On November 9, 2024, The Chicago Philharmonic with The Chicago Chamber Choir and Cheryl Wilson, vocal soloist, soprano Victoria Schemenhauer and alto Elena Hensel presented an epic entertainment experience, the North American Premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stokers Dracula in Concert. From the beautifully crafted program, jam-packed with information about the superb score’s composer, Wojciech Kilar, with stunning photos by Bartek Barczyk, to the soaring sounds of the choral voices and featured artists, to the hypnotic score, strongly led by Spanish film score composer/ conductor Diego Navarro, this was a not-to-be forgotten experience.
The 4000 seat Auditorium Theater, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago, is a splendid venue, lushly lit, gilded and frescoed, designed by the renowned team of Sullivan and Adler-a young Frank Lloyd Wright worked on the edifice. This evening, as is often the case with the versatile Philharmonic’s innovative projects, the audience came in genre defined and defying costumes: wigs, kilts, black webbed dresses, chin hugging white ruff shirted tuxedoes.
The film itself, circa 1992, is a dark noire/campy telling of the great story of Vlad the Impaler, who leads a grisly eternal life cum nocturnal death by wickedly sucking the blood of others. It’s mostly true to Stoker’s 1897 original, with a few embellishments, unlike the twisty ménage of wannabe spinoffs and derivatives of more recent publications. Actor Gary Oldman in the title role is simply marvelous! As Dracula the warrior he is The Dragon, clad in a reddish coiled columnar suit of armor, ultramacho and forbiddingly sexy. Walking the streets of Victorian London, he’s disarmingly sexually fluid- entrancing even to wolves (and a certain white German Shepard). As the ancient demon flesh devourer, his face mask is a miracle of snarling folds, his eyes laser sharp, his hair a Medusa’s coiled nest.
It’s easy to see why the picture won an Oscar for best makeup. The glorious lowlit scenery, non-computerized trance-spinning special effects, severed heads rolling, elaborate big, bustled costumes by Eiko Ishioka, eyeteeth-bared bare breasted succubus’ tongues in cheek and out: a great show!
Even without the movie, the concert would have been a complete success- a compelling fever dream of inspired music beautifully sung and played by an exceptional orchestra and fine voices. The score is intoxicating, weaving together images of eternal love, religious exorcism, forbidden sexuality, and oddball humor, an opera of fantasy. Polish born Kilar studied under the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris and went on to craft scores for over 100 Polish films; Dracula was his first score for an English language production.
This union, of mesmeric Eastern European composer and movie titan, in which Kilar allegedly had total artistic control, produced a montage of the macabre entwined with lyrical romanticism. For example: the opening prelude builds in menacing stages to a hellish climax. In The Brides segment, while 3 demon sex-godless-lasses ravish Vlad’s lawyer, we are treated to an insane waltz. In Love Remembered, during which Winona Ryder as the reincarnation of the vampire’s suicided spouse is wooed, the oboes and harp provide a sweet and tender denouement. Adding the rich voices illuminated the orchestration with eerie, plaintive and erotic emphasis.
All photos by Azuree Holloway
For information and tickets to all the events at The Auditorium, go to www.auditoriumtheater.org
For information and tickets to all the fine programming of The Chicago Philharmonic, go to www.chicagophilharmonic.org
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