I've been following the show for several months at Man In Chair.
Finally saw the show last night, prepared for the worst. It's not a great show, but I've definitely had worse nights at the theatre.
Here's a little bit of my review. Link to the full review follows.
My first misgivings came when those of us who were assigned seats in the mezzanine were all ushered down to the orchestra section because there were so few patrons there. Good for us, not a good sign for the show.
Many improvements have been made musically since the concept CD was recorded. Much of the pop rock score is quite exciting to listen to, though it becomes repetitive fairly quickly. Around the fifth electric guitar riff into the first act, that rock concert scenario began to enter my mind again as the show began to feel less like a theatre piece telling a coherent story, and more like a rock concert version based loosely on Shelley’s novel, not unlike the recent British re-imagining of
Rent seems to have turned out.
Steve Blanchard makes bold physical choices for The Creature–-a tic of the head, a crippled arm, a lurching gait that conveys the difficulty required to move his body in its intended direction. He periodically bursts into fits of pounding on his legs and arms, giving the sense of a man whose is physically and mentally tortured merely by inhabiting his own body.
Often it’s way over the top, but I give the actor credit for fearlessly committing to the choices he and director, Bill Fennelly have made. When it comes down to it, I’d rather watch actors take risks and occasionally fail than skate their way through a safe, uninspired carnival like this show’s uptown cousin.
Frankenstein...Superstar