Black eyeliner and blood red lipstick are nothing new for Alhambra theatre-goers.

After all, it has played host to the Rocky Horror Show. But fangs? Members of Whitby Dracula Society were resplendent in their Gothic finery for last night's opening of the ballet based on the infamous Transylvanian Count.

Society members usually travel by hearse, but the vehicle was suffering the mechanical equivalent of a stake through the heart last night so they pulled up at the Alhambra in a slightly less sinister-looking white van.

Angela Walker, one of the co-organisers of the society, said members had previously made treks to see performances of the production by Leeds-based Northern Ballet Theatre all over the UK.

"Not everyone dresses up and travels round the country to see the ballet but I have always been into Dracula ever since I was at college. It's great fun," she said.

And the Dracula contingent must have gone home happy after seeing the ballet. The spine-chilling production, which originally received its world premiere at the Alhambra in 1996, uses five pints of fake blood every performance.

The blood is specially made so it tastes of candy floss to make it palatable for the scene where the living dead have to drink the stuff. It also has to be washable - the company goes through more than 200 boxes of washing powder a year keeping costumes clean.

The cast is different from the 1996 premiere but the show still packs the same thrills. From curtain up - when the whole theatre is plunged into darkness - to the queasy finale, this is a show that rises above melodrama to give you an evening both beautiful and stylish. It will also have you on the edge of your seat.

Lovers of classical ballet may find the production lightweight - because it's part ballet, part theatre.

What redeems it is the electrifying performance of Hironao Takahashi as Count Dracula. He had an initial, off-putting resemblance to the comic Paul Whitehouse but his snake-like dancing as he seduced and then supped the blood of strait-laced Jonathan Harker (Daniel de Andrade); the flighty Lucy (Pippa Moore) and heroine Mina (Chiaki Nagao) is so watchable.

The Act I sequence in which the two men - creepy Dracula and his dupe Harker - dance a pas de deux that is incredibly athletic, erotic and sinister, is worth the ticket price alone. On until Saturday.