Minnetonka High School to Present DRACULA, 11/4-19

This November Minnetonka High School will continue to take theatre to new heights with Dracula - The Musical, their follow up to last year's sold out Minnesota premiere production of The Phantom of the Opera. This thrilling musical romance will run on the Arts Center on 7 Main Stage from November 4-19.

Excitement for the renowned theatre program has taken off since 2011 graduate Ryan McCartan won the National High School Musical Theatre Awards this past spring.

In one of the largest turn outs to date, over 200 students auditioned for the chance to work with director Kent Knutson on Dracula.

With a lavish score by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel), special effects by Flying by Foy (the company who made Dracula and his brides soar in the Broadway run of the production), and a selection of Catherine Zuber's Tony nominated costumes from the original show, Minnetonka's Dracula is sure to surprise and enchant audiences.

"The show will be breathtaking all around! You really do feel something through the music," explains MHS junior Eric Sargent, who will star as Count Dracula. "It is symbolic of feelings we all share - everyone wants to be young and longs for what they can't have."

"This is a very romantic show: it is not Dracula - The Horror Show; it is Dracula - The Musical!," says MHS junior Katherine Fried, who will play Mina. "Above all I am most excited about the acting challenge. It is such a superb cast, you forget we are all still high school students. Everyone has so much talent and we are all pushing ourselves to be that much better!"

The musical opened on Broadway in 2004 with a score by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel) and lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. After a short run in the US Dracula was translated into German and became a huge hit in Switzerland.

Dracula is based on Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic Victorian novel of the same name. The story begins with Jonathan Harker, a young Englishman, traveling to a castle in Transylvania to help wager a deal with Count Dracula who is interested in buying a new home. Dracula sees a picture of his guest's fiancée, Mina, and shows a peculiar interest in her. Jonathan's stay in the castle quickly becomes a nightmare and he escapes just as Dracula and his vampire brides set sail to haunt the dark nights of London. Stoker's tale did not invent the myth but Dracula has triumphed as the most popular vampire saga to date.

For more information, visit http://www.minnetonkatheatre.com/

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