I wonder what Bram Stoker would think of the ASF's 'Dracula'

I had the pleasure of watching a performance of “Dracula” at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) in Montgomery yesterday afternoon, and the experience was well worth the drive to Alabama’s capital city and the price of admission.

In the spirit of Halloween, the ASF opened performances of “Dracula” on Friday and will continue showings through Oct. 30. (Why they’ve opted not to show it on Halloween night, I don’t know.) The play is directed by Geoffrey Sherman, and the signature sponsor of the play is the J.K. Lowder Family Foundation.

Based on the classic vampire novel by Bram Stoker, this theatrical version was adapted by William McNulty and based on earlier dramatizations by John L. Balderson and Hamilton Deane.

With that said, there are significant differences between the 1897 novel and the contemporary play. The play features a pair of characters who aren’t even in the novel - Margaret Sullivan (Dr. Thomas Seward’s assistant) and Norbert Briggs (Sullivan’s love interest and a worker at Seward’s mental asylum).

In the same vein (wink, wink), notable characters from the novel who aren’t in the play include Mina Harker’s suitors, Arthur Holmwood and the rich Texan, Quincy Morris. Morris is one of my favorite characters from the original novel, and I have to admit that I was disappointed by the fact that the Bowie knife-welding American wasn’t featured in the play.

On the other side of the coin, I thought that the characters of Dracula and Professor Abraham Van Helsing were especially well done by actors Juri Henley-Cohn and Paul Hebron, respectively. Henley-Cohn lends just the right amount of exotic to the Dracula role, and Hebron gives a very convincing Van Helsing. Some of you might recognize these two actors from their appearances on television’s “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”

If I have any complaint about the ASF’s performance of “Dracula,” it’s that it comes off with a little too much “ha, ha.” While the stage was artfully set, and they make a valiant attempt to create the right atmosphere, those of you going to the show to be chilled and thrilled from start to finish will be disappointed. Sometimes, even when the play was at a serious moment, I could hear audience members snickering at something on stage that was unintentionally funny.

This is not to say that the play isn’t entertaining - because it is. Just don’t go in thinking that it’s going to be a typical presentation of the story.

In the end, I enjoyed the ASF’s performance of “Dracula” and would recommend it to theatre lovers and fans of Stoker’s novel.

How many of you have had the chance to watch the play in Montgomery? What did you think about it? What did you like or dislike? Let us know in the comments section below.

For more information about the ASF’s presentation of “Dracula,” visit the ASF’s Web site at www.asf.net. Many of you, especially those from the Monroeville area, will be interested to know that the ASF is also planning to perform Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” between Nov. 25 and Dec. 24.