By Eyal Solomon, Publisher & Editor, Theater Pizzazz

Bram Stoker meets happy hour as drunk Dracula and four fearless actors turn the vampire classic into 90 minutes of theatrical chaos. 

The setup is simple, similar to all Drunk Shakespeare Society productions: five actors take on Dracula, but the actor playing Dracula downs an unholy amount of alcohol before tackling Bram Stoker’s tale, leaving the rest of the company to keep the story moving, more or less. From there, the evening becomes a fast-moving collision of Stoker, improv, physical comedy, acrobatics and an apparently inexhaustible supply of gags.

The gags come at a breakneck pace. I simply could not stop laughing! Some of the gags are scripted, others clearly grow out of the moment. And as the play progressed and the alcohol took effect (onstage and off) everything just became zanier. 

Yet amid all the chaos, what makes the whole mad enterprise work is the astonishing versatility of the company. These are not performers relying on a clever gimmick. They are serious thespians (well, Shakespeare) with first-rate comic instincts and a formidable bag of tricks. Over the course of the evening they sing, dance, juggle, tumble, improvise and hurl themselves into physical comedy with seemingly limitless energy. 

At the center of the evening was Howard Hendrix Powell as Drunk Dracula, who maintained remarkable timing, wit and charm despite downing an amount of alcohol that would have rendered most people incapable of remembering their own name, much less carrying a 90-minute theatrical performance. Brandon Salerno, as the gloriously over-the-top MC, served as host, ringmaster and comic shape-shifter, morphing into a stream-of-consciousness parade of horror characters and comic creations, each more outrageous than the last. The rest of the company is equally impressive. Sky Young as Mina/Lucy, Travis Raeburn as Harker, and Gracie Lee Brown as Van Yuengling (yes, that Yuengling) each deliver powerhouse performances. 

No surprise, a drunken play about vampires comes with decidedly R-rated humor, much of it provided courtesy of the very horny Mina, impatiently awaiting the return of her fiancé Harker and rationalizing temptation with the immortal observation, “It doesn’t count if it’s just the tip.”

The show cheerfully mixes Stoker’s familiar characters with contemporary humor, audience participation, music, visual gags and increasingly outrageous detours. The company knows exactly when to let the evening descend into chaos and, just as importantly, how to pull it back together.

Drunk Dracula is wildly unpredictable and enormously fun. It takes Bram Stoker’s immortal vampire, pours him several stiff drinks and unleashes him into the hands of a fearless company that seems capable of just about anything.

Bottom line: Funny, clever and different. See it! 

Drunk Dracula is currently running at The Ruby Theatre, 35 West 39th St through November 7, 2026. For Tickets and more information, visit https://drunkdracula.com/.

Photos provided by Brass Jar Productions.