Frankenstein Sings

Two Frankenstein musicals opened on consecutive days last November, in New York.

The boisterous, monster-sized Young Frankenstein is still going, although cast salaries had to be slashed and the originally stratospheric ticket prices were revised downward. Its serious counterpart played out its initial month-long run and closed. A mooted tour never materialized.

Now, the “world premiere” recording of Frankenstein, A New Musical, featuring the original cast, is being released and will be available for digital download on Amazon and iTunes as of September 2.

You can sample the music and order the CD on the show’s excellent website, which is loaded with photographs, reviews and lots of good information.

Related Posts:
Frankenstein’s Stage Fright
Dueling Frankensteins

Frankenstein Puts On The Ritz

The New Mel Brook Musical Young Frankenstein opened officially on Thursday evening, November 8, at the cavernous Hilton Theater in New York.

I’ll let you Google the reviews if you’re interested. Expect a lot of complaints about how it falls short of the original (surprise!), how the songs are less than memorable, and whether the whole thing is worth those “premium” $450 seats. On the plus side, everyone agrees that Sutton Foster (Inga) and Andrea Martin (Frau Blucher) are splendid, and it’s very nice to see that Shuler Hensley, no stranger to the part of The Monster, stomps away with the show.

The New York Time’s Ben Brantley — besides calling the spectacle an ear-splitting, overblown burlesque — says, “Shuler Hensley is terrific, turning Frankenstein’s monster into the most human character onstage” and singles out his Puttin’ On The Ritz as the show’s “one truly exhilarating number”. Newsday’s Linda Winer says Hensley “makes a splendidly human creature”. By the way, the Newsday page has a video sampler of musical numbers.

Mel Brook’s previous film-turned-into-a-Broadway-musical, The Producers, was then turned back into a new film. Assuming the Young Frankenstein musical is successful, should we brace ourselves for a new musical film version?

We’ll see, but if Young Frankenstein circles back to the movies, let’s hope they lock Shuler Hensley into The Monster’s role.

Shuler Hensley’s website has tons of photos and articles from the musical, and from Van Helsing as well.

Frankenstein's Stage Fright

New York theater’s “other” Frankenstein musical, the serious one, started its official run at 37 Arts on November 1st. After months of preparation and a long run in preview, now it’s official and the critics can speak, and it looks the show is in for a rough ride.

The New York Times’ Charles Isherwood plays on a Mary Shelley line about “a night of unmingled wretchedness” and calls the production a “drably earnest two hours of throaty sturm und drang”. The Daily News’ Joe Dziemianowicz calls it a boring, “bombastic and mind-boggling… misfire”. Newsday’s Linda Winer writes: “This one is not even a horror show. It is, however, horrible.” The New York Post’s Frank Scheck says it all with his title: “Monstrously bad.”

The problem, it seems, is in the telling. The cast is mostly commiserated with for doing their best with poor material. The score gets thumbs down all around. Steve Blanchard, the play’s Creature, is never panned but he does get a ribbing for his bare-chested, rock star posture. The bare bones staircase set and slide-show projections fail to impress.

Michael Dale, on Broadway World, has a fair bit of fun with the show, calling it “Jung Frankenstein”, adding that “The valiant stars do give praiseworthy performances under trying circumstances”, being “made to bellow out hollow emotions to over-amplified anthematic melodies”.

A couple of positive but hardly influential reviews have cropped up. Diane Barth at Epoch Times reports “excellent performances” and writes, “Overall, the production conveys a sense of anticipation, uncertainty, and romance, very much in line with Mary Shelley's concept.”

Julie Reed of The Associated Press says Steve Blanchard commands the stage and concludes: “This "Frankenstein" brings the classic story thrillingly to life. No green giant, but you won't miss him.”

Speaking of the green giant, the other Broadway Frankenstein, the Young and funny one, officially opens on Thursday, November 8. We’ll soon see what the critics think of that one, but sky-high anticipation levels, months of massive publicity and huge ticket pre-sales suggest that Mel Brooks’ multi-million dollar show is bulletproof and would survive even universal (but unlikely) lambasting. Right off the bat, according to the Broadway World News Desk, the premiere will be accompanied by heavy TV coverage that includes The Today Show and NBC Nightly News.

Interesting footnote: Hunter Foster, the Dr. Frankenstein in the Off-Broadway show, interviewed on AM New York, was asked about the differences between the two Frankenstein musicals. Foster replied: “We’re $400 cheaper”.

Top photo source: New York Times, Sarah Krulwich.

(Thanks to Marc Berezin for linkage!)

Dueling Frankensteins

“In deconstructing one of the most popular story of all time, we hope to offer a new perspective for contemporary audiences.”

- Mark Baron and Jeffrey Jackson, authors, Frankenstein, A New Musical.

There’s an embarrassment of riches for Frankenstein fans in the New York area. The serious-minded Frankenstein, A New Musical opened Off-Broadway at 37 Arts last night (October 10), while the light-hearted (light-headed?) Mel Brook’s New Musical, Young Frankenstein begins its preview run tonight, October 11, at the Hilton Theater.

