As a lifelong fan of Bram Stoker's original novel reviewing Michael Pink's Dracula ballet, I feel the need to address something relatively trivial right away. The title character as played by Douglas McCubbin (with David Hovhannisyan and Christopher Fellows playing the role on alternating performances) does NOT look like Bram Stoker's character. He's not a dark, towering, powerfully built man with a thick moustache.
With long, pale hair and a thin, sinewy body McCubbin looks more like . . . Riff Raff from "Rocky Horror Picture Show." With all the advertising that the Milwaukee Ballet has been doing, the title character's appearance hardly comes as a surprise, but the full effect of it all isn't really apparent until you first see McCubbin (or either of the other two guys) onstage. Much to the credit of just about everyone involved in the production, Dracula's strange appearance is hardly a big deal. Evil can take many forms. Chillingly graceful, McCubbin wears his body like an elegant cadaver in the role of Dracula. With only a few undignified motions, he cuts a chillingly powerful figure as the dark count-an undead human personification of twisted power in high places.
Michael Pink's choreography flows through McCubbin in graceful dynamics balancing exquisite costuming, richly detailed lighting and some of the most breath-taking sets available to the modern performing arts stage. Michael Pink has created a vivid visual feast driven by the passionate pulse of graceful human movement. It's a three course meal. The first act is dark and spicy, highlighted by a performance by Transylvanian villagers that seems inspired by Eastern-European folk-dancing. Act Two is noticeably lighter, with a light-hearted brightly-lit tea dance at a grand hotel followed by the gradually encroaching darkness set in a sanitarium. By Act Three, the darkness is back with a vengeance. Some of the most darkly dazzling movements take place in the final act.
The show begins with Jonathan Harker's nightmare visions of the darkly supernatural which foreshadow the events of the rest of thee story. It's an impressive display with just enough horror to let the audience know what it's in for. This is not traditional ballet as the visual conventions of traditional ballet would be at odds with much of tone of the story. Michael Pink's, "Dracula," is a heavily illustrated presentation with all of the dramatic elements playing out in the language of dance.
The story flows well from one scene to the next. Michael Pink tells the story well. One need not be familiar with all the elements of the story to follow the action, as it is all there on stage. The detailed plot is there in the program for anyone who might be interested, but its far better to sit back and watch it play out onstage. The mood and tone of things DOES get a bit tripped-up at the beginning of the second act with Harker and Lucy amidst a Tea Dance in the Grand Hotel. The production lingers on the passions of the living a bit too long. Dracula's appearance at the end of it all makes for a powerful contrast to the proceedings, but one gets the feeling that the Tea Dance could've been cut a bit shorter.
As stated before, Pink conveys the horror of the story amazingly well in the language of dance, with only a few less-accomplished departures. The choreography of madman Renfield doesn't quite hit the mark of madness that the role calls for, but this is splitting hairs in an overwhelmingly enjoyable show. By far, the most impressive scene in comes at the end. Dracula celebrates his union with Mina at Cofax Abbey. His movements are slow and powerful amidst all the black-clad Nosferatu which have been summoned. They are a human ocean of black rippling with tides of rhythmic motion to frame the dark figure of Dracula as he walks with his beautiful victim Mina. Dracula's just moments away from the slaying we all know is coming, but here he is transcendentally dark. It's at that moment that McCubbin has fully reached into the heart of the role to become something else. At that moment, tiny flaws wash away in an otherwise impressive production.
The Milwaukee Ballet's production of Michael Pink's Dracula plays now through October 30 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets range in price from $20-$80 and can be purchased in advance by calling the Marcus Center Box Office at: (414) 273-7206.
