Vargo added. In the original script, a character reads aloud a newspaper article about a woman who baits children with chocolate, then fondles them.
"Today we're very jaded. Nothing shocks us," Vargo said.
The lead actors didn't know Vargo's intentions when they showed up for auditions. They weren't shocked but were pleasantly surprised by his approach -- a "cool added bonus," said Sara K. Wickline of Poland, who plays Lucy Seward.
"I like where he's going with the romantic portion of it," said Alan McCreary of New Castle, Pa., the show's dashing Count Dracula (at left).
Capturing the era: The play is set in 1925. Besides makeup and costume requirements, the idiomatic language and mannerisms of that era have presented challenges to Vargo and his cast. For example, women didn't cross their legs when they sat, and men were on their feet whenever a lady entered the room.
"The little cultural things give it the air of authenticity it needs," Vargo said.
Vargo turned to more contemporary composers for complementary music. One composition, by John Williams, was featured in Frances Ford Coppola's 1992 movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula," which starred Gary Oldman. Another piece was taken from "The Red Violin," the 1999 movie starring Samuel L. Jackson as a man who tries to ascertain the history of a legendary 300-year-old instrument up for auction.
This "Dracula" has been an education even for Vargo, who's directed six other versions in his 30-plus-year career.
"You just learn new respect for the material with every show," he said.
X"Dracula" is recommended for patrons ages 14 and older.