"Young Frankenstein" tour - Chicago opening night review

[lovepuppy]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 1:32pm

Saw it last night here at the Cadillac Palace Theatre for what I believe is a nice 6-week engagement.

It started slow and award, so honestly I wasn't sure what I was in for. The chick who played the Madeleine Kahn role really should have been better than she was, and blew it with her first appearance and solo being the second number, and her "funny" just seemed forced. But--ROGER BART is in it as Dr. F., and I hadn't realized he was doing the tour! He, "Igor (Cory English)" and "The Monster (Shuler Hensley)" were all from the OBC and were all fantastic!! For a guy who "speak-sings," you still can't take your eyes off Bart, and his comic timing and creative delivery are hilarious. Love him.

More innuendo in the dialogue than I had expected, but then again, I didn't expect much since the last time I saw the film was 15 yrs ago in college. Not sure how true it is to the film, except for "Ritz" and "he's ALIVE!" and stuff like that.

Some accents floated in and out, which was kind of annoying. But judging from the fact that sometimes Igor sounded like he was either a cockney, or from the NY mob, or from the midwest, and he's from the OBC, I assume that was intentional? Annoying nonetheless. Ditto for Inga's (Anne Horak) in/out fading German accent. She looks a lot like Megan Hilty and I thought she was her, before checking the program. Beautiful voice when she wasn't having to reign in her throat for all that German stuff.

The actress who plays "Frau Blucher," Joanna Glushak, was a hilarious scene-stealer! It looks like she's been on Broadway a lot, but a) I wonder why I've never heard of her, despite living in Chicago, and b) she did look familiar (but, again, I don't live in NY, so who knows...?).

And of course, can't leave out "Puttin' on the Ritz"--a good tap number always makes me smile. :) I did a tap recital to that number when I was about 12, so it was great to see it in a show-stopper! (Man, I should go back from some classes, but alas, I'm unemployed, but that's another story.)

Awesome sets. Really cool giant marionette of the Monster in the dream number. A little too "strobe-y." As a friend said, "blind me once for an effect, but don't keep doing it!" Maybe...tone it down if you're gonna keep using the strobe lights throughout the show, eh, producers? You want your audience to watch the show with EYES OPEN, yes?

And can I just add about Beth Curry's girlfriend/bride character--to be fair, I think I have to blame her dumb performance of that dumb "Please Don't Touch Me" song on the composers including it in the show, instead of writing a different song. :)

Overall, for a show that I kinda wonder how it got put on Broadway in the first place...very cute, and very clever, funny dialogue too!



EDIT: I just realized why I thought Joanna Glushak looks familiar: I just had a flash that she was the aunt in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," but that was not her, it was Andrea Martin. No wonder it wasn't in her bio. :) But they are dead-ringers for each other!

Updated On: 11/5/09 at 01:32 PM

[lakezurich]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 1:45pm

Good news about Joanna Glushak, I think she is absolutely hilarious. She was in the Chicago run of Xanadu.

[willep]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 1:49pm

Just to correct you, Cory English wasn't in the OBC, he was the replacement for Christopher Fitzgerald.

[lovepuppy]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 1:54pm

Ah, thanks. His bio said he was Igor on B'way so I wrongly assumed he was original. This show hasn't been much on my radar.

Fluffy, but a fun night out, for what it's worth.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/6/09 at 11:08am

I saw it last night and it was less than ok. It had a couple of funny moments, but overall, it's a mediocre show. The cast performed well with what they had, though the pacing seemed awfully rushed. The two most popular scenes, "Put the candle back" and the blind old man bit, basically flew by in a blink and the first act especially seemed as if no book scene was permitted to last longer than 60 seconds before striking up a musical number that laboriously lengthened a single punch line to four minutes. The upper level was maybe 50% full and halfway through the first act, I noticed about a dozen people constantly checking their phones and reading/sending texts and emails, some of whom simply left them on in plain sight for the rest of the act. Tech cues were a bit sloppy with some very obvious lighting and set glitches. And during the entire "Together Again" number, from the balcony, we could see everyone setting up the scene behind the stone wall flats.

Production aside, it's just not a good show. The only truly funny moments are those that were lifted directly from the film while the humor in the songs themselves gave away the joke at the beginning and then just repeated it over and over again. The only number I really found fresh and exciting was "Join the Family Business" as it actually introduced something new and propelled the story forward as opposed to slamming on the brakes after every brief book scene.

My father and I had a decent night out, but were ultimately glad we paid as little as possible to see this particular show (around $20 each).