DETROIT, Mich. – The story of Dracula is known to everyone – from the iconic and campy Bela Lugosi depiction, to Frank Langella’s 1979 film, to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film titled as “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and even the perma-tanned George Hamilton in “Love At First Bite.”

Doing Dracula on stage is a bit fraught more than a century after its writing. The language of the story can be plodding and overwrought. Given our exposure to all manner of terror and horror in film and TV, enhanced by computer-generated-imagery, pulling off a compelling Dracula on the boards is a tall order.

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Fortunately, the Hilberry Repertory Company more than pulls it off, with a gorgeous, gothic and steamy set and costume design that provides a sumptuously gloomy runway for this production to take flight.

Dracula, played by Santino Craven (how great a name is that for playing Dracula?) combines the right amount of creepiness, allure and unhealthy dominance to galvanize everyone’s attention when he is on stage. Mina, played by the striking Mary Sansone, is both Dracula’s victim and foil, as she collects the journals, letters, newspaper clippings about Dracula and fits all of the information regarding the Count together in order to mount the attempt by her and her friends to kill the vampire. Sansone illuminates the gorgeous stage whenever she is on it.

Antonia LaChé gets Lucy, Dracula’s early victim, just right. Dracula’s victim who must convey also that she has totally given herself over to the Count, helpless in his gaze. It is a tough role for an actress, in this critic’s opinion, in 2016. Her transformation to a sexually ravenous vampire is especially good.

The play was adapted by playwright Charles Morey, who is also the production’s director. “My intent in writing this adaptation was to translate Stoker’s extraordinary novel to the stage in a manner that was as faithful as possible to the plot structure, characters, thematic concerns, tone and sensibility of the original.”

And so it does.

The Hilberry set is a two-story Victorian castle, and is as much a star as any of the players. The second story incorporates a screen that is rear-projected, changing times of day and night, with moons and bats and the like. Costuming is terrific down to the details and puts the audience right into Stoker’s 19th century London. The actors supply a lot of steam, the grips more with the mist machines.

There are times when it feels like Morey has taken the whole story all together a bit too seriously. It’s a talky play. And the allegorical story is so absurd that it cries out to be adapted with more comic moments. Perhaps I’m over-ready for Mel Brooks to come out of retirement and give the Count the treatment he so richly deserves. But the plodding passages don’t last too long, and are thankfully interrupted by blood sucking and sexually charged turns in the plot. Yes, it all sucks…in a good way.

Catch Dracula for one of your stops on the Halloween journey.

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