Interview: 'I'm Not a Horror Fan': Actor James Daly on Injuries, Superstitions and Bringing DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS to London

After a run off-Broadway at New World Stages, Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors is flying into the West End, landing at the Menier Chocolate Factory in March. The show is a ninety-minute comedic adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic, which follows the story of the vampire Dracula. Expect lots of multi-roling, quick-changes, gender-bending and laughters as Dracula and the rest of the characters travel to and from Transylvania and the UK!

BroadwayWorld talked to James Daly, who returns to the role of Dracula, having been in both the original Monteral production and the recent run in New York City. We discussed his journey with Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors and how a dislocated arm may have landed him the role.

How did you first get started in the world of theatre?

I first got started in the world of theatre doing community theatre in St John's Newfoundland where I'm from, Canada. I performed with this local company called Peter MacDonald Productions and did somewhere between five to ten shows with them between the ages of twelve to eighteen and found how much I loved it and wanted to keep going back and doing shows. I would rather be at rehearsal than school. That's not that unique - I suppose a lot of kids would probably rather be doing anything but going to school! But I just found it was my happy place. I continued to perform in my high school theatre programme, so by the time I graduated from high school, it was like, “This is a no-brainer. I want to go to a theatre school.”

What made you want to be a part of Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors?

I first joined the show in Montreal at the Segal Centre. I had worked at the Segal Centre twice before, so I was friends with Lisa Rubin, the artistic director, and she got in touch with me and said that they were going to bring this new show there that they're developing. So Lisa is the one who told me about it - she said it's this new adaptation of Dracula, and they were interested in considering me for the role.

She described the show as happy and comedic, and that the character of Dracula was a bit of a narcissistic, playboy rock star. I said, “Well, that sounds like a whole lot of fun!” So I had a meeting with Gordon Greenberg, who is the co-writer and the director. I actually dislocated my shoulder the night before this meeting with Gordon! I was doing a musical at the time, Damn Yankees at the Shaw Festival, and I ended up being out of that show for two months - I missed our opening night and everything! But I had this meeting with Gordon the next day, and was like, “Okay, this show seems really cool, and I don't want to miss the meeting, so I'll do it.” And it went well! Gordon seemed really nice, and he said to me later that because I did the meeting with my arm in a sling, that showed him that I was really committed to it - my willingness to join and be a part of it, that convinced him. So maybe busting my shoulder was a bit of a blessing in disguise!

Had you been a fan of Dracula before joining the show? Had you read the original novel or seen any of the movies?

Honestly, no! Admittedly, I'm a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to anything horror. I'm not a horror fan. I get scared very easily - my family and friends all know that and make fun of me. In fact, when we did the show in New York, my whole cast went to a haunted house, and I was like, “No, no.” And they're like, “No, you are doing this with us!” So they dragged me through this house. When you're in a haunted house and the people working there can see that somebody is scared, they'll target them more. So yeah, it was horrible. But honestly, it was more of a campy, silly haunted house, similar to the vibe of our show, so I survived. But if it was a really serious, actually scary haunted house, I think I would have been quite scarred from that! 

I do like vampires - I am a Twilight fan! I'm intrigued by the whole genre of horror, and vampires are spooky and sexy, but I'm not a super fan or anything. Now I've read the novel, I've seen the Bela Lugosi and the Gary Oldman [films]. There's even a Jim Carrey vampire movie called Once Bitten, where he plays this very silly vampire really early in his career. So I've watched a lot of Dracula and vampire movies now!

For those unfamiliar with this particular adaptation of Dracula, can you tell us a bit about it?

Absolutely! It's a fast-paced, sexy, campy, raunchy adaptation of Dracula. It's ninety minutes. All the actors except for me, play multiple characters. There's gender-bending, lots of physical comedy, lots of wordplay. It really is quite true to the novel, but it just sends up the whole genre of drama, horror and how over the top it can be, which is a lot of fun for us to play.

You mentioned that you were the only one not multi-roling. What is it like staying as one character while everyone around you is constantly changing?

It makes me feel a little guilty if I'm being honest! Like I'm working a little less hard than everyone else. In Montreal, I missed a ton of those rehearsals because the show I was doing at Shaw, Damn Yankees, overlapped with most of the rehearsals in Montreal. I was able to travel there on a two-day weekend that I had, and then I left the Shaw Festival and got to Montreal a day before we went into tech. So I really only had three days of rehearsal with that cast. The theatre was incredibly accommodating with me during that process!

I think it only worked because my character is singular and a bit isolated from everyone else. They have a lot of scenes together where they do this big montage and a lot of prop switching and quick changes and things. I don't have any of that. I come in, have a scene, have a break, come back in. Both times I've done it before this, the other actors don't even get to go back to their dressing room at any point during the show, and I’m back there chilling! [Laughs].

What was it like bringing the show from Montreal to New York?

That was a dream come true. I'm from Newfoundland, which is small compared to Montreal, Toronto or New York, especially! It's always been my dream to be on Broadway, to live and work in New York and be a part of that community. So that was a real dream come true moment for me. I'm so grateful to Gordon and Drew [Desky] and Dane [Levens], our producers, for taking me down there. I was living with one of my best friends in Harlem, working in Times Square and got to meet lots of actors in the Broadway community. It was incredible! 

And now you're in London for the show! How does it feel coming back to the show in its new location?

It feels awesome! This is my first time in London. I've never been here before. I've always wanted to visit the West End and work as well. And also, the story of Dracula is set in London, so it feels very fitting for it to finally arrive in the city that Dracula has been trying to go to for the whole story. I'm just really grateful that the show has taken me to work in some of these big dream cities of mine.

So you’re now in rehearsals for the show. What's it like becoming Dracula again?

You would think it would be really easy to do a character that I've done twice before! It is an interesting experience being the only cast member that's not new to the show. I love to see the other actors discover the script and the characters for the first time and what they bring to it, because the best part is getting to build the thing with people. And so for me, I do find that I'm negotiating a bit, bringing forward the things that I've learned and the things that I know have worked for past productions, but also being open to discovering new things and playing with the new actors.

And Gordon, our director, has been encouraging me to dive deeper into the truth of the character and the story and not get swept away by comedy or the things that I know get laughs. He's like, “The more we do the show, find more of his heart and what Dracula really wants.” It's not just ninety minutes of slapstick and clown and stuff - he wants there to be a real love story at the heart of it, too. So it hasn't been super easy. If anything, it's been a bit more of a challenge to relearn, because I find it's always harder to unlearn than it is to learn fresh for the first time.

But there's pros and cons! I do have knowledge of the character, the show and how it works, but then it's also funny to go from where I last left off  - the show was in New York and in performances, doing runs of the show and having a response from an audience. And then to go back into rehearsal and not have any response come back, it's like, “Oh, does this even work anymore?” [Laughs] But theatre needs an audience. It's not theatre until there's people there watching. So I'm excited to start performing for audiences in London soon!

Do you have a favourite line from the show?

You know what? I'm not going to say, because it's such a superstitious actor thing. If you say, “Oh, I love that line that you say” to another actor, they'll get in their head about it, and then that line will never be funny again!

I haven't heard that before!

I'm pretty superstitious! If somebody was to say to me, “Oh, that line that you do is so funny!” I'd be like, “Awesome!” And then I would go out on stage and be like, “This line I say is so funny,” and then it would not be funny. Don't tell me what you like or what you don't like because either way, it's going to make me in my head about it. I have no favourite lines! [Laughs]

And finally, how would you describe Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors in one word? 

Fang-tastic.

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