The musical Dracula celebrates 30 years – Daniel Hůlka says goodbye to his most famous role

Daniel Hůlka performed in all Prague performances of the musical, including the current production at the Karlín Musical Theatre. At the beginning of 2026, it will go out without alternation with the full version of the musical on tour of the largest Czech and Slovak halls. The tour culminates February 12, 2026 in Prague’s O₂ arena, the largest space to date where this legendary musical will take place. Daniel Hůlka decided that this is where he will say goodbye to his role in life for a while.

“I have to admit that it is a very difficult decision for me, because the musical Dracula has accompanied me almost my entire professional life. I have been playing for 30 years, I have approximately 1,500 reprises behind me. But life goes on, it’s time to at least take a break. Next year I have the premiere of the musical Monte Cristo, which I have to fully concentrate on and postpone all other theater work for a while,” adds Hůlka.

The musical Dracula from the workshop Karel Svoboda, Zdenek Borovec a Richard Hesa he laid the foundations of the original Czech musical and won generations of fans, not only here, but also abroad. It is the only Czech musical that exists in several language versions and is successfully presented all over the world. Only the first performance of the musical saw almost 1.3 million viewers and ranked among the most successful scenic projects in the history of Czech culture. A number of popular performers (Lucie Bílá, Jiří Korn, Iveta Bartošová and others) gathered at the Congress Center under the direction of director Bednárik, led by Daniel Hůlk, who became an overnight star thanks to the title role.

“I am Dracula’s child and he is a little bit my child at the same time. I am happy that I was born at the right time and in the right place to be able to experience it. A long, honest and professionally perfect trial of a new work, a creative ferment. In an author’s project, each of the participants – from the author, through the director, the main characters to the last member of the technical team – put their so-called thumb into the work,” recalls Hůlka.

Thirty years after the premiere and following this year’s indoor tour, when more than 50,000 spectators saw the musical, it is reawakening in style – with Daniel Hůlk in the title role. The annual tour promises so an exceptional cultural experiencewhich does not need to be repeated.