The Theatre
Royal Puts On The Ritz…
Young Frankenstein
Newcastle Theatre Royal
Until Saturday 9th
September 2017
Book:
Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan
Music
& lyrics: Mel Brooks
Direction
& Choