Michel Altieri, George Hearn & Thora Birch Will Sink Their Teeth Into Dracula

Dracula, the 1927 play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston based on Bram Stoker’s classic novel, will come back to life off-Broadway with Italian actor Michel Altieri in the title role alongside two-time Tony winner George Hearn and film actress Thora Birch. The production, helmed by Paul Alexander, will begin a 13-week run at the Little Shubert Theater on December 14 ahead of a January 5, 2011, opening, playing through March 13.

Altieri will make his American stage debut as Dracula, a role first played by Bela Lugosi on Broadway in 1927. Hearn will co-star as vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, and Birch will play Lucy Seward, Count Dracula’s love interest. Joining them will be Timothy Jerome as Dr. Seward, Jake Silbermann as Jonathan Harker, John Buffalo Mailer as Renfield, Emily Bridges as Miss Wells and Rob O’Hare as Butterworth.

Altieri played the Beast in the Italian premiere of Beauty and the Beast and Tom Collins in the Italian premiere of Rent. He is a recipient of an Italian Tony Award. (See the clip below to hear him perform the title tune in the Disney musical.)

Hearn is a Tony winner for La Cage aux Folles and Sunset Boulevard and was most recently seen on Broadway in Wicked. He has also starred in Sweeney Todd, Watch on the Rhine, A Doll’s Life, Putting It Together and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Birch is the star of such films as American Beauty, Ghost World, Hocus Pocus, Now and Then and Dungeons & Dragons.

Dracula was seen on Broadway in 1977 in hit production starring Frank Langella and featuring black-and-white sets and costumes by cartoonist Edward Gorey. The off-Broadway production will have sets by Dana Kenn, lighting by Brian Nelson, costumes by Willa Kim, sound design by Chris DelVecchio and special effects by Greg Meeh.

In spite of the failure of vampire-centered stage shows such as Lestat, Dance of the Vampires and Dracula the Musical, the current crazy for books and screen adaptations of Twilight and True Blood have kept Dracula at the top of producers' wish lists.

Dracula is produced by Bram Stoker's Dracula LLC, Tony Travis, George and Dona Shipley, Ed Bankole, Megan Barnett, Leslie Evers and Michael Alden.