‘Nosferatu’s’ a Bit Batty, but Entertainingly Undead

The Zoo District’s “Nosferatu: Angel of the Final Hour” at Art Share Los Angeles isn’t about vampires. Created by Kaaren J. Luker, Jon Kellam and Bernadette Sullivan and written by Luker, this production is an expressionistic exploration of the 1922 horror film classic and its director, F.W. Murnau. The melange of slapstick comedy, performance art, song and somber scenes of vampire seduction doesn’t quite make a cohesive whole, yet remains fascinating.

At the reviewed performance, the beginning was a bit wobbly. The opening vocals quavered, and the original score composed by music director Jef Bek was distorted by the sound system.

Yet movement director and choreographer Brian Frette and a well-practiced ensemble perform with head-snapping, dead-on timing particularly effective for the enacted movie scenes between the nightgown-clad Mina (Jenna Fischer) and her fiance, Jonathan (Joe Fria).

Things are less frivolous when Nosferatu (Nick Gillie) appears, effortlessly lifting his victims off the ground and resembling not at all the bald, anemic-looking, taloned character in Murnau’s movie or the later German remake.

These scenes are interspersed with cabaret segments in which Murnau (D. Morris, filling in for James Macdonald) flirts with his boy-toy (Ricardo Zeger) while fighting his attraction for soldier boy Hans (Peter Alton). The tough-talking Else (Christine Deaver) muddles the mix as confidant to both Murnau and Hans.

As director, Kellam doesn’t manage to align all these elements, yet the production is entertaining even in this wildly unfocused state.

*

“Nosferatu: Angel of the Final Hour,” Art Share Los Angeles, 801 East 4th Place, downtown Los Angeles. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 13. $12. (323) 769-5674. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.