Dracula at The Orpheum Theater
The last time I attended a New Orleans Ballet Theatre (NOBT) performance was in the spring of 2019. I noted then that it had been a while since I had seen one of their presentations and, watching its glorious production of Cinderella made me realize how much I missed taking in live classical ballet.
I felt the same way after seeing NOBT’s splendid Dracula recently at The Orpheum Theater. Granted, the pandemic and unavoidable scheduling conflicts have kept me away, but, in the future, I hope NOBT will be a regular part of my cultural activities here. It should be for you too.
NOBT premiered Dracula in May 2024 and brought this two-act ballet back for the 2025 Halloween season. Wise move.
Oliver Halkowich’s appropriately moody production delivers the highlights of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel with a pinch of camp, some melodrama, a soupçon of humor, and a good dose of romanticism all of which you’d expect in any contemporary retelling of this vampire tale.
To a score that interweaves classical music with such pop songs as Come On-A My House, Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Strange Things Happening Every Day, and an arrangement for strings of Fever, Peggy Lee’s signature tune, Halkowich provides choreography that is intelligent, sophisticated and beautiful to look at. Images range from a lovely horse carriage ride to some homoerotic coupling to strange goings-on involving apparently mechanized dolls that reminded me of Stepford wives. It all culminates with a powerful ending, though a brief epilogue did seem unnecessary.
Josh Reynolds made a suitably sexy Count Dracula, and the entire rest of the cast was excellent: Jackson Rankin as the lawyer Harker who’s drawn to Transylvania; Sara Falstad as his adored Mina; Lily Mangiaruga as Lucy, an innocent victim of the vampire; Sterling Waterfield and Jo-Ann Sundermeier, as two very different rivals for Lucy’s affections; Aaron Wiggins as the insane Renfield; and Nicholas Gaifullin as a hunkier than usual Van Helsing, the vampire slayer. Special mention must be made of the superb corps de ballet with Kaylin Wilson a particular standout.
The cast of Dracula
The ballet’s potent soundscape included yapping dogs, clanking doors, and spoken passages as well as the aforementioned music. On a stage occasionally swathed in fog or smoke, Duncan Becker added just-right fluid, expressionistic lighting.
It’s possible that NOBT’s Dracula will become an annual Halloween season event like The Nutcracker at Christmas. I hope it does. If you go, you may want to read (or reread) the novel (or its Wiki page) beforehand just to be able to keep all the characters straight, but, whether you do or don’t, it would be an absolutely bloody shame to miss this outstanding dance program.
[New Orleans Ballet Theatre continues its season with The Nutcracker Dec. 13-23. For tickets and more information, go to https://www.neworleansballettheatre.com/]
Varla Jean’s The Drowsy Chappell Roan at Café Istanbul
Having covered–and admired–Varla Jean Merman for years, even decades, I feel like I could now safely employ a boilerplate review for all her performances. Such phrases as “knowing, sly humor” and “so well-written [by Jeffery T Roberson with additional material by Ricky Graham and Jacques Lamarre]” apply to all her shows, her face remains a masterpiece of “priceless expressions”, and she continues to be “a national treasure”. I’d merely have to update the specific details for her annual appearance at Café Istanbul.
This year’s edition, wittily titled The Drowsy Chappell Roan, riffs on the current crop of pop divas, all of whom, Varla makes abundantly clear, stole from, er, were inspired by her. While I’m more or less familiar with the names of all of them–Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, and the eponymous Ms. Roan who truly looks like she could be Ms. Merman’s granddaughter, er, daughter, er, niece–and could probably recognize most of them (tho I’m a little hazy on Ms. Carpenter and Ms. Rodrigo), the only song I could hum along with in the entire show was Roan’s Pink Pony Club and that only because a friend introduced me to it not too long ago. And, of course, a song that sampled Sound of Music’s My Favorite Things.
Never mind. You don’t have to be able to distinguish Dua from Olivia to thoroughly enjoy The Drowsy C.R. as Miss Merman tries to stay relevant among this new generation of pop artists, all “colleagues” of hers.
From the nasty but hilarious opening number Got To Go about Varla’s weak bladder (she has to take a “leak of faith”), to the annual number with Varla’s sexy man, er, pet, the adorable Jasper, to a priceless clip of Aretha Franklin giving Taylor Swift shade, this ramble through Ms. Merman’s life of the past 30+ years is filled with hysterical parodies of the young divas’ songs (Pink Pony Club becomes Big Phony Jugs) and true stories flawlessly told that had me smiling/laughing nonstop.
My favorite? A fabulously bizarre, actual MTV promo from 1993 featuring Varla as the “poop Princess”. Alas, it doesn’t seem to be online, thus one more reason for catching The Drowsy C.R. live and in person.
Varla Jean Merman with Jasper
Under Michael Schiralli’s, as always, perfect direction, The Drowsy C.R. continues for 90 jam-packed minutes (including intermission–gotta have a cocktail break, eh?) with stops along the way for a great story featuring Elton John and a delicious special guest appearance from Dina Martina. A big surprise at the end (no spoilers here!) touchingly ties the entire show together in brilliant truth-is-stranger-than-fiction fashion.
Brian W Johnston puts in his usual series of sassy cameos, most notably this time as Coco Peru and Bianca Del Rio. Jim Buff’s chic costumes, including the silver opener that makes Varla look like a Hershey’s Kiss, are phenomenal. The fantastic, clever videos, animation and all things multimedia are by Deven Green and Handsome Ned. And, not surprisingly, Brooklyn Campagne’s wigs are spectacular.
Miss Merman may have left Café Istanbul’s building, but she’ll be taking this delectable show on the road to San Francisco (opening this week!), Orlando, Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Boston, etc., etc. If you’re in any of these gay ol’ towns when VJM is, be sure not to miss this Mistress of the Pink Pony Club.
[Info about upcoming dates for Varla Jean’s The Drowsy Chappell Roan can be found at https://varlajean.com/]
