Tag Archives: Gordon Greenberg

Oct 22

Joyfully Exploding Fixed Categories: Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors

Posted on by

Photo by Benjamin Rose Photography.

Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project 
By Gordon Greenberg & Steve Rosen
Directed by Christopher V. Edwards
Featuring: Thalia Gerloff, Doug Lockwood, Paul Melendy, Nicholas Papayoanou, Bobbie Steinbach

October 9 to November 1, 2026
The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Run time: 100 minutes, no intermission

Critique by Diana Lu

WATERTOWN, Mass. — The 1995 Mel Brooks film Dracula: Dead and Loving It was a childhood favorite of mine, so Greenberg and Rosen had big shoes to fill. I’m happy to report that Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors exceeded even my most petulant-nostalgic expectations. It is witty and fresh. It is feminist and gay. Watching it gave me a sense of safety, clarity, and expansion, and I wondered how much more theatre could challenge us to, as the playbill put it, “be dangerous and alive.”

A sharp and hilarious sendup of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, Dracula ACOT begins with fussy and faint hearted (i.e. stereotypically Victorian) real estate broker, Jonathan Harker (Paul Melendy),  traveling to Transylvania to close a lucrative deal and enhance his career prospects before wedding his childhood sweetheart—who is waaaaaay out of his league. In Dracula’s castle, Harker’s photo of fiancée Lucy Westfeldt (Thalia Gerloff), a feminist firebrand with an extremely attractive neck, immediately becomes the vampire’s obsession. This leads our orientalist trope villain to infiltrate England to seek her out, leaving a trail of death, disease, madness, and queerness in his quest to sate his lust, bloodlust, and dopamine receptors. Continue reading →

Nov 13

Queer and Loving It: “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors”

Posted on by

Presented by New World Stages
Author: Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen
Director: Gordon Greenberg
Original Music/Sound Design by Victoria Deiorio 
Dialect coaching by Jerome Butler
Intimacy direction by Judi Lewis Ockler 
Puppetry design by Tijana Bjelajac
Schedule of Performances 
New World Stages / Stage 5 
340 West 50th Street
New York NY 10019

1 hour and 30 minutes, no intermission

Review by Kitty Drexel

NEW YORK — Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is cutely queer. It isn’t in New England yet, but it could be when the rights become available. Performances are ongoing at New York’s New World Stages through November.

This Dracula, like so many of its predecessors, tackles Bram Stoker’s most famous novel with a modern spin and blatant sexual references. Persons seeking a severe homage to either the novel in letters or the 1992 film with Winona Rider and Gary Oldman should look elsewhere. This play lacks depth but makes up for it with absurd puppetry and the clever execution of thoughtful props. Continue reading →

Jan 07

As in Life, “Working” is a Mixed Bag

Posted on by

Photo by Mark S. Howard for Lyric Stage Co of Boston; The Cast.

Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Based on the book, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, by Studs Terkel.
Adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso.
Additional contributions by Gordon Greenberg. Songs by Craig Carnella, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor.
Directed & Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins
Music Direction by Jonathan Goldberg

January 3 to February 1, 2014
140 Clarendon St.
Boston, MA
The Lyric on Facebook

Running time: Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.

Review by Kitty Drexel

Boston) Studs Terkel’s book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do is a collection of essays/interviews with Americans in the workforce. It spans a variety of jobs and careers while exploring the motivations behind the work the subjects do. The employed and unemployed look for recognition, justification and greater purpose looking for recognition in the work that we do. The musical, Working adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, uses samples from Terkel’s book to bring the dialogue to the stage. Continue reading →