The New York Post reports that Joop van den Ende will produce the musical on Broadway in July at the Belasco Theatre. Tom Hewitt, who received a Tony nomination for his performance in The Rocky Horror Show, will star in the title role. Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff — of Big River and The Who's Tommy fame — will helm the production. The New York daily also said that Len Cariou and Melissa Errico are likely to star as, respectively, Van Helsing and Mina. Dracula features music by Wildhorn and a book and lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black. The musical had a workshop this past December. Based on the legendary Bram Stoker character, Draculawas originally mounted at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse in October 2001. Although the musical has been revised since that time, that staging was praised for its lush score, sexy bloodsuckers, the cast's acrobatics and for the special effects that helped heighten the thrill of the terrifying supernatural romance.

In La Jolla, Tom Hewitt also starred as the vampire count, aging backwards from a 70 year-old Translyvanian in his castle into a handsome thirtysomething seducing London's beautiful young women.

Composer Frank Wildhorn has also scored Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde, The Civil War and The Scarlet Pimpernel. His newest musical, Camille Claudel, premiered at Goodspeed last summer starring his wife, actress-singer Linda Eder.