HOW AN OFF BROADWAY VAMPIRE COMEDY FOUND FANS AROUND THE WORLD

The grassroots popularity of Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, explained

Welcome to your weekly guide to the global theater industry. New to Jaques? Check out this handy explainer.

James Daly in Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. Photo: Matt Crockett

It was last fall when I started to see Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors all over the place. I spotted Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s gender-bending spoof on season calendars across the U.S., from Dallas Theater Center to The Old Globe to the Ensemble Theatre Company in my hometown. I’d catch stray video snippets of the show on social media. And engagements in prominent theaters like Montreal’s Segal Centre for the Performing Arts and London’s Menier Chocolate Factory (where Dracula just finished its run on May 3) have pointed up the international popularity of a play that’s already been seen in Australia, South Africa, and Turkey and is gearing up for productions everywhere from Berlin to Kuala Lumpur.

I write a lot in this newsletter about large-scale stage projects—mostly musicals—that roll out around the world guided by producers who are among the largest international operators in the business: Think Cameron Mackintosh (Les Misérables), Disney Theatrical Group (The Lion King), Sonia Friedman (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Global Creatures (Moulin Rouge!). But as Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors makes clear, there are other ways to go global—driven by grassroots popularity, an iconic title, a cheeky concept, and accessible, flexible production needs.

Since the fall of 2022 there have been just over 100 amateur and professional productions of Dracula around the world, according the show’s reps. There are 80 more confirmed engagements lined up between now and Halloween 2026—and that’s not including, for instance, the German-language touring production that launches in Berlin next year or a French-language production that’s in the works.

“Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is one of the most successful new play titles I’ve worked on in recent years, finding enthusiastic audiences around the world—from professional and commercial stages to universities and high schools,” says Leah Hamos, the agent who represents co-writer Rosen at Gersh.

In this SPOTLIGHT STORY, I’ll tease out the factors that have helped propel Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors around the world, among them:

• an inclusively conceived script,

• an unorthodox take on globally renowned IP,

• a pandemic that prompted some lateral thinking,

• a radio play (aka podcast),

• TikTok traction, and

• audiences who love a vampire story on Halloween—and anytime of year.

THIS BLOODSUCKER’S BACKSTORY