Monday, 7/14/97 ‘Dracula’ hopes blood runs hot for audiences
DANCE: Acosta, Anderson to assume principal roles in Houston Ballet
show
By Alicia Cheak Daily Bruin Contributor When Carlos Acosta was 9
years old, his father forced him to take ballet lessons. At 6 years
of age, Lauren Anderson watched a production of "The Nutcracker"
and decided she wanted to be a ballerina. In spite of their
different beginnings, both Acosta and Anderson found their way to
the Houston Ballet and have nabbed two of four principal roles in
the company’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s "Dracula," opening
Tuesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. "It’s really a strange
case because I think most fathers want their sons to be in sports,"
says the mild-mannered Acosta, amused at the recollection. "And
mine was a truck driver and that made it even more weird." Acosta
did not take his father’s decision seriously at first and
subsequently, was kicked out of the ballet school. "I traveled all
around Cuba to look for another school but nobody wanted me,"
Acosta laughs. But as serendipity would have it, by age 13, he
discovered he really did like what he was doing and pursued it on
his own. "Now, it’s my life," he says. At 24 years of age, Acosta
has been a principal dancer with the company since 1993, has
traveled all around the world and has won several awards. He
appears to have found an identity and contentment others his age
are only beginning to explore. Anderson, on the other hand, was
enraptured by ballet with her fist encounter of it. Starting early
at age 7 with the Houston Ballet Academy, she joined the company in
1983 becoming the first African American principal dancer in 1990.
"When I was about 6 my mother took me to see Houston Ballet’s
"Nutcracker," and I left humming to the prelude," Anderson recalls.
"She asked me if I wanted to take ballet lessons and I said,
‘Sure!’" In the current production, Count Dracula is the only one
who makes the transition from Stoker’s thriller novel onto the
stage. Mina, Jonathan and even Dr. Seward have slipped through the
cracks and are replaced by Flora, played by Anderson. Acosta plays
Frederic, a young man whose lover, Svetlana, goes in search of
Flora when she disappears from the village. While the lustful count
has taken many forms in film, most recently Francis Ford Coppola’s
romanticized version of a tortured creature and Mel Brook’s spoof
of a dim-witted count in "Dracula: Dead and Loving It," artistic
director Ben Stevenson created the villain as he saw him in the
novel – lustful and evil. Anderson says of Stevenson’s alluring yet
horrifying Dracula, "He seduces all the women because they have to
be willing to give their blood. He’s charming and sort of
attractive in a weird kind of way and there’s definitely a sexual
tension between him and Flora. "But in the end, you’ll cheer the
lovers on to destroy the count," Anderson says. "Then again, it
depends on your perspective because all his brides die with him."
The $1 million production hopes to capture the audience’s
imagination with a gory, nocturnal world, replete with extravagant
19th century costumes and even some theatrical flying stunts. "The
audience is not just in for a bunch of women in white tutus running
around," Anderson says. Acosta agrees: "The atmosphere is really
incredible with all the lighting and special effects. You’re going
to be thrilled with everybody flying around." Beyond that, the two
are as silent as the grave, unwilling to give away more that they
should about the production’s technical surprises. Count Dracula
may get fried in the end, but he lives on, not off the blood of
innocent beautiful women but in the imagination of people who,
fascinated by such a character, revive the story. Verifying the
resiliency of the character, Anderson recalls an almost cult-like
exhibition on opening night in Houston in which quite a number of
people dressed up as vampires. "It was really bizarre. But it also
means that we are getting people who know Dracula, who might or
might not be ballet-goers, into the theater." Long live the count!
DANCE: The Houston Ballet’s "Dracula" runs at the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion from July 15 to 20. Tickets are $15 to $60. For more
information, call (213) 972-7211. Houston Ballet Timothy O’Keefe
plays Dracula and Susan Cummins plays Flora in "Dracula," running
through July 20 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Houston Ballet
Lauren Anderson is a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet.
Houston Ballet Carlos Acosta plays Frederick in "Dracula." Related
Site: Houston Ballet