Cleveland Ballet 
Dracula and The Masque of the Red Death
Mimi Ohio Theatre – Playhouse Square
October 18 & 19, 2024

By Steve Sucato

Cleveland Ballet embraces the macabre spirit of Halloween to open its 2024-25 season on October 18 & 19 at Playhouse Square’s Mimi Ohio Theatre.

Continuing the artistic relationship cultivated last season by Cleveland Ballet’s new artistic director, Timour Bourtasenkov, the company will present four performances of the ballets Dracula and The Masque of the Red Death from Carolina Ballet’s repertory.   

Opening the program will be choreographer and Carolina ballet founder Robert Weiss’ ballet adaptation of American writer Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 gothic fiction short story, The Masque of the Red Death. The story follows Prince Prospero, who attempts to avoid a dangerous fictional plague known as the Red Death by hiding in his abbey with other wealthy nobles. Prospero and the other nobles hold a masquerade ball in seven of the abbey’s rooms, each decorated in a different color. Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death joins the party to spell their end.

In adapting Poe’s story as a ballet, Weiss incorporates some popular ballet characters into it to represent the masquerading nobles, including an Arabian dancer, punchinellos, a harlequin and columbine, a ballerina, a pierrot and pierette, jokers, and a monkey.

“In my mind, I think of the progression of the ballet as being a party in a big mansion, and someone representing the audience walks from room to room visiting and seeing the dancing in each,” says Dameon Nagel, the répétiteur of both The Masque of the Red Death and Dracula. “Choreographically, each room has a different feel and movement quality. There is a projected countdown clock counting until midnight and small interludes between each room where the red death remerges to infiltrate each group of dancers as scenes change to a new room. 

The 35-minute The Masque of the Red Death and Dracula share the same stage setting (slightly reconfigured) rented from Carolina Ballet and the same composer, J. Mark Scearce, who composed original scores for each. 

“I feel like the music for both is very cinematic,” says Nagel. “Some sections sound like they are from a movie score.”

The Masque of the Red Death has a cast of 17 dancers with Emmanuel Martirosyan as The Red Death and costumed as the sun and moon, respectively, Vadim Slatvitskii as Prince Prospero, and Nashializ Gomezo Orengo as The Duchess.  

Hoping to create a second cash cow to Christmas’ The Nutcracker ballet, Dracula has become a Halloween staple for many U.S. ballet companies. Capitalizing on the ballet’s popularity, the program’s second half features Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s ballet adaptation of Irish author Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic horror novel.

Taylor-Corbett is best known for her work on Broadway, where she was nominated for a 2000 Tony Award for the musical Swing!, and her choreography in the feature films Footloose, My Blue Heaven, and Bewitched.

Stoker’s Dracula tells of English real estate solicitor Jonathan Harker, who travels to stay at the castle of a Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula. Harker escapes the castle after discovering that Dracula is a vampire. The Count then moves to England and plagues the seaside town of Whitby, terrorizing Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra, Mina’s best friend, and Renfield, an insane man who eats vermin. A small group, led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing, then hunts and kills Dracula.

At just 75 minutes, Taylor-Corbett’s Dracula is a more compact version of the Dracula story than many other ballet versions currently in circulation. 

“She [Taylor-Corbett] trimmed away the stuff that doesn’t help tell the story,” says Nagal. “For her, telling the story in an efficient way was a goal.”

Aiding in that concise storytelling is the use of narration in the ballet to drive the story and facilitate scene changes along with video projections. Set to J. Mark Scearce’s dramatic score, a cast of 28 performers will bring the chilling story to life. Alternating dancing in the lead role of Count Dracula will be Johan Mancebo (7 p.m., October 18 & 19) and Narek Martirosyan (10:30 a.m., October 18 & 1 p.m., October 19) with Anna Cole (7 p.m., October 18 & 19) and Sydney Henson (10:30 a.m., October 18 & 1 p.m., October 19) alternating the principal role of Lucy Westenra. Visit cleveballet.org/dracula for the complete cast list.

Sure to add family-friendly (perhaps too scary for some young viewers), spine-tingling entertainment to this Halloween season, Dracula and The Masque of the Red Death is a season opener dance fans and non-dance goers can sink their teeth into.  

The new dance season also comes with changes to Cleveland Ballet’s dancer roster. No longer with the company are standout dancers Uma Deming, who joined Carolina Ballet, and Emanuel Tavares, now with Atlanta Ballet. Also gone are dancers Eunjun Jung and Trisha Carter.

Cleveland Ballet performs Dracula and The Masque of the Red Death, 10:30 a.m. (Student matinee) & 7 p.m., October 18, and 1 p.m. & 7 p.m., October 19. Playhouse Square’s Mimi Ohio Theatre, 1511 Euclid Ave, Cleveland. Tickets range from $30-$131 and can be purchased at playhousesquare.org or by calling (216) 241-6000.

Dracula in Two Bites! Afterparty:  Join Cleveland Ballet on October 19 at Hofbräuhaus at Playhouse Square, 1530 Chester Ave., Cleveland, from 9-11:30 p.m. for an exclusive afterparty featuring an evening of dancing, small bites, a drink ticket for a bloody good specialty cocktail, and mingling with the cast of Dracula (attending the performance not required).  Tickets are $75 and can be purchased at cleveballet.org.