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| Tim Hartman as The Monster Credit all Photos: Kgtunney Photography |
When Mary
Shelly started to write Frankenstein back in 1816, she envisioned it as a short story. Her intent was to create a "ghost story" similar to those friends staying with her were writing to fill the time
during an unusually wet summer in Geneva that compelled them to remain indoors
Thanks
to her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelly, who urged her to turn it into a
larger piece, she wrote her first novel, a Gothic work she considered as
science fiction.
In ensuing years, Frankenstein has
been adapted into films starting around 1910 and, later, in 1974, into a comic
parody of horror films by Mel Brooks. The film went on to be cited as one of
the best comic films ever made by several publications devoted to cinema as
well as getting a Number 13 rating on the American Film Institute's list of the
100 funniest American movies.
Not one to rest on his laurels,
Brooks, in collaboration with Thomas Meehan, wrote the book for a musical, Young
Frankenstein, that opened on Broadway in 2007. While not as successful as
his previous Broadway hit, The Producers, the show did win the Outer Critics
Circle Award for Best Musical.
Now continuing its historical saga, the
much-anticipated Young Frankenstein opened at the Greer Cabaret Theatre
in Downtown Pittsburgh Friday, July19 with a run that closes on September 1. As
I understand it, tickets sales have been brisk, so fans of the film wanting to
see the staged musical or those who want to see what the fuss is about for the
first time might want to hop to it and reserve their tickets.
The CLO seems to have had a no holds
barred when it comes to the production qualities of their latest theatrical
endeavor. All the elements for a successful run and a well entertained audience
are in place starting with its remarkably talented cast. In the role of Dr.
Frederick Frankenstein, Dan DeLuca portrays the electrifying grandson of the inventive doctor who brings a corpse back to life only to open the door to a monstrous
series of events.
At first reluctant to follow in his
grandfather’s footsteps after inheriting his castle in Transylvania, he slowly
comes under the sway of curiosity and proceeds to continue his ancestor’s
research.
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| Alex Sheffield, Dan DeLuca and Anthony Marino in Pittsburgh CLO's Young Frankenstein |
The script writer wastes no time
challenging the lead character and tests him with a quickly sung patter song,
“The Brain,” which the nimble DeLuca handles with a plomb and a figurative
smile on his face. Lively and antic, DeLuca has a unique singing voice, an
energetic stage presence and a knack for Brooks’ tongue-in-cheek silliness.
DeLuca’s character is cantilevered by
his ornery and peculiar assistant Anthony Marino, who, upon hearing
Frankenstein’s insistence that his name be pronounced Frankensteen, decides to
pronounce his own name with a similar twist and becomes Eyegore instead of the familiar
Igor. Marino is a comic virtuoso, leering about as if looking for some hapless
fly to snack on, having the same bulging eyes that Marty Feldman made famous in the film and bringing a certain freshness to his role including the classic
routine that asks those who follow to “walk this way.”
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| Dan DeLuca as Frederick Frankenstein and Susan Cordon as Elizabeth |
The musical is stitched with moments
of ribaldry, risqué roguishness and sexual references, some inuendo, others
more overt. As Frankenstein’s fiancée, Elizabeth, Susana Cordon is an alluring
tease who, nevertheless, insists on a touch me not attitude. She later sheds
her cool frigidity when she falls under the spell of the monster’s enormous schwanzstucker,
bursting into song with “Deep Love.”
Not to be outclassed in a competition
of sexual allure, Inga (Alex Sheffield) doubles as Frankenstein’s lab assistant
and a voluptuous, sexually liberated country girl with a dynamite yodel cut
from the same cloth as, say, Marilyn Monroe. Sheffield puts her charms to the
test in a suggestive ditty titled “Listen to Your Heart” and earns high scores for
her flirtatious efforts.
Theo
Allyn as the formidably menacing Frau Blucher completes the trio of well-cast female
characters. Those who know the film might be delighted to learn the word “whinny”
appears on a tv screen mounted on both sides of the theater every time someone
mentions her name. In the film, the horses who pulled the hay wagon carrying
Frankenstein to the castle whinnied each time her name was mentioned as a sign
of the terror she invoked among the equines, and the CLO production team successfully
duplicates the comic device that originated in the film.
Allyn is sufficiently menacing in her
role as the dark and emotionally bleak housekeeper but shows a more benign side
in her solo “He Vas My Boyfriend,” a reminiscence about her relationship to the
elder Frankenstein.
Brooks wrote the music and lyrics to all
of the song in the musical save for the riotously funny “Puttin’ on the Ritz,”
a showstopper in which the Frankenstein monster hilariously participates with the
awkward movements and garbled speech of someone sewn together and vivified by a
large electrical charge. The tune imbued
with a high society overtone was written by Irving Berlin and has a certain
ironic feel coming from the inept and somewhat physically impaired creature.
Speaking of which, Tim Hartman, an approximately
six foot-six actor, is perfect for the role. He’s certainly lumbering and hulky
enough but also creates a character that’s at once, threatening and endearing,
powerful yet amusingly childlike, brash and overresponsive yet sensitive to a
fault.
Don’t be surprised to see him and
other members of the cast come down off
the stage and mingle with the audience creating a chillingly intimate proximity
that’s both intimidating and fun.
Assigned
a trio of cameo roles, Daniel Krell is sequentially Inspector Hans Kemp, Bertram
Bartram and the blind Hermit, who befriends the monster when all the townsfolk
have taken up arms against him. Krell does such fine work you’d have a hard
time telling the same actor is playing three distinct characters.
Director Joel Ferrell, who also handles
the choreography, milks as much of the comedy out of the script as possible,
especially in the scenes of the secret bookcase door, Igor chomping down on Elizabeth’s
fur and the aforementioned “walk this way” schtick.
Out of sight but certainly not out of hearing
range is the diminutive but effective Pittsburgh CLO orchestra, conducted by
Robert Neumeyer. I assume that lighting designer, Paul Miller can take credit
for all the electrical sparking that brings the corpse back to life, abetted by
some clever scenic design by Bob Lavallee and a slew of costumes by designer
Alexander Righetti.
Who’d have guessed that Mary Shelly’s
darkly Gothic novel could be so well adapted into a highly laughable comic
musical? To see the transformation so hermetically realized by Mel Brooks and
the Pittsburgh CLO, head on down to the Greer Cabaret Theater in Downtown
Pittsburgh. But remember to reserve your tickets beforehand. Once word about
this popular show gets out, tickets may be a bit hard to get.
Young Frankenstein is at the Greer
Cabaret Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh, now through September 1. For more information
and tickets, go to www.pittsburghclo.org
or phone 412-456-6666.
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