By Manning Harris
The official title is “The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein,” and it’s making its Atlanta debut at the Fox through Sunday, January 31. Based on the cult classic 1974 film which was a parody of the horror film genre (specifically the 1931 “Frankenstein”), this is a zany musical which gives new meaning to the phrase “over the top.” If you think you can out-shtick Mel Brooks, you are kidding yourself. It’s as though Mr. Brooks was drunk on the runaway success of his 2001 musical “The Producers,” which won a record 12 Tony Awards, and tried to outdo himself. But how do you outdo a phenomenon? You don’t. But whatever its excesses, “Young Frankenstein” pulls out all the stops trying.
The show opened with an all-star cast (Roger Bart, Megan Mullaly, Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley) and a can’t-miss bravado on Broadway in November 2007 but ran just over a year. The New York Times primly remarked that it was “an overblown burlesque revue, right down to its giggly smuttiness.”
Well, I think that’s a bit harsh; it seems to me that in this show about missing and replaced brains, the way to have a fun time is to check yours at the door and glory in YF’s outrageous (and often R-rated) silliness. And you have some first-class performers to guide you in your fun house sojourn.
In 1934 the villagers of Transylvania Heights celebrate the funeral of mad scientist Dr. Victor von Frankenstein; but spoilsport Inspector Kemp (Brad Oscar) warns of the existence of a grandson, Frederick (Roger Bart), currently Dean of Anatomy at the “John, Miriam, and Anthony Hopkins School of Medicine.” Frederick wishes to separate himself from his infamous family (“My name is pronounced Frankensteen!”), but his fiancee Elizabeth (Beth Curry) thinks a trip abroad would be just dandy; however, she says “Please Don’t Touch Me” to her randy would-be lover/fiance Frederick, initiating a series of hilarious, unsubtle sexual innuendos, including recurring references to the Monster’s enormous “schwanstuker.”
You undoubtedly know the story; it’s legendary. Suffice it to say that Frederick returns to his castle (oh, yes, he inherited that) and the family business. He’s always been fascinated by “The Brain,” anyway. He meets his extremely eager and pulchritudinous assistant Inga (Anne Horak), the enthusiastic Igor (Cory English), and the forbidding mistress of the castle Frau Blucher (Joanna Glushak), the mention of whose name frightens horses. All of these actors are top-notch.
The Monster is played by our own homegrown Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical superstar Shuler Hensley (he won these awards for his sterling portrayal of Jud Fry in “Oklahoma!” on both sides of the Atlantic). He makes a burly and fearsome green Monster, but one whose loneliness tugs at the heartstrings. The only disappointment with Mr. Hensley’s appearance is that he doesn’t get to sing enough; as you may know, his voice is a glorious instrument. But he gets to display a manic-comic side one might not have expected, especially in “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” And he and Elizabeth (it’s love at first sight) are over the moon in “Deep Love.”
Susan Stroman directs and choreographs; the book is by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan; music and lyrics by Mr. Brooks.
It’s a huge, dizzy, glitzy production; if you go with the sole intention of having fun, you’ll have a great time. Just remember—“subtlety” is perhaps the only dirty word in Mr. Brooks vocabulary.
For more information visit foxtheatre.org or encoreatlanta.com
