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NY TIMES REVIEW EXCERPTS: The Bat Awakens, Stretches, Yawns: And here it is, looming like a giant stuffed bat on a stick, the easiest target on Broadway. ''Dracula, the Musical,'' which sets the familiar tale of old snaggletooth to the familiar music of Frank Wildhorn, creaked open last night at the Belasco Theater with all the animation, suspense and sex appeal of a Victorian waxworks in a seaside amusement park. Expectations were exceedingly low for this latest offering from the unstoppable Mr. Wildhorn -- the composer of the expensively dressed clunkers ''Jekyll and Hyde,'' ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' and ''The Civil War'' -- and expectations have not been disappointed. So go ahead. Take your shots. Say something, if you must, about toothlessness or bloodlessness or the kindness of hammering stakes into the hearts of undead shows. Think of every appropriate variation you can involving the verbs to bite and to suck. O.K., now that that's out of your system, perhaps you'll concede that it just isn't much fun to trash something that's so eminently, obviously trashable. ''Dracula, the Musical,'' which features a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and is directed by Des McAnuff (''The Who's Tommy''), isn't simply bad, which is an aesthetic state of being that is kind of fun if you're in the right mood. (Gee, remember the ripely terrible ''Dance of the Vampires''?) It is bad and boring. But because this is a presidential election season, there is already far too much negativity in the American air. Why not set an example for the Republican politicians who will be convening here at the end of the month? Take the high road: put down that bucket of tomatoes, snap on the rose-colored glasses and start enumerating the good things in ''Dracula, the Musical.'' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TONY AWARD HAVEN OPINION: I have no choice but to take Dracula out of the running from the Best Musical Tony Race, unless it is still running with a somewhat better box office come May. I doubt it though. Look for nods for design, and possibly score for Wildhorn.
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