Article published Jul 4, 2004
Broadway's 'Dracula' has local connections

When Darren Ritchie was growing up in Sarasota, he couldn't get tickets to the Frank Wildhorn musical "Svengali," a sold-out Asolo Theatre Company production in 1991.

But now, Ritchie has a major role in composer Wildhorn's new show, "Dracula: The Musical," which opens Aug. 16 on Broadway.

Ritchie plays Jonathan Harker, a shy law clerk who falls in love with Mina, the show's female lead (a role played by Tony Award nominee Melissa Errico).

The 26-year-old Ritchie, a 1995 graduate of the Booker High School Visual and Performing Arts program, will have the rare distinction of appearing in two Broadway musicals in the same summer. He just finished a run as the dentist in the revival of "Little Shop of Horrors."

His previous Broadway credits include "Bells are Ringing," "Les Miserables" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

Ritchie first met Wildhorn, who is perhaps best-known for "Jekyll & Hyde," when he appeared in a Goodspeed Opera production of Wildhorn's "Camille Claudel."

"When I met Frank, I told him I wasn't able to see 'Svengali' when he brought it to the Asolo," Ritchie said. "We've laughed about the way things worked out."

Ritchie's father, Bill, no longer lives in Sarasota. But the actor still has many close friends here. And he has fond memories of his years in the VPA program.

While there, he starred as Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls," and performed in "The Boyfriend" and "The Diary of Anne Frank." Coincidentally, he also handled the plant puppets in a VPA production of "Little Shop."

"There's no question that the program helped me develop my artistic abilities," he said. "I was a baseball player. I could never have dreamed that 10 years later, I'd be in two shows on Broadway."

Ritchie, who went on to study acting at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, said such Booker teachers as Jeremy Lourde, Ken Wiegers, Susan Mannino and Annie Morrison were major influences.

In "Dracula: The Musical," Ritchie is featured in several numbers, including some duets with Errico. In the second act, he performs "To Dim the Sun Before the Summer Ends," a song he feels is one of the best in the show.

Audience members who are expecting an over-the-top melodramatic production will be surprised, Ritchie said.

"It's really closer to the novel than the film version," he said. "It's a beautiful piece. And you can never have enough love stories."