Fresh life breathed into 'Young Frankenstein'
REVIEW | More bubbly, faster pace than Broadway original
Talk about reanimating a seemingly dead thing. In "Young Frankenstein," Mel Brooks and his crackerjack collaborator, director-choreographer Susan Stroman, have reached back (with both "deep love" and infectious affection) to the days when true musical comedy -- complete with catchy tunes, impossibly leggy chorus girls, giggle-inducing one-liners and non sequiturs, nutty characters, eye-popping dance routines and plain old vaudeville sex jokes and shtick -- ruled the Broadway stage.
When: Through Dec. 13
Where: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph
Tickets: $30-$95
Phone: 800-775-2000
But rather than devising a ghostly piece of nostalgia, they have breathed the freshest, most exhilarating, unapologetically silly life into the form by infusing it with a mix of passion, pure 21st century theatrical pizzazz and some "Transylvania Mania."
Brooks' musical (the "follow-up" to his monumentally successful first show, "The Producers"), opened Wednesday at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in a rip-roaring national touring production that in many ways feels more buoyant, fast-paced and easeful than the Broadway original. And watching it for the second time it became even clearer that this is not just a Brooksian homage and parody of the Mary Shelley classic and the 1931 film it inspired. For while its story unfolds in Romania, this is a huge Valentine to all things Broadway.
Just consider "The Brain," the opening song for Victor Frankenstein's grandson, the distinguished New York medical professor, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (played by Roger Bart, who floats through the action in a cagily understated way that makes you forget just how insane his character happens to be). It not only sets up the show, but its lyrics give that Weill-Gershwin patter song, "Tchaikovsky," competition.
There is more Weill, of course, in "He Vas My Boyfriend," the hilarious song of love and masochism sung by Frau Blucher (a brilliantly wacko turn by Joanna Glushak), housekeeper and former mistress to Victor, with a special feel for horses. There is the nightmare sequence of "Join the Family Business" that evokes all the frenzy of the dream in "Fiddler on the Roof." And of course there is the fantastic hoofing spectacle of "Puttin' on the Ritz," with shadowplay, full chorus line and tapping Monster (Shuler Hensley is a most winning hulk).
Stroman, like Brooks, is fully steeped in the Broadway legacy (and has been an architect of its renaissance). Her work here is masterful, as is every aspect of the show's lavish design.
Beth Curry's "don't touch me" socialite is fabulous. Cory English is a drolly impish Igor. Anne Horak is a "high-spirited" Inga (though her accent needs some GPS tuning). And the ensemble (which gathers for a finale that hints at a "Blazing Saddles" musical in the future) is exceptional.