MERIDIAN, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – February 20th is the opening night for Meridian Little Theater’s Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors.
It’s a 90 minute show featuring 6 cast members, chock full of clever word play, quick changes, and pop culture references.
“If you have consumed any part of Dracula media, just know that, first of all, Dracula lore is different no matter who is telling the story. Whether it be the original book, or whether it be Francis Copola’s film, or any other iteration of it,” said Stephen Thomas, who plays Count Dracula.
“The show is a different take on Dracula, for sure, but it’s got a lot of Dracula lore in there. So, if you’re familiar with the characters, it’s the same characters but they might be played in different lights, different relationships perhaps. They definitely act different than the original novel that the show’s loosely based off of. So, there’s things for Dracula fans for sure. They’ll like seeing those different characters in different lights. Also, if you’ve never heard of Dracula before, you’re going to love this show too because you’re going to get it,” said Michael Castle, who plays Jonathan Harker.
“So, I actually saw the show when I went to New York last year, and I loved it. I was like ‘Oh, if I ever got the opportunity to be Lucy, I would love to try out for it,’ and then literally within a year, here it was. I thought,’ Well I guess I’ll try out like I said I would.’ So I did, and it worked out,” said Maggie Freeman, who plays Lucy Westfeldt.
Many of the cast members in the show, play multiple characters, which only ads to the hilarious nature of the show.
“So, that’s a big bit that we have in the show, is that certain cast members play multiple characters, and it can be wild. There’s one person in particular that is constantly switching back and fourth between two roles which adds and extra layer of comedy because you see the switching back and forth, and you’re like, that’s kind of wild, but it works for the humor of the show,” said Freeman.
“You’re never going to guess the plot of this show. Ever. You can maybe loosely follow it, because it’s very loosely based on Bram Stokers novel, very loosely, so come in here with a free spirit and an open mind and without any expectations,” said Thomas.
Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel was published in 1897… but this iteration feels very up to date.
“There’s a lot of modern day references in the show. Whether it be songs that we sing, or just lines in there. The show takes place in the 1800s, but it’s got a lot of the 21st Century humor in there that we bring to it, whether it’s props or just lines or stuff like that,” said Castle.
“It’s great whenever you have a show that is updated for a modern audience because you can not only pull in an older crowd who will respect the source material or any other iteration that they’ve seen, but you can also hook those millennials and those zoomers who are on the fence about ‘should I get into the theater? Is this for me? Is there going to be something that I can relate to?’ So, it’s something a little lighter than a musical or Sweeney Todd, or Shakespear or anything of that nature. It’s very much an open door for novices and experienced theater goers for sure,” said Thomas.
And overall, cast members said they just want folks to have fun.
“I hope people just have a good time. It’s a pretty quick show, so it’s not a huge time commitment, but I think they’ll come and have a good weekend and enjoy the production that we put on, see the actors, see the sets and all the different designs and everything that went into it. It’s a lot of hard work, but I think mostly what people will get is just a good time,” said Castle.
