AceShowbiz - A stage version of the "Dracula" story is coming back from the dead - the bloodsucking vampire is swooping into a New York theater for the first time in 33 years. Italian actor Michel Altieri will play the title role in the show, opposite "Sweeney Todd" star George Hearn as vampire-hunter Van Helsing and "American Beauty"'s Thora Birch, who plays Dracula's victim, Lucy.

The show is set to launch at the Off-Broadway Little Shubert Theatre next month, according to Variety.

The Dracula stage play last ran on Broadway in 1977. The Count was portrayed by Frank Langella, who, like Bela Lugosi before him, would go on to perform the role on the big screen. That production was a hit, running for a total of 930 performances and winning a Tony Award for costume designer Edward Gorey and another one for "most innovative production of a revival".