James Daly and More Will Lead DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS at Menier Chocolate Factory
The production will open on 17 March, with previews from 8 March, and runs until 3 May.
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The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced initial casting for the UK premiere of Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen. Greenberg will direct James Daly (reprising the role of Dracula), Safeena Ladha (Lucy Westfeldt), Diane Pilkington (Dr. Westfeldt), and Charlie Stemp (Jonathan Harker).
The production will open on 17 March, with previews from 8 March, and runs until 3 May. Priority booking opens today, with public booking opening on 14 January.
Full casting will be announced shortly.
Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors gives Bram Stoker’s horror classic a comic makeover in this lightning-fast gender-bending reimagining that features a Gen Z pansexual Count Dracula in the midst of an existential crisis. With a cast of five switching costumes and roles at the drop of a hat, this 90-minute freewheeling send-up plays with sexuality and gender norms in the spirit of comedy legends Charles Ludlam, Monty Python and Mel Brooks – and celebrates goth, camp, and the magic of live theatre itself.
In the treacherous mountains of Transylvania, Jonathan Harker, a meek English estate agent, takes a harrowing journey to meet a new and mysterious client, who happens to be the most terrifying(ly narcissistic) monster the world has ever known: Count Dracula! When the Count sets his sights on Harker’s fiancé, the brilliant young earth scientist Lucy Westfeldt, he meets his match for the first time – as well as a slew of other colorful characters including vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing, insect connoisseur Renfield and behavioral psychiatrist Wallace Westfeldt, whose British country estate doubles as a free-range mental asylum.
Biographies
James Daly plays Dracula after originating the role Off-Broadway (New World Stages). His theatre credits include La Cage aux Folles, Wendy and Peter Pan (Stratford Festival), Damn Yankees, Grand Hotel, Oh! What A Lovely War (The Shaw Festival), Mythic (The Segal Centre), Cabaret (The Grand Theatre), Master Harold... and the Boys (The Shaw Festival/Obsidian Theatre; Toronto Theatre Critics Award). His television credits include Letterkenny, Workin’ Moms and Frankie Drake.
Safeena Ladha plays Lucy Westfeldt and others. Her theatre credits include The 39 Steps (UK tour and Trafalgar Studios), SHE (UK tour and Omnibus Theatre), The Great Gatsby (London, Immersive Everywhere) and Stick Man Live (Leicester Square Theatre).
Award-winning actor Dianne Pilkington plays Dr. Westfeldt and others. Her theatre credits include The Red Shoes (RSC), The Wizard of Oz (The London Palladium), Only Fools and Horses (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Young Frankenstein (Garrick Theatre), Mamma Mia! (Novello Theatre), The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre; BroadwayWorld Award winner) and Wicked (Apollo Victoria). Her film credits include Les Misérables and the upcoming Wicked: For Good.
Three-time Olivier Award-nominee Charlie Stemp plays Jonathan Harker and others. His theatre credits include Kiss Me, Kate (Barbican), Crazy For You (Chichester and Gillian Lynne - Olivier Award nomination), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre - Olivier Award nomination) and Half a Sixpence (Chichester and Noël Coward Theatre - Olivier Award nomination and WhatsOnStage Award winner for Best Actor in a Musical). He made his Broadway debut in Hello, Dolly! (Shubert Theatre) opposite Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters, and was awarded the 2018 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut.
Gordon Greenberg returns to the Menier Chocolate Factory to direct, having previously directed The Baker’s Wife and Barnum. HIs recent directing credits include The Heart of Rock and Roll (James Earl Jones Theatre, Broadway) and Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors (Old Globe in San Diego and New World Stages in New York). His other projects include a new musical about Picasso (director & co-writer with Stephen Schwartz & Caridad Svich), the NBC television series Most Talkative (co-executive producer/writer), Crime and Punishment, A Comedy (director & co-writer with Steve Rosen; The Old Globe), Single White Female (A.T.G.), The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee, Hua Musicals, Taiwan), Ghost Tour, The Play, and the new comedy podcast series Rolling Calls starring Julie Halston & Richard Kind (co-writer with Steve Rosen). He co-wrote and directed the Broadway stage adaptation of Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn (Studio 54 for Roundabout Theatre Company and Universal Pictures Stage Productions) and directed Guys And Dolls (Chichester Festival Theatre/Savoy Theatre/Phoenix Theatre), Working (59 E 59 in New York – also adapted), Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well… (Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award nominations – also adapted), Johnny Baseball (Williamstown), Tangled (Disney), Blue Sky Boys (Capital Rep), Luck Be A Lady (Asolo), Pirates! Or Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder’d (co-creator; Huntington/Paper Mill/Goodspeed/MUNY), Band Geeks! (also co-writer; Goodspeed), The Baker's Wife (Paper Mill/Goodspeed), 1776 (Paper Mill), Floyd Collins (Signature), Yentl (Asolo) and Half A Sixpence (Goodspeed).
Steve Rosen (co-author) has previously collaborated with Greenberg on the musical The Secret of My Success (co-book, Joseph Jefferson nomination, Chicago), the plays Crime and Punishment, A Comedy and Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, as well as the podcasts “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors” and “Rolling Calls” (Broadway Podcast Network). He has also co-written (with David Rossmer) the book, music and lyrics of Griswolds’ Broadway Vacation (Seattle's 5th Ave) and The Other Josh Cohen, which was nominated for six Drama Desk Awards, as well as the Lucille Lortel and Off-Broadway Alliance Awards for Best New Musical. He co-wrote the 2024 Drama Desk Awards show and also co-created (with Dan Lipton, Rossmer and Sarah Saltzberg) the long-running Broadway improv/variety show Don’t Quit Your Night Job, devising original comedic material for artists like Sting, Hank Azaria, Sutton Foster, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ariana Grande. Education: The Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. As an actor, his credits include creating the roles of Dennis’ Mother, Sir Bedevere and Concorde in the original Broadway production of Monty Python’s Spamalot.
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