To download a copy of the complete libretto for Dracula, click here.

Listen to Mina, I Love You sung by William Joyner.

Listen to My Love sung by April Evans.

...the unwillingness to leave our dreams....

[in one act]

by

Hayden Wayne

In contemplation
we are all capable of anything...

If we freeze these moments
we find ourselves
enacting upon every possibility
while in the process of deciding
whether to fulfill
or simply muse.

Thus,
in this frozen state
everything is real.

When one considers
that we can dwell in these thoughts
for as long as we wish,
and the enactment of life
is a continuum of micro seconds,
reality becomes more the illusion.
The fantasy before
and the memory after
is larger
and carries more weight
because of the additional time involved.

SYNOPSIS

After the consummation of Jonathan and Mina's virgin wedding, Dracula, the ultimate sexual metaphor without limitation of orientation or boundary, the total consciousness of five hundred years experience with unending physical and psychic power, the supreme ruler of the night, appears to Mina in an erotic dream which she subsequently does not want to wake up from. To Jonathan, it is a nightmare that won't go away. He is confronted by Dracula's telepathic awareness and a flood of possible sexual fantasies. He is still too naive and thus insecure about his own natural proclivity; his love for Mina. His resolve to protect her, however, is never in question.

Dracula toys with him while enjoying the wonder lust of Mina, his new student, who demonstrates such natural "gifts." He wants her to be his queen. Recognizing her power, she maternally protects Jonathan while making up her mind and thus renders Dracula impotent.

Mina's lust grows veraciously and Jonathan tries to distract Dracula from Mina by offering himself instead. Dracula knows better. "Fantasies are fantasies....then there's reality!"

Jonathan grows more daring and reckless taunting Dracula while trying to convince him that he'll only destroy the very thing that attracts him to her.

Just before sunrise Mina realizes that Dracula is truly in love with her. In waiting for her to come to him, he has set aside every safeguard now leaving his own survival in jeopardy. For the first time, an unshakable lust has been awakened in her, and the power that he wishes to bestow on her is greater than any mortal could ever give.

For Dracula it has always been a voracious lust that propelled him; a self-gratification, as opposed to love's concern for the other. It is this love for Mina that brings him crashing to his knees because he doesn't want to extinguish her light to bring her into the darkness of his world. He tells her that he will never come again into her dreams...that she is free.

She, now so supercharged with lust, refuses to let him go and convinces him that she does want to be his queen and rule the night with him.

Dracula slowly allows his love to get the best of him and acquiesces. At the point of consummation, Jonathan interrupts and tries to impale him with a stake. Enraged, Dracula, with a wave of his hand, effortlessly slams Jonathan down onto the floor into frightful convulsive spasms. Reverting to his instincts of survival, he goes in for the kill and telepathically starts to crush Jonathan's heart into stopping. But, the impending sunrise weakens Dracula and he cannot finish Jonathan off. He is forced to fly back to his coffin.

Mina awakens from her dreamstate and runs after her beloved unaware that her footsteps in the dust will lead Jonathan to Dracula's most precious secret. Jonathan's blood lust to destroy Dracula will also destroy Mina's love as well as themselves.

(the cast)

DRACULA.........Verdi baritone

JONATHAN..........lyric tenor

MINA.........lyric spinto

ORCHESTRATION

3 Flutes, 1 doubling on Piccolo
2 Oboes
1 English Horn
2 Bb Clarinets
1 Bass Clarinet
2 Bassoons
1 Contra Bassoon

4 Horns in F

2 Bb trumpets
2 Tenor Trombones
1 Bass Trombone
1 Tuba

14-16-22 1st Violins
12-14-18 2nd Violins
10-12-14 Violas
8-10-12 Celli
6-8-10 Basses

(3 percussionists)

4 Timpani (30", 28", 25", 23")
Snare
Bass Drum
Crash cymbal
Tam tam
Tubular bells "D4", "F4", "G3", "F3", "E3"

[running time: approx. 100 minutes]