The audience was practically mesmerized on opening night, Friday. Helsinger uses the stage masterfully, almost maniacally, climbing over and around and through the fabulous collection of items in the attic, sometimes even climbing the walls of the theater as he constructs his mental pictures for the audience. His weeks of imprisonment and eventual escape from Castle Dracula are as vivid as if they were on film. In the second act, Helsinger adds several more characters, as Harker returns to England to have his final confrontation with Dracula there. There is a simple truth that becomes more apparent around Halloween.
People adore being scared half to death by a good ghost story.
Helsinger gives his audiences exactly what they adore.