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From the Croydon Advertiser - 5th of December, 2008
Review by Diana Eccleston
- 3 stars
Garlic and crucifixes at the ready – this is theatre at its battiest, a musical out of the Rocky Horror Show mould which positively drips with ghoulish gags and fiendish fun.
It’s a jolly piece for a large group to get their teeth into, with plenty of gruesome parts such as zombies and brides of Dracula, and ATG gave it a brace shot.
There were some enjoyable performances but the singing was not always as full-blooded as I would have liked and sometimes sharper and punchier delivery of lines was required. And there was too much unnatural standing about in rows when characters hadn’t been given enough direction or business.
This is what can happen when the director takes a leading role – in this case Jeremy Nicholls also plays the vampire Count Dracula. He’s plotting to have his evil way with an innocent American teacher, Miss Nadia Naïve, who is on vacation in Transylvania with some of her pupils.
I love the way Nicholls relished the Count’s upper class elegance, swirling his cape to great effect. Best scene was in his castle with his mad mother the Countess Wraith (a deliciously funny performance by Gee Rook) and hunchback sidekick Genghis (Rick Morris – who pretty much steals the show with the help of a great Quasimodo costume and wig).
On the side of goodness are Dominic Binefa as the super-confident superhero Prof Nick Necrophiliac, Keith Harper’s smiling Irish Father O’Stake and the zany couple from the local inn Hans (Mish Taylor) and Gretel (Maggie Langham). Gabriella Brooks keeps up the sweetness and innocence charmingly as Nadia.
And James Beal deserves his own round of applause for playing the accompaniment for the entire show at the keyboards.