More camp than chills in 'Dracula'

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RATING: **½

WHERE: Fallon House Theatre, Columbia State Historic Park, off Parrotts Ferry Road, Columbia.

WHEN: 2 p.m. Wednesdays, 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Through April 19.

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 15 minutes, including an intermission

TICKETS: $18-$28

INFORMATION: 532-3120 or www.sierrarep.org.

COLUMBIA -- "Dracula" is supposed to be a scary thriller, but the tale is so well-known that it's hard for it not to come off campy.

It's difficult to take seriously the idea of a man who sleeps in a coffin and can be stopped only by a cross, holy water and garlic.

While Sierra Repertory Theatre's cast members try to play it straight in their new production at the Fallon House, the audience couldn't help chuckling throughout Thursday night's performance.

Written by Sy Kahn, father of Sierra Rep co-founder David Kahn, the script is melodramatic and rather repetitive. You could make a drinking game out of the number of times somebody warns innocent vampire victim Lucy not to be alone. Usually whoever says that then promptly abandons her -- adding to the unintentional comedy.

Sierra Rep chose the script for sentimental reasons: This is the group's 30th season and "Dracula" is the first show the company staged. But maybe Sierra Rep would have been better served with a more chilling adaptation.

However, there is still much to like in the staging. As usual for Sierra Rep, the actors are good-looking and energetic and the production values are high. Director, designer and Sierra Rep co-founder Dennis Jones re-creates late 19th-century England with a beautiful set that includes red velvet chairs, an antique globe, floral wallpaper and a well-stocked library.

He plays recorded emotional string music and pumps in lots of fog to create an ominous tone.

Tom Mesmer's Dracula is sexy in an androgynous way, with moussed hair and long fingernails. He slinks in and out of rooms with his cape pulled up close around him and speaks in a singsong voice as if he is trying to hypnotize those around him.

Note to parents: He and his vampire followers are very sensual and fondle Lucy on stage.

Allison M. Evans, who plays Lucy, is a lovely woman with long blond hair and looks stunning in the long white dress provided for her by costume designer Tracy M. Ward. Easily manipulated by everyone around her, she spends most of the show crying for help or expressing her fear.

Ted Barton is one of the most fun characters to watch as vampire fighter Van Helsing. Convinced of the truth of the vampire lore he has studied in his old books, he is persistent in convincing his more skeptical friends that severe measures need to be taken against the Transylvanian count.

As Lucy's father, Daraj Maxfield is worried and jumpy. As her boyfriend, Jonathan, Corey Cicci is brave but clueless. Neither one seems much of a match for the vampire.

The most consistently frightening person in the show is John C. Brown as the madman Renfield. He makes the audience jump by constantly bounding onstage screaming about the vampire's secrets.

As servants, Jason Ryan Lovett and Corban Shepherd do their best to keep the household together amid the crisis.

Thursday's audience didn't seem disappointed by the lack of horror; it gave the show a standing ovation. Maybe there's pleasure enough in just re-experiencing a familiar tale.

Bee arts writer Lisa Millegan can be reached at 578-2313 or lmillegan@modbee.com.