Stratford Dracula Musical Airs Nov. 16 in Ontario; CBC & PBS Next | Playbill

Related Articles
News Stratford Dracula Musical Airs Nov. 16 in Ontario; CBC & PBS Next Dracula, the new Canadian musical that seduced summer audiences at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, closed its 52-show run Nov. 7, but there is still more life in the Bram Stoker-inspired tuner: It will air 9 PM (ET) Nov. 16 on TVOntario.

Dracula, the new Canadian musical that seduced summer audiences at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, closed its 52-show run Nov. 7, but there is still more life in the Bram Stoker-inspired tuner: It will air 9 PM (ET) Nov. 16 on TVOntario.

Lyricist-librettist-director Richard Ouzounian told Playbill On-Line that the chamber musical, with music and orchestrations by Marek Norman, was videotaped Sept. 12 for a Nov. 16 provincial television broadcast and will be seen nationally on CBC Dec. 16. Check local listings for exact air time.

Selected PBS stations in the U.S., including those in Houston, Detroit, Minneapolis and Seattle, have also purchased the broadcast rights.

It will air a second time on TVOntario 9 PM (ET) Dec. 30.

Since opening June 2 (after previews) at Stratford's proscenium Avon Theatre, Dracula was seen by more than 70,000 people (about 80 percent of capacity), making it one of the most popular Canadian-written shows in Stratford history. Ouzounian and Norman began work Nov. 15-25 on a Toronto workshop of their new musical, Larry's Party, based on the Carol Shields novel, featuring Tony Award-winner Brent Carver as Larry. Ouzounian directs.

*

Motion Productions from Montreal, the forces behind the stage hit, Notre Dame De Paris, have purchased the French rights to Dracula, and are planning an August 2000 opening in Montreal.

The author said the Stratford Festival is currently exploring the possibility of reviving Dracula in the future and perhaps putting it on a national tour in 2001.

The gothic Stoker source material has inspired other musical theatre writers. A musical called Possessed (by librettists Jason Darrow and Charles Marasco, lyricist Darrow and composer Carter Cathcart) has found regional life in the U.S., and a recording of it is on store shelves, and composer Frank Wildhorn (Broadway's The Civil War, The Scarlet Pimpernel) has said the fanged count is the center of a work-in progress by him.

On Oct. 18, a reading of yet another musical version was staged in Boston. That show, also called Dracula, is by Jay Gaither (music) and Owen Robertson (book and lyrics).

*

Ouzounian and Norman also penned the hugely popular family musical, Emily, based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's books, which played to sellout crowds at the Charlottetown Theatre Festival over the summer.

It returns to that Prince Edward Island musical theatre festival in summer 2000. A cast album and Canadian national tour are expected.

-- By Kenneth Jones

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!