Arabic version: دراكولا في غولد كوست يدافع عن مستقبل المسرح الحي

According to ABC News, Dracula’s Cabaret on the Gold Coast is continuing to champion live musical entertainment despite cost pressures affecting theatre productions across Australia. The theatre-restaurant, founded by the Newman family in 1985, has entertained audiences for 41 years and combines inspiration from The Rocky Horror Picture Show with 19th-century Vaudevillian theatre.

Performer Jordan Koulos, who has toured in musicals across Australia and Asia for four years, now plays a deep-sea vampire in Dracula’s production Abyss. He described musical theatre as his “bread and butter” and said the immersive quality of the show allows performers to surprise audiences. Dracula’s chief executive Luke Newman, whose grandparents founded the venue, said the dinner-and-a-show format has become rare.

Mr Newman said Dracula’s needs a crew of 50 people to stage productions five nights a week. A separate show also tours Australia and New Zealand for six months. While he said the business has bucked industry trends, he acknowledged difficult conditions for live theatre, including closures of musicals and calls for support.

Live Performance Australia reported that annual revenue in the sector fell 2 per cent to $531 million despite higher audience numbers. Chief executive Eric Lassen said labour, technical and freight costs had risen, with freight for touring productions up by well over 50 per cent. He said demand for live shows remained strong, but producers faced slim margins because ticket prices could not rise indefinitely.

Mr Lassen has called for tax incentives to offset some up-front costs of new productions, including sets, costumes and development work. Mr Newman said live vocals, music and aerial performance could not be substituted, calling this kind of entertainment “immortal”. Mr Koulos said audiences sometimes put down their knives and forks to focus entirely on performers.