The two productions are a just few blocks from each other, but worlds apart in concept. If there’s any competition here, it’s sibling rivalry: Hunter Foster plays a thoughtful Victor Frankenstein in the Off-Broadway musical while his sister, Sutton Foster, plays the loony Inga in the Mel Brook’s romp on 42nd Street.

Frankenstein, A New Musical promises to be “extraordinarily faithful to Mary Shelley's original novel while offering a bold, new experience for modern theater audiences”. The company’s website has been updated with photos, cast and crew bios and music samples. Playbill has just come out with a very informative article about the show.

Young Frankenstein Lives Again

This post is part of the First Annual 2007 Slapstick Blog-a-thon coordinated by Thom Ryan at Film of the Year. Click and see a list of all the participating bloggers.

Just like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein before it, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder’s Young Frankenstein spawned its share of imitators. For one, there was a rather miserable David Niven comedy called Old Dracula, but the kicker must be Sevimli Frankestayn, aka Turkish Young Frankenstein, a spectacularly inept shot for shot remake that plays like a straight horror film. In other words, a knock-off of a classic satire… that misses the joke!

At 81, Mel Brooks is the Elder Statesman of Slapstick. In November, in case you haven’t heard, he’s reviving Young Frankenstein as a big budget Broadway musical. The tryouts in Seattle have been widely publicized on TV and the Net.

Watch Brooks making his pitch on entertainment news shows, available on YouTube here and here. There is some overlap between the two clips, but you get a glimpse of the very elaborate sets that include a rising slab, complete with lightning bolts. Here’s a fine Seattle Times article, and a slideshow (pics by Greg Gilbert) of actor Schuler Hensley — who also played the Monster in the film Van Helsing — being transformed into a very green Frankenstein Monster, and this Playbill feature has good pictures (by Paul Kolnik) of the very energetic cast. The official website for the Young Frankenstein musical is here.

Frankenstein Meets The Mermaid

This weekend, the New York Times carries an article called “Monster, Meet Mermaid”. Turns out the competition for Young Frankenstein won’t be the other Frankenstein Musical opening at the same time, but rather the big new Disney show, The Little Mermaid. Now, how’s this for trivia: This is not the first time that a comedy-based Frankenstein Monster meets a Mermaid. Back in ‘48, at Universal, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was shooting concurrently with the William Powell fantasy, Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. Glenn Strange and Anne Blythe, both in costume, posed for a neat publicity shot.

All we need now is for Young Frankenstein’s Schuler Hensley and The Little Mermaid’s Sierra Boggess to get together and close the circle. Do it on January 1st, and it'll be a 60th year reunion!

And that wraps up my contribution to the Slapstick Blog-a-Thon. I had a ball! I was introduced to some great blogs, I read some terrific posts, and I made some new friends. Here’s a pie in the face to Thom Ryan at Film of the Year who made it all happen. Thanks, Thom, and congratulations on a job well done.

Frankenstein News

VIRTUAL FRANKENSTEIN

On August 4, 2007, Joined at the Heart, a new adaptation of Frankenstein, became the first ever musical streamed live, online, in Second Life. You can read about the planning in the Cambridge Evening News and The Stage News. The event prompted The Guardian’s Mark Fisher to ask, “Will virtual plays kill real theater?”.

The Creature is played by James Stuart. The photograph, by Mark Easterfield, is from the Sawston Players' website. You can read more about the play itself, its creators, cast and crew, and hear music samples on Joined at the Heart's MySpace page.

CONFIRMED!

Simpson’s creator Matt Groening told The New York Times Magazine that Marge’s towering beehive was inspired in equal parts by his own mother’s hairdo and… The Bride of Frankenstein. We knew it all along, didn’t we?

(Via)

DOWNGRADED

James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) was dropped from the American Film Institute's list of 100 Greatest American Movies. The film had formerly been ranked Number 87.

Er... No comment.

A Bolt From The Blue

“First I gave life to a spider, then I gave life to a fly; After a bit couldn't find it, although I think I know why. Next I gave life to a goldfish, then I gave life to a toad; Then I gave life to a lizard, who helped the toad cross the road. Next I gave life to a tadpole, then I gave life to a frog; Then I gave life to a dog-fish, and it barked just like a dog. Now I'll give life to a human, now I'll give life to a man! Pity it's proving so tricky, but I'll succeed if I can."

— ‘Animal Biology (or Frankenstein’s Song)'          

Frankenstein (or A Bolt from the Blue) is “A Victorian melodrama for Schools
based on Mary Shelley's book… for Narrator, Unison Voices and Piano”. Words and music by Carey Blyton.
Published by Chester Music and Novello & Co, London, 1987.        

Blyton also wrote musical versions of Dracula and Sweeney Todd.

The Monster : Shuler Hensley

Shuler Hensley as the howling Monster in the splendid black and white opening sequence to the otherwise overbaked fuse-blower Van Helsing (2004).

Hensley holds a unique position among Frankenstein actors, having essayed the Monster in three different productions. After Van Helsing, he went on to sing the Monster’s part on a cast recording of Frankenstein: The Musical, a dramatic musical adaptation slated to open off-Broadway in November. Who will inherit the part in that one is yet to be announced, Hensley having since gone on to play the tap-dancing, zipper-necked Monster in the big-budget Broadway adaptation of Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein, currently in rehearsals.