Review Roundup: Cynthia Erivo-Led DRACULA Opens in London

Reviews are in for Cynthia Erivo's starring solo turn in in DRACULA, now playing London's West End. Did critics have a bloody good time with Cynthia? Find out in our review roundup below!

Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winner and three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo returns to the stage for the first time in nearly a decade for the production, starring in this bold, one-actor reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic gothic novel.

In this radical interpretation, Erivo embodies all twenty-three characters in Stoker’s iconic tale — from the naïve solicitor Jonathan Harker and his fiancée Mina Murray to confidante Lucy Westenra, her suitors, and the formidable vampire hunter Van Helsing — as well as the infamous Count Dracula themself.

Read the reviews!

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: The production is a technical feat, but is so caught up in its own cleverness that it forgets one of the most intrinsic appeals of theatre; to connect an actor to an audience through their live presence on stage. Not on a screen. 

Olivia Rook, London Theatre: By Dracula’s end, it is hard to keep up with Erivo’s many characters, and it’s a relief when she opens her mouth to sing the words “come with me”, like a siren’s call. It is a welcome reminder of the talented voice at the heart of this project, but is her West End return a show to die for? Not quite.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: Erivo gives us a tantalising taste of her singing voice towards the end and it raises your hopes but is aborted into a few – exquisitely sung – lines rather than a song. It’s sad that the production plays so little of Erivo’s strengths, which might better have been reconceived as Dracula the Musical.

Sara Hemming, Financial Times: As the plot rumbles on, the text itself becomes a drag and the show begins to feel overlong. It doesn’t match the dazzling immediacy and playfulness of Dorian Gray, which so cleverly fused style and story to critique our own image-obsessed age. But then it wows you with a gorgeous image of Erivo, alone in a snowstorm centre stage. Not the best of Williams’s ingenious gothic spectacles, but bloody good all the same.

Clive Davis, The Times: Kip Williams has spiced up the sensuality of the novel a tad, and there’s an odd moment when Arthur Holmwood, fiancé of the Count’s victim Lucy Westenra, indulges in some very un-Victorian effing and blinding. Anyone unfamiliar with the novel may find the climactic chase slightly confusing, yet the snow falling from above and Erivo’s sudden eruption into an original song add genuine operatic grandeur.

Alice Saville, The Independent: A solo show should be a chance for an actor to show an audience what they can do – and who they are. Williams doesn’t always let Erivo do that. Instead, he subjects her to the theatrical equivalent of the beep test (the terror of school PE lessons), in service of an overly elaborate production that’s not satisfying either as a play or as a film. But there’s a lethal potency to the moments where she does make this Dracula her own: a Nigerian-accented, androgynous monster in a blood-red wig who knows that it’s when people love that they’re at their most vulnerable.

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut London: Again, I refuse to treat Williams’ style like the Emperor’s new clothes. He’s onto something! It just doesn’t entirely work here. Despite stumbling over the odd line, Erivo is charismatic, game, and essentially does her best as a cog in Williams’ elaborate machine. But if you agree to tie your big comeback to a very specific directorial vision, there’s not much even a superstar actor can do if that vision is faulty.

Sam Marlowe, The Stage: Erivo seems ill at ease with the material. There’s a hesitancy about her performance, as if she were wrong-footed by the technology that surrounds her. A scattering of arch, self-conscious moments and sly humour are part of the deal in Williams’ interpretation, but nothing feels truly felt and, as she switches between characters, the individual voices are not always properly differentiated. The overall effect is slightly ramshackle, sluggish and, in the end, frustratingly short on dash and drama.

Demetrios Matheou, The Hollywood Reporter : Following Snook’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning turn as Dorian, Cynthia Erivo offers her own version of smashing it out of the park. She’s such a likable, multi-talented performer, and here, across 23 characters, her versatility, charm and singular physicality are irresistible.

Daz Gale , All That Dazzles : Cynthia Erivo did get stronger and more confident as the performance continued; however, the second hour felt far slicker than the first. The strength in her performance was also felt throughout her pre-recorded video, again showcasing why she is becoming such a regular fixture on screen. While this particular performance may not have been the best demonstration of her strengths, they were still clear to see, and even when Erivo is not at her best, the level she delivers can still impress.

Average Rating: 61.0%