Spoilers: Puttin' On A Hit - My Young Frankenstein Review

[BroadwayPer4mer03]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 8:50pm

Young Frankenstein
Preview - 10/20 Matinee
Running Time: 2hrs 40 mins with intermission
Understudy: Matt LaBanca covered the role of Frankenstein (Roger Bart)

The Spectacular:

1. Matt LaBanca - let's just say that i give this kid a lot of credit for taking on this role. while i was disappointed to miss out on Roger Bart, Matt LaBanca was one heck of an understuy and captured the craziness of Gene Wilder's portryal yet still brought his own take to you. He eased through this show effortlessly.

2. Andrea Martin - WOW. SIMPLY AMAZING. She truly steals the show. Her comedic timing is incomprable and her number "He Vas My Boyfriend" brought down the house. Definite Tony nod for her even while it is early in the season.

3. Christopher Fitzgerald - Another oustanding and suprisingly awesome performance as Igor. He is charming, believable, and hilarious. Who couldn't love his "Together Again" number. Again, possible tony nod despite how early we are in the season.

4. Technical Design - THIS SHOW IS HUGE! THE SET IS JAW-DROPPING AS WELL AS THE SPECIAL EFFECTS AND THE LIGHTING.WILLIAM IVEY LONG'S COSTUMES ARE ALSO QUITE FUN. I GIVE THEM PROPS FOR MAKING THIS TEDIOUS SHOW WORK TECHNICALLLY. BRAVO!

5. Puttin on the Ritz, Roll in Ze Hay, Family Business, Please Dont Touch Me, and Transylvania Mania are all SPOT ON, AMAZINGLY WELL CRAFTED MUSICAL NUMBERS.

The Great but not specatacular:

1. Sutton Foster - Okay. I love her. She gives forth a wonderful, charming performance. But she doesn't have much to do and sometimes I feel like she is just there for the sake of saying we have Sutton Foster in our show. But again, Ms. Foster puts forth another glowing performance but with stronger material, she could have been even better.

2. Megan Mullally - SUPRISE OF THE EVENING. She was truly fierce in her musical numbers. I love the accent and give her props for taking on this Madeline Kahn role. However, due to the size of her role, she doesn't have an ENORMOUS AMOUNT of time to shine. Still, truly awesome performance. She is a def. contender for a best featured actress nod.

3. Fred Applegate - "Send Me Someone" and that entire scene is perfect thanks to his comedic timing. Again, wonderful performance.

4. Stro's Direction and Choreography - I love her approach. Her dances were nothing innovative yet still very creative. Her direction makes for a lively, well-paced show and has quite a gift for adapting the film to the stage. THE SHADOW EFFECT, MONSTER PUPPET, PUTTIN ON THE RITZ, AND THE STROBE EFFECT WERE ALL VERY COOL. Transylvania Mania also gave her a chance to show off her skills.

5. Shuler Hensly is both hilarious and charming as the monster. He has a minimal part but really makes the most of it and pleases the crowd immensely.

6. The Book - Brooks and Meehan have assembled a funny book. It is very faithful to the movie and they add some of their own comic twists to it as well. Some jokes have been updated or extended. However, I wish they would add a few more gags of their own and cut some of the ones that are a bit tired or just fall flat (the count part is cute but simply stupid.)

The So-So:

1. The Score - the score really is not as bad as some have said. In fact, there were quite a few enjoyable, catchy tunes. However, there are a few unmemorable ones as well. Still, Mel has arranged a somewhat entertaining score that does the show justice. To be honest, while "Producers" had one or two really catchy, memorable numbers, the rest of the score fell flat. In "Young Frankenstein", there are no songs that truly "standout" however as a whole the score is better than "The Producers".

2. Running Time - It moves pretty well but still some of the reprises and verses could be cut or trimmed. (Examples: overture could be trimmed, "together again" reprise is unnecessary, and verses of "nothing like the brain" could also be cut.)

Overall, I found the show immensely entertaining! Its not flawless and there are moments that could be tweaked, but still it was suprisingly good. The performances and design are stellar and the book and tunes are quite enjoyable as well but do fall flat in some places. I think some people just need to give it a chance. They too would be suprised. As Megan Mullaly so comically sings in Act 2, "we all love a good suprise!". In this case, I could not agree more.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 9:18pm

I feel like in the age of no overtures, we should be thankful just to have one.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 10:14pm

Mullally will be considered Leading, not Featured.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 10:48pm

No, she won't.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 10:50pm

Last I heard she was being billed above the title, and would be considered leading. But I could be wrong.

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 10:51pm

Megan's part was no way leading when I saw it in Seattle.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 10:55pm

The producers can lobby to have her role considered as featured regardless of the billing.

EDIT- Also, none of the actors are billed above the title in Young Frankenstein. Updated On: 10/21/07 at 10:55 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/21/07 at 11:01pm

Ms. Mullally, as fan-F*CKing-tastic she is, is only up top because she's got name recognition.

The woman's on stage for a total of 40 minutes and is not a pivotal character the same way, say, Mrs. Muller was in Doubt.