[NEohioPAL] Berko review: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN @ Beck

[Roy Berko via NEohioPAL]

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*“Young Frankenstein” should delight Beck audiences, but . . .*



Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)



On a November Saturday afternoon in 2007, I anxiously entered the Hilton
Theatre in New York.  I love exaggerated, well-conceived and performed
farce.  I was going to see “Young Frankenstein” by the king of farce and
parody, Mel Brooks.  Yes, “Young Frankenstein,” officially known as  “The
New Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein,” was the Broadway follow-up to “The
Producers,” by the comedy madman and his writing sidekick, Thomas Meehan.



Brooks conceived the comedy routine, “The 2000 Year Old Man.” “Blazing
Saddles” is one of my all time favorite movies.  Brooks is also responsible
for such other zany offerings as “The Twelve Chairs,” “Silent Movie,” and
“History of the World, Part I.”



“Young Frankenstein,” was going to be great!  Right?  Wrong!



The musical, based on the 1974 film of the same name, followed Brooks’
pattern for “The Producers.”  He grabbed the film’s plot and best lines and
modified them for the stage.  But this time he didn’t create the same power
“shticks” and realistic ridiculousness, so the results were less than
expected.



The reviews called the piece, “an overblown burlesque review,” “giggly
smuttiness with throw-away music.” Other comments stated, “there’s more
ho-hum than hummable music,” and, “you cannot escape the impression that
everyone is working desperately hard to animate essentially weak material
and the show fatally lacks that touch of the sublime that made ‘The
Producers’ so special.”  Sadly, I agreed with them.



The public also agreed.  The Broadway production, in spite of the
Brooks/Meehan combo, a cast which included Roger Bart, Megan Mullaly,
Sutton Foster and Andrea Martin, a $16 million dollar budget, and direction
and choreography by Susan Stroman, but ran only 484 performances.  (Compare
that to the 2,502 performances for “The Producers,” or the $9 million spent
on “The Book of Morman which has already run 1400 performances.)



“Young Frankenstein” is a parody of horror films, especially the
blockbuster flicks based on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and “Son of
Frankenstein.”  It takes place in Transylvania Heights in 1934.  At the
start, the villagers are celebrating the death of Dr. Victor von
Frankenstein, the mad scientist who has supposedly been experimenting in
his castle with bringing dead bodies back to life.



Hurrah, the mad scientist and his whole family are dead and the village no
longer has to live in fear.  Well, not so fast!  Vic has a grandson,
Frederick, the Dean of Anatomy at New York’s best university “Johns, Miriam
and Anthony Hopkins School of Medicine.”  But, not to worry.  Ziggy, the
village idiot, assures the townspeople that there is no way that Frederick
is going to come to Transylvania.



Of course, Ziggy, as is the case with village idiots, is wrong and
Frederick, renamed “Fronkensteen” is forced to travel abroad to settle the
claim on his inherited castle.  And so the potential fun begins.



Frederick needs to get away from his frigid fiancée, who refuses to allow
him to touch her. (Obviously no hanky-panky is going to take place.)
There’s a meeting with Igor (the hunchbacked laboratory aid, whose hump
keeps moving around his back), a romp in the hay wagon with Inga, (his
well-endowed assistant), horses who neigh each time the name of the
castle’s housekeeper, Frau Blucher, is spoken, the stealing of a dead body,
the mishandling of a brain needed for the creation of the monster, a sex
dalliance in mid-air, many reference to “boobs,” the creation of a large
green monster in platform shoes, and lots of oft-hilarious (or, almost
hilarious, or, kind of funny) situations).



Martin Céspedes’s creative choreography, which incorporates Borscht-belt
vaudeville routines, tap dancing, a kick tap line, eastern European
movements including the Chardosh, and the invention of the “Don’t Touch Me”
style of movement, incorporates the right style of ridiculousness.



The depth of absurdity is not totally built into the script, so much of it
has to be invented.  Director Scott Spence develops some of the
ridiculousness, but he doesn’t dig deep enough to create the total needed
abandonment.  In addition, though the cast puts out full effort, they
simply don’t have the vaudeville backgrounds to create some of Brooks’s
outrageousness.



Since, in general, the Beck audience members aren’t filled with the ethnic
background needed to appreciate Brooks “mishegas,“ if the opening night
audience is any indication, they won't know what they are missing.
("Mishegas" is  ridiculousness beyond the ridiculous.  It’s Sid Caesar,
Harvey Korman, Imogene Coca, Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner-ridiculousness.
It’s the Native Americans in “Blazing Saddles” speaking Yiddish rather than
communicating in an Indian dialect.  If you don’t know Yiddish, you don't
now how funny the scene is.



Amiee Collier , as Frau Blucher, comes the closest to understanding the
level of Brooks’ farce.  Jamie Koeth has a nice touch with the reality of
Frederick.  Leslie Andrews has some good moments as Inga.  Christopher
Aldrich is physically right for The Monster and he does a nice job with
“Putting on the Ritz,” but is neither scary enough at his “birth,” nor
exaggerated enough, as he matures.  Alex Smith, as Igor, displays a fine
touch with comedy, but needed to let loose more and enjoy himself.



Trad A Burns lighting design is well-conceived and properly spooky.  The
lack of a fly gallery and wing space restricts scenic designers.  All
things considered, Cameron Caley Michalak does an adequate job of making
the scene changes non-obtrusive.  His answer to the need for a second level
was not impressive and the concept of dropping things from the ceiling
should have been deleted.  The setting is aided by some nice video designs
by Ian Hinz.



*CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  “Young Frankenstein” isn’t a well-written script and
it has a weak musical score.  Is the production bad?  Not really. Martin
Céspedes’s choreography added a creativity factor, and the second act on
opening night was funnier than the first, hopefully indicating an increased
comfort level by the cast and the ability to really let loose.   In spite
of the negatives, audiences should have a fun time at Beck.*



“Young Frankenstein” is scheduled to run through August 17, 2014 at Beck
Center for the Arts.  For tickets and information call 216-521-2540 or go
online to http://www.beckcenter.org

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