Stylish flamenco ‘Dracula’ starts sharp but loses some bite
Just when you thought Halloween was behind us — so it was safe to bare your neck at night — comes another adaptation of “Dracula.” And this time, the bloodsucking vamp is a flamenco dancer. And a woman.
Orlando Flamenco is staging its stylish and entertaining production, directed and choreographed by Spanish flamenco luminary Carlos Rodriguez, at the Pugh Theater of Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and the intimate space suits this production. For flamenco is an intimate affair. You want to hear each stomp of the dancers’ feet and see each spark that lights their eyes. And here, you can.
Things get off to a promisingly dramatic start as a woman crawls across the stage, dragging the train of her flowing robe. She throws bones to determine the future through the ancient art of divination and seemingly likes what she sees — or does she? This is “Destino” — Spanish for “Fate” or “Destiny” — and she’s performed with flair by Tammy Weber de Millar as the narrative’s connective tissue, serving as spirit guide, deux de machina and castanets virtuoso.
In front of a gorgeous backdrop of cascading red flowers — it’s not too fanciful to picture them as rivulets of blood — a trio of rotating arches tells us the setting. Stonework on one side represents Count Dracula’s castle; a lighter floral motif on the other signifies Havana, home to Jonathan Harker, Mina, Lucy and other familiar characters from Bram Stoker’s tale.
The show does a fabulous job of creating two distinct atmospheres for the locations, helped by the uncredited lighting design and the mood-setting recorded music of Rojas y Rodriguez. And flamenco dancing, with its ability to conjure passion, fear, joy — and even dread — suits this largerthan-life atmospheric story well.
Good-time gal Lucy is danced with spirit by Briana Marina Small, while Sonia Small Telchi gives Mina more oomph than the waif found in many adaptations of the tale. With skirts swirling, the twirling figures create a sense of freedom and joy — a far cry from the eerie scene Harker encounters at the count’s home.
Guest artist Daniela Tugues Correa plays the count and first appears looking intriguingly malevolent and withered. She has a seductive energy in her movement, quivering legs and flicking tongue, and her coterie of brides adds color and fear.
Throughout, in fact the precision movements and rhythmic steps of the Flamenco del Sol ensemble dancers consistently impress.
When Correa’s Dracula arrives in Havana via coffin after a cleverly choreographed boat scene, she is inexplicably younger and more glamorous looking — maybe the sea air did her good?
And this is where the storytelling starts to get muddled.
Suddenly, locations are less clear — did Dracula and Mina teleport back to the count’s castle? A long scene set in an asylum features inventive choreography and impassioned dancing
but story-wise stops the plot’s momentum — forgive me — dead in its tracks. Harker’s assistant inexplicably vanishes from the narrative.
It’s here, too, where the question of Dracula’s gender needs clarity. Vampires and sex go handin-hand (or fang-in-neck) and the production seems to skirt the issue by referring to Dracula as “he” and “him” in the playbill synopsis — but that’s hard to remember when the sexual tension between Drac and Mina involves two women in bed engaging in touchy-feeling foreplay. And the sapphic overtones simply add another interesting twist to this version of the story.
Throughout, the story could use more of Harker — especially because Gabriel Gonzalez Garcia is so good in the role — acting with his eyes alongside his fine dancing. Despite the second half ’s story weaknesses, the creative design and skills of Garcia, Correa, Weber de Millar and company make this “Dracula” a bloody good time.
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