A couple of months ago, Cecilia told me her son, Joaquin, had ordered tickets for her and me to see Dracula, the musical. I wasn’t completely sure it was my cup of tea, but looked forward to it anyway.

I have no knowledge of Dracula at all, never having read the book or seen any of the movies. In fact, knowing it would all be in Spanish, I Googled “What is the story of Dracula?” to get a summary so that I would have some idea what was going on.

I had no idea what to expect — and I certainly didn’t expect this! It was simply the best show I’ve ever seen, anywhere. I’ve seen the big shows, and I’ve seen them in London and New York as well as Glasgow and Toronto, and I’ve never seen anything to beat this.

It was not in a theatre, but a huge arena, and there was a great atmosphere from the beginning. What I didn’t know was that this is an Argentine production and in fact it’s a bit of an Argentine institution. Cecilia has seen it several times, most recently twenty years ago, and clearly lots of the people there had also seen it before. There were people of all ages there.

Everything about this show was first class. There was a big chorus, and they were busy — lots of singing and dancing and dashing about, and the music was lovely. The staging was fantastic, with lots of lighting effects, especially in Dracula’s castle. The costumes were gorgeous, especially the wedding scene in the first act. And Dracula’s cloak was like another character! The singing and acting of the seven or eight main characters were wonderful, and their diction was so clear I had no trouble following what was going on and relating it to the story I had read on Google.

But the star of the show was, of course, Dracula himself. The part was played by a popular Argentine actor called Juan Rodó, and he was magnificent—wonderful voice, magnetic stage presence, and he could certainly work that cloak!

We couldn’t take photos, of course, and I’m sure they wouldn’t have done it justice anyway, but at the end of the intermission, as the second act overture began, this happened:

Here are a couple of shots of us, and comparative shots of the wonderful Juan Rodó and Count Dracula.

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Towards the end, I was thinking about other shows I’ve seen over the years and asking myself if I’ve ever seen anything better than this. There wasn’t. Unforgettable!