Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein is easily recognised as a Mel Brooks Musical. With its easy charm and flashes of innuendo, it is very reminiscent of a carry on film. Middleton arena was a great stage space to put this production on - it gave the cast plenty of room on the stage with the set. They started with an open stage, small bits of scenery were used on trucks, projections were also used. There was a bookcase on a revolve and in the laboratory scene moving levers and dials along with haze. The laboratory table was visually large, along with a screen, a low bookcase and a chaise longue. There were quite a few  pieces of moveable set used in the production, for example, the front door, the hay cart, the train station and they were all moved into position quietly and quickly by the very hard working stage crew headed by Ste Brady. The costumes supplied by Charades Theatrical Costume Hire looked fantastic. Hair and makeup were all very fitting to each specific character.

The lighting plot was quite interesting and very fitting to the scenes, however, at times some of the darker scenes seemed to still have a little bit too much light diffusion, but I do understand about different levels of darkness. I did like the purple and green wash it was very fitting to its scene. The sound throughout by MASH Audiovisual was very unbalanced. A lot of the time I could see the actors lips moving but couldn't hear the actual words - at the interval I did ask some other members of the public watching the show if they had been able to hear, unfortunately they too had had problems hearing properly.

David Abendstern as Musical Director kept the orchestra at great pace enabling the production to move along nicely. Vocals from all the Principals were good and ensemble numbers sounded strong and full. Katie Fry, as choreographer, brought some fresh new moves to the stage. These were emulated well by the ensemble in some numbers, however, in a couple of other numbers, it was very obvious that some of the ensemble clearly did not know the dance steps. I had been greatly looking forward to the big tap number “Puttin` On The Ritz”  unfortunately this number highlighted the actual trained dancers and those that were struggling with the steps. In my humble opinion it may have been better to have used the trained dancers and let them showcase some fancy footwork while the untrained kept time. On a couple of the ensemble numbers the stage seemed very crowded especially to one side – perhaps this was due to rehearsals without the set and then suddenly some set trucks are placed in?

 Jo Weetman (Director) had chosen some very strong Principals. Sam Reid as Frederick gave a solid performance, his accent throughout was strong but not thick, he used his stage space well and connected to the audience. He showed some good facial expressions and some big reactions to what was going on around him. There appeared to be some great chemistry between him and Michael Thompson (Igor). Michael is no stranger to playing this type of character, he made this role a very physical role and gave some fantastic facial expressions. One of my favourite moments was when Igor rested his head on top of the small bookcase in the laboratory and made Frederick jump - a very simple task, but it was all about the timing and the delivery, the audience around me lapped it up. Michael also must be commended on his diction - he was clear and concise and his pauses were done to perfection. Shirley Harrison as Flau Blucher was superb, I didn`t recognise her for quite some time because of her wig, make up and accent, she had the dour demeanor down pat yet still managed to show us a lovely softer empathetic side – I particularly liked her rendition of “ He Vas My Boyfriend”. Leonie Picariello played Inga and she deserves a medal simply for the hayride scene/song, she never once broke character as she bounced along, upside down, legs in the air singing and smiling - Bravo! Leonie is a performer that completely embodies the character that she is playing, her accent stayed strong, solid but not at all guttural or thick, she gave off a lovely air of innocence yet also had a twinkle of cheeky naughtiness. Her vocals were fantastic, she delivered both her dialogue and vocals with real emotion . In the big tap number she managed to look serene and comfortable while controlling a long dress edged in feathers, a cane, tap choreography and singing – Well done! Max Harrison as Monster had very few lines so had to completely rely upon his body language and the occasional grunt  to convey his characters thoughts. The onstage chemistry between himself and Stephanie Mead (Elizabeth) was very evident, Stephanie embodied her character and looked to be thoroughly enjoying herself onstage, her accent stayed in place and she made a good  connection with the audience. James Earnshaw as Inspector Hans Kemp certainly made the audience laugh, unfortunately a lot of the time we couldn`t actually hear his dialogue but his delivery and facial expressions were very funny. John Weetman as The Hermit and Nick Angus as Dr Victor Frankenstein brought even more comedic moments, both myself and my guest certainly had aching cheeks from laughing so much.

Thank you for inviting me to your production. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

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