THEATER REVIEW:

Spoofing the sci-fi-horror genre doesn’t always pay dividends. The Huntington Beach Playhouse struck gold last season with “Little Shop of Horrors,” but its current production in a similar vein is “Dracula-La” — no relation, even if the star of “Little Shop” also is showing his fangs in this one.

“Dracula-La,” written by David Hayes and Max Forseter, resembles one of those cheesy plays high schools used to produce before the advent of such splendid programs as Huntington Beach’s Academy for the Performing Arts. There’s some humor here, and it’s elevated by a cast of competent community theater performers, but the script itself seems beyond repair.

Director Stephen Reifenstein has worked whatever magic was at his command to bring “Dracula-La” up to the “Little Shop” level, and very nearly succeeds. But if the show’s basic plot line were displayed on “America’s Got Talent,” it would elicit simultaneous buzzes from Piers, Sharon and the Hoff.

To appreciate this show requires audiences to buy into the authors’ concept — that a vampire can un-vamp himself by refraining from his blood-sucking practice for seven years. The hero of “Dracula-La” (Wade Wooldridge) is well on his way and is planning to marry his lady friend (Kimberly McCoy) once the spell of the undead is finally lifted.

There are, of course, obstacles in his path — three of them (Dan Wozniak, Melisa Cole and Paul Hanegan) to be exact. These are vampires who need Wooldridge to return to Transylvania as the natural successor to Dracula himself, who apparently has lost a game played for high stakes. Failing such a maneuver, the vampires will literally die out.

Needless to say, the three blood suckers have all the scenery-chewing moments and make the most of them, particularly Wozniak as their fearsome leader.

Hanegan scores as a youthful vampire on the prowl for human, feminine flesh, while Cole’s sultry vamp is lithe and lusty in pursuit of the trying-to-quit Wooldridge.

The musical numbers, under combo leader Erik Przytulski’s baton, are entertaining — particularly the undead trio’s “It’s Hell to Be a Vampire” and the revelatory “See Me in the Mirror” by Wooldridge and McCoy.

Some, however, are just silly, such as “Boogie Woogie Bellboy Blues,” sung by DJ Jensen playing the marginal role of an enthusiastic bellhop.

Silly or satirical, the Huntington Beach cast lends an appreciable amount of talent and energy to the project, particularly the three evildoers Wozniak, Cole and Hanegan.

Director Reifenstein nearly succeeds in transforming this sow’s ear of a play into the proverbial silk purse.

TOM TITUS reviews theater for the Independent.