If ever there was a show where the title came first, you’d guess it was this one by Dan (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) Patterson and Jez Bond. Why else, if not to justify a pun, would you make an a capella singing version of the Victorian vampire novel? And Dracapella is nothing if not fond of a pun. (“There is a supernatural force at work in Transylvania.” / “Which is?” / “No, not witches.”) There’s lots more where that came from in this spooky comedy romp, in which an undead Romanian count concludes his 400-year search for love to a soundtrack of closely harmonised 80s power ballads and champion beatboxing.
The latter is all provided by ABH Beatbox, a cast member of the BAC Beatbox Academy’s Frankenstein, in whose globetrotting success I discern another (distant) inspiration for this music-gothic crossover. This one’s a more traditional affair, a knowing entertainment forever sending up its own storytelling cliches, and at every turn choosing groansome laughs over thrills. Arguably it lowers the stakes (it’s catching!) when a story about centuries-spanning passion becomes a vehicle for The Play What I Wrote-style larks. But the relentless silliness of Patterson and Bond’s confection amply compensates, as Harker’s train to Dover is decanted on to a rail replacement bus, and Dracula demonstrates his metaphysical powers by having his henchman consume – as if by magic! – a bowlful of marshmallows.
Infrequently, the comedy feels effortful, and at the expense of forward thrust. There are songs, too – Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy as sung by Harker’s deranged predecessor, say – that feel more like sidesteps than narrative strides forward. But more often, the spirited cast (including comedian Ciarán Dowd and comedy all-rounder Philip Pope), restless wordplay (“Never die? I could live with that”) and meta-theatrical smarts are a joy, and the songs (Cyndi Lauper, Bonnie Tyler, Survivor) sumptuously arranged and winningly incongruous. Props in particular to Keala Settle, packing vocal punch as she serenades Dracula with the soul number At Last. And to ABH Beatbox, whose Looney Tunes effects create a vivid interactive sound world for all this ghoulish good fun.
