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Monday, Oct 06, 2008
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Bits & Bytes |
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| Brooks' Young Frankenstein rocks Paramount with genuine laughter, Broadway bound show looks like a huge New York musical smash hit | |
| by Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer It's said that lightening never strikes twice. Well, that adage is now in question. For musical theater fans-especially Seattle musical fans-the big question this week was whether Mel Brooks could do it again. After transferring his classic film farce, The Producers, to the musical stage could the comic master do the same for another of his cult favorites, Young Frankenstein. Last night, a laughing, cheering, stomping, screaming capacity crowd greeted the official opening night of the Young Frankenstein musical and took it to its heart-and to likely Broadway super hit status. The show, continuing only one more week-through Sept. 1-has been an audience-pleasing smash with Seattle audiences since the first preview performance on Aug. 7. This energetic large-scale pre-Broadway tryout-a major coup for Seattle-is part of the Broadway Across America series. The show-a reportedly $20,000,000 production-heads to New York after its month in Seattle. It starts NYC previews in early October and opens at New York's Hilton Theatre on Nov. 8. While the show will undoubtedly receive a final polish during its New York previews-and a lot of tightening and comic focus-the show has all the makings of another smash musical comedy hit. For the capacity opening night crowd last night, Brooks & Company could do no wrong. Reuniting the creative team that made The Producers the biggest Tony Award winner in theater history, with 12 Tony Awards, the Young Frankenstein production is full of razzmatazz and theatrical polish. With sharp direction and fun choreography from wonder-whiz Susan Stroman, the show features one show stopping turn after another. While the show, nearing a three hour running time last night, has already been trimmed by 15 minutes (one production number was cut and lots of scenes were tightened during the Seattle previews, insiders report), the show could easily loose another 20 or 30 minutes before facing hard edged New York critics. Where the cuts could come is hard to imagine-the show has a huge list of major characters and each gets one or two musical numbers (and some deserve more). Whatever its weaknesses, Young Frankenstein is in great shape prior to Broadway. Like Hairspray, which started its New York success in an out of town tryout in Seattle, Young Frankenstein has smash hit written all over it. The show's book-the storyline-by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, follows the film's structure faithfully, sometimes too faithfully. Every comic line from the film seems to be transferred to the musical stage. Igor has only to reply "What hump?" for the audience to go into hysterics. Almost all of the comic scenes left the audience gasping for breath. A few clunkers will undoubtedly be trimmed but some new laughs would help establish the musical as a stand-alone work that future audiences will encounter on its own. The cast boasts four Tony Award winning performers-Roger Bart, Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley and Andrea Martin. None have the fanatic following that Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, the original stage stars of The Producers, brought to the Broadway edition, but all do fantastic work. Roger Bart plays the title character, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of the original monster creator. With this breakout performance, Bart moves from supporting role status to genuine musical comedy leading man. He is a knockout from start to finish. Both Bart and Andrea Martin, as Frau Blucher, the housekeeper ripped from Rebecca and other gothic English novels, make the roles their own. While hints of Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman, poke through now and then, both Bart and Martin approach the roles independently-and the show is stronger for their detailed work. While the publicity for the musical features Megan Mullally as Bart's co-star, the show really has six or seven leads. Mullally has little to do for most of the show's running time. She has a great Act One entrance and a knockout early number, "Please Don't Touch Me." Off stage and out of the plot for more than an hour, she re-enters midway through Act Two and ends the show with a sizzling "Deep Love," a naughty little number used as the traditional "11 o'clock number" that brings a long show back to life. It's a tune obviously destined to be a cabaret classic within weeks of the show's New York opening. Sutton Foster has great fun-and looks and sounds fantastic-as Inga, the village lass hot for the young doctor. The Tony Award-winner, for Thoroughly Modern Millie, speaks her dialog with a heavy, comic German accent. Unfortunately, she sings with clear English diction, limiting her comic characterization. Her Act Two "Listen To Your Heart," is a lovely-but generic-song: but sung without a heavy accent, it seems to break her character. Andrea Martin often steals the show as Frau Blucher. Her "He Vas My Boyfriend" in Act One comes dangerously close to stopping the show. A consummate pro, Martin's on-target performance is likely to be praised by New York critics-and honored by the Tony Award nomination committee. The role is clearly a supporting role, and Martin knows it but makes the most of it. Shuler Hensley has little to do as the Monster until late in the show when he gets a brain transplant and a chance to speak and sing. Like the film, his comic highlight is a song-and-dance production number built around Irving Berlin's "Puttin' On The Ritz," sung with mumbled gusto-and with a talented Roger Bart. The silhouette dance sequence is one of many throw-away highlights in Stroman's clever direction and choreography. Christopher Fitzgerald gets his big Broadway break as Igor. He is an all around song and dance man, and carries many key scenes. Another consummate pro, he is likely to receive rave reviews and a Tony nomination nod as supporting actor. His old-fashioned vaudeville salute, "Together Again For The First Time," with Bart, is a knockout Fred Applegate won over the audience as Harold The Hermit but the scene works well only for audience members with a clear memory of the film-for many it seemed like a strange stall in the plot. Two men in front of this scribe went into near convulsions at the first sight of the hermit-clearly they were on a nostalgic trip (as were many in the opening night crowd). Applegate's major work, as Inspector Kemp, gives him little to do, but he does it well. Like the film, the stage adaptation is full of one liners. The young doctor Frankenstein gets off the train in the gothic countryland of his grandfather and asks a shoeshine man, "Pardon me, boy, is this the Transylvania Station?" The two horses who drive the hay wagon are named Black and Decker. One great lyric notes, "When it comes to making love/ intellectuals are ineffectual." The "There Is Nothing Like A Brain" lyric includes: "Your genitalia can fail ya/but bet your ass on the brain." SEATTLE HOSTS FOUR NEW YORK BOUND PRODUCTIONS Young Frankenstein is one of four current or upcoming Seattle offerings with New York productions in their future. The 5th Avenue Theatre hosts Lone Star Love next month. Headlining Hollywood and television's (and off-Broadway's) Randy Quaid, the musical retelling of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives Of Windsor gets reset in Texas. The current world premiere of Craig Lucas' Prayer For My Enemy at Intiman Theatre moves to the Long Wharf Theatre on the East Coast in early September (with two replacement cast members) and is expected to transfer to New York later this season, probably off-Broadway or at a subscription theater. Seattle Opera's upcoming production of Gluck's rarely staged Iphigenia In Tauris, running Oct. 13-27, is the first Seattle Opera coproduction with the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Company. Following the Seattle run, the entire production moves to New York for its Metropolitan Opera stay. That's four New York-bound productions playing in Seattle in one three month period, undoubtedly an all time record. Young Frankenstein, the highest profile show of the four, continues at the Paramount through Sept. 1. While the preview performances have sold "very well," crowds have often been about two-thirds of capacity. If the enthusiasm of last night's opening night crowd is any indication, the show will sell out much of its remaining run-procrastinators take note. Tickets are available at 206-292-ARTS with an added service fee. Budget-minded theater fans should remember that tickets purchased in person at the Paramount box office have no added service charges. Tickets start at $25 with most of the main floor about $85. A "select number" of Loge tickets are $100 each with admission to the classy Paramount Club included. New York prices will be much, much higher. In a clever programming move, the Paramount and Seattle Theatre Group are co-hosting midnight screenings of the original Young Frankenstein film with the Egyptian Theatre. The midnight showings tonight and tomorrow include a costume contest, "prizes and more," including a chance to win free tickets to the musical version. Information is available at 206-781-5755. Check it out. |
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