Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein is based on Mel Brooks 1974 movie of the same name, a spoof based on the horror movie of Frankenstein. In Young Frankenstein, the original Frankenstein has died and left his estate to his grandson Frederick Frankenstein. 

Young Frankenstein really sells itself on its humour. Both the script and the lyrics are witty and bursting with double entendre, which just made the set up even funnier.

The cast understood the comedy brilliantly and Carly Cousins who played Inga showed how versatile this actress can be. Her voice suited the part beautifully as she sang and danced her way into Frederick Frankenstein’s heart.

Ross Edwards took on the title role and quickly established himself as a science geek who happened to be able to sing and dance rather well! The patter songs were perfectly delivered and his sense of timing on pointe.

Gina Abbatt as Frau Bleucher was brilliant casting. Her acting in the role was comedy perfection and “He Vas My Boyfriend” one of the many highlights of her performance.

Tom Beirne as The Monster was surprisingly light on his feet in ‘Putting on The Ritz” and good use of inflection and intonation patterns in the voice allowed the audience to understand all the moans and grunts as if they were actual words. Well done.

Eleanor Gage as Elizabeth Benning, Frederick’s untouchable fiancé, portrayed the character well and gave us a complete contrast to Inga. Good casting here.

Andrew Lee as Inspector Kemp and Steve Wilks as Blind Hermit added to this strong principal line up and were everything expected from a Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan collaboration.

However, for me, the standout performance of the evening was that of Georgia Vary as Igor. This was truly a masterclass in character acting. One usually expects this to be a male role but Georgia made Igor androgynist and it worked perfectly. I applaud director Dave Slade for moving the boundaries and allowing Georgia to do what she does best. Congratulations.

The choreography throughout the show was varied and clever and suited to all abilities. 

Costumes were appropriate and the minimalistic sets worked well and the lighting and sound faultless.

Occasionally when turning a movie into a musical the songs just serve as a distraction but in the case of Young Frankenstein this is far from the case. Each number is funny for its own reasons, and I enjoyed them all. MD Mike Payne and his nine-piece orchestra made an excellent sound and did not overpower the cast.

Young Frankenstein is a show where every song, movement or line is created to get the audience laughing. Whilst the humour may be unsophisticated and full of entendre it’s a night at the theatre full of laughter with a cast who knew how to play out this comedy to perfection.

 

Thank you for your kind hospitality, we had a lovely evening.

Vicki Avery Noda Rep District 9

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