The rarely seen 1931 Spanish-language version, starring Carlos Villarías, features the premiere of a new score by Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla, performed live by the LA Opera Orchestra

(Los Angeles) September 19, 2024 — This Halloween, LA Opera's hugely popular annual celebration of horror and live music at the breathtaking United Theater on Broadway features a rare treat for movie and music lovers of all ages: the rarely seen 1931 Spanish-language Dracula. As the film plays out on the silver screen (with English subtitles), audiences will hear a striking, newly commissioned soundtrack score by Academy Award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us, Brokeback Mountain), who’ll also star as a featured performer. The score will be played live by the magnificent musicians of the LA Opera Orchestra under the baton of Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados.

There will be three screenings, taking place on October 25, 26 and 27, and the audience is invited to come in costume.

In addition to composer and featured guitar soloist Gustavo Santaolalla, special guest artists performing with the LA Opera Orchestra will include violinist Javier Casalla, accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman, foley artist Joanna Fang and foley mixer Blake Collins. The orchestrator is David Campbell.

Click here to download images from the film and photos of the theater. Click here for B-roll of the United Theater on Broadway.

About Dracula: The Spanish Version
There have been many screen versions of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, but none more famous or enduring than Universal Studios' 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi. But during the film's production, while Lugosi was vamping it up in front of the cameras by day for director Tod Browning, a separate night crew shot an alternate version of Dracula in Spanish — same sets, same story, new cast.

Many now hail this Spanish incarnation of the classic, starring Carlos Villarías as "Conde Drácula" and directed by George Melford, as the superior version. Melford was able to study the dailies for the English-language version, and strove to improve on many aspects of the project during his night shoots. Melford's Dracula is about 30 minutes longer than Browning's, with expanded dialogue, rearranged scenes, and more risqué costumes for leading lady Lupita Tovar.

After its initial release, the film fell into obscurity, largely forgotten until the 1970s. The only surviving print, while in excellent condition, was missing the third reel, which encompassed Renfield's seduction by Dracula's brides and the count's stormy voyage to England. In 1989, a deteriorated show print was discovered in Havana's Cinemateca de Cuba, enabling Universal to create a restoration. The complete Spanish-language Dracula was seen for the first time in decades at a 1992 screening at the Director's Guild, with Lupita Tovar in attendance.

Because Dracula's production coincided with the transition from silent pictures to “talkies,” when limited sound technology existed, the film was released without an original musical score and few sound effects. In other words, it offers a rich opportunity for composer Gustavo Santaolalla to put his own creative stamp on the timeless tale.

About Gustavo Santaolalla
A two-time Oscar-winning multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and composer, Gustavo Santaolalla is recognized as one of the most highly acclaimed and prolific contemporary Argentine musicians in the world. He began composing for television and film in 2000. He has written music for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful, Walter Salles’ Motorcycle Diaries and On the Road,    and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain,    for which he received his first Oscar for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, “A Love That Will Never Grow Old,” co-written with Bernie Taupin. The following year, Santaolalla received his second Oscar for Best Original Score for Babel.

In 2013, he created the music for The Last of Us, one of the most successful video games in history. Following the 2020 release of its sequel, The Last of Us II, he was invited to score the HBO series based on the beloved video game. HBO's The Last of Us was released in 2023 and Santaolalla earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score).

Performance Dates, Times and Address
There will be three presentations of Dracula with Live Orchestra at the United Theater on Broadway, located at 929 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015:

• Friday, October 25, 2024, at 8pm
• Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 8pm
• Sunday, October 27, 2024, at 2pm

Tickets
Tickets begin at $44.50 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at LAOpera.org, by phone at 213.972.8001, or in person at the LA Opera box office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012). For disability access, call 213.972.0777 or email LAOpera@LAOpera.org.

More information about the presentation is available at LAOpera.org/Dracula.

About LA Opera
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be. Through imaginative new productions, world premiere commissions, and inventive performances that preserve foundational works while making them feel fresh and compelling, LA Opera has become one of America’s most exciting and ambitious opera companies.

In addition to its mainstage performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the company explores unusual repertoire each season through the Off Grand initiative, featuring performances in a variety of venues throughout Los Angeles. The LA Opera Connects initiative offers a robust variety of educational programming and community engagement offerings that reaches people throughout every corner of Los Angeles County. Learn more at LAOpera.org.

About the United Theater on Broadway
This magnificent Spanish Gothic movie palace (most recently known as the Theatre at Ace Hotel) is located in the historic United Artists building in downtown Los Angeles. Built in 1927 for the maverick film studio, the theater stands as monuments to a group of seminal American artists pushing out on their own.

LA Opera Media Contact
Marlene Meraz
Director of Communications
mmeraz@laopera.org
213.972.7554

Presentation made possible by generous support from
Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg

Off Grand productions are supported by a consortium of generous donors to LA Opera’s Contemporary Opera Initiative, chaired by Barry and Nancy Sanders

With special appreciation to Régina and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten

Piano graciously provided by Yamaha

LA Opera Orchestra generously underwritten by Terri and Jerry Kohl

LA Opera is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community.