The company’s bare-bones production is a silly, spooky-season treat.

Proving the enduring appeal of Dracula in all its forms, the Evergreen Players are all in on the mashup of horror and comedy this month with a stellar production of Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors.

This relatively new comedy from Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen took Colorado by storm last year with a superb professional production at the Denver Center’s Garner Galleria. But Evergreen is giving the pros a run for their money with a bare-bones (heh-heh) version that leans into the improv and features a game, extremely busy five-person cast playing a variety of characters.

This show does have one seemingly unavoidable casting requirement: Whoever you cast as Dracula needs to be pretty buff. At the Garner Galleria, Marco Alberto Robinson fit the bill to a T as a ripped bloodsucker with an ego the size of Bran Castle and a puppy-like need for approval.

In the Evergreen production directed by Paul Newman, Brian Dowling shows off his own impressive physique (including a few one-armed push-ups) while playing Drac as a bit more of an oleaginous rake. It’s a very funny performance aided by a quick-changing quartet of actors extracting every bit of funny from the script.

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The playwrights have said they looked into a bit of history about Dracula author Bram Stoker as a closeted gay man and made their guy a sexually fluid narcissist — he also just happens to need human blood to keep things going. They then stripped the story down to its base elements and shifted things around to tell it with just Dracula, Lucy, Dr. Westfeldt, Mina, Van Helsing and Harker. The result is one part Stoker, one part Python, another part Rocky Horror and whatever else pops up along the way.

Brian Dowling as Dracula. | Photo: Amy Taylor

The simple things

In a world of CGI, AI and other digital effects, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors reminds us that, in comedy, simple stuff still gets the laughs. When Dracula’s servant (Emily Newton, who also plays Lucy) picks up Harker and they mount a couple of benches to serve as a wagon, the pair start jiggling as if they’re on a bumpy road. Character switches made with a quick shift of wig and jacket elicit cheers and applause, while a male-on-male kiss still draws giggles and oohs.

Aside from a well-done lineup of period costumes by Nealy Drew, the production relies on the actors to paint every scene. Newton is perfect as the prim, strong Lucy, but she really shines when she shifts into servant mode and distinguishes the character with a lopsided face, hunched body and Cockney accent. Sean Jackson makes an absolute meal out of Mina, Lucy’s horny, less-attractive sister. (He also plays Van Helsing.)

Meanwhile, Becca Boeckx does nice work switching between Lucy’s father, Dr. Westfeldt, and the bug-eating lunatic Renfield. Holding the middle is an excellent Ryan Bernstein as the real estate agent engaged to Lucy who starts the whole thing off by visiting Dracula at his castle to sign some paperwork.

Newman makes the most of this athletic cast and a loosey-goosey script that allows the actors to ad-lib their way out of any corners and maximize the fun. It’s a silly night of theatre and a perfect bit of horror-humor for spooky season that’s well worth the trip up the hill.