Dracula

Like the titular vamp of this summer’s production, the Showboat’s enjoying a new life after death, now in its second season in a new St. Paul barge built after the old one was destroyed in a devastating fire. Written and directed by longtime Showboat skipper Charles Nolte, Dracula matches the U of M theater’s traditionally light and campy tone, milking jokey melodramatics out of Bram Stoker’s Victorian allegory of repressed sexuality. It’s frothy, fun, and worth (ahem) staking out. Breaking up the main action are U musicologist Vern Sutton’s olios—authentic turn-of-the-century showtunes he’s unearthed and done up in charmingly silly vaudevillian style. Think showgirls in giant flower headresses and vegetable costumes, chirping out lyrics that literally rhyme “moon” with “June” and “spoon.” (One thing’s never made clear, though: Since everyone knows vampires can’t cross running water, how can Drac stand being on a stage that floats on the Mississippi? Get us rewrite!) Showboat, Harriet Island, St. Paul, (651) 227-1100