Newest member of the Stake & Deerstalker Club ...

My Halloween costume Thursday evening, Oct. 31, 2019, will reflect the fact I’ve recently become a member of a small, fantastical club, although there are no meetings and perhaps only two other members (one already is deceased). 

I’ll be garbed as Abraham van Helsing to perform in “Dracula” at Great Escape Stage Company starting at 7 p.m. that night. I’ve dreamed for years of tackling the role. Tom Cummins, my friend of several decades, conspired with me for nearly a year so we might square off someday on stage, he as the bloodthirsty Count and I as his nemesis. 

We learned the classic 1920s script initially, then were told by director Randy Lake that he preferred Steven Dietz's 1990s version, a challenge to which we both agreed with gusto. 

Tom — who played the title role in “The Passion of Dracula” a few decades ago — has worked theatrically with me several times since 1973, most often in my series of original Sherlock Holmes Mystery Weekends at The Victorian Villa Inn in Union City, Michigan. That Sherlockian connection links me to this exclusive club, for I’m now among the handful of actors who’ve enjoyed portraying *both* Holmes and van Helsing — two deathless heroes of the Victorian age. 

I’ve no idea how many stage performers have basked in this honor, but as a group (if there is one) we share the distinction with two legendary screen actors, Christopher Plummer and the late Peter Cushing. Truth be told, Cushing gets full marks for having played both characters repeatedly and more precisely; Plummer played a van Helsing grandson in “Dracula 2000,” which isn’t anyone’s favorite version. 

I've experienced a touch of the aura of both Plummer and Cushing: Plummer and I briefly shared stone's-throw space (no chitchat, alas) at Stratford, Ontario, and one of my great Sherlockian friends, Ted M. Cowell, gifted me years ago with one of Cushing’s neckties, which I preserve proudly in a rarely opened box. With such a personal tie (!) to Cushing, I wonder whether he's smiling on me from his pedestal in Actors’ Heaven. I’d also like to believe there’s a special bench up there — someday long, long from now — for we three to sit and chat about Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle and their creations. 

Meanwhile, for the remaining chances to see this terrific show directed by the insightful and multitalented Randy Lake, please visit GreatEscapeStageCompany.com and join van Helsing on his vampire hunt!

Playing around with "Catch-22"

In May 1970, the Albion College Players had the privilege of staging the very first authorized dramatization of "Catch-22" permitted by the novel's author, Joseph Heller. 

Adapted and directed by Sam Grossman, our play version was a three-hour extravaganza of dark comedy and even darker drama. My friend Paul Wolf played Yossarian, and the rest of us had multiple roles. I got to play Poppinjay, Capt. Black and - my favorite - the insecure and ineffective Dobbs.

Under our deal with Heller, all the scripts had to be turned in, but I still have its poster on my wall. The Mike Nichols/Alan Arkin/Buck Henry film came out just a few months later and I was crushed to see Martin Sheen play an entirely rewritten version of Dobbs, although I thought the movie managed about 65 percent of the novel's tone and intent. 

Just now, I finished watching a new version of the story, a miniseries offered on Hulu, and have to say that it managed a completely different 65 percent. I also was crushed to see no version of Dobbs or Capt. Black appear whatsoever, although poor Poppinjay popped up (I still say "Read me back the last line" was the funniest line in the book and our play). 

The review you'll find at https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ent-catch-22-hulu-clooney-tv-review-0517-story.html closely matches my thoughts about the miniseries, especially in regard to its excess of nostalgia and entirely unHelleresque ending. I was unsatisfied by much but impressed by much - particularly the aerial combat sequences. 

The 1970 movie has its merits, especially its brevity, but it creaks a lot despite Arkin's wonderful performance. The miniseries sets aside much of the comedy to dwell on mopery, which Christopher Abbott apparently has mastered.  So ... why not read the book? It's crazy and brilliant, and gets its own ending right.

So ... why not read the book? It's crazy and brilliant, and gets its own ending right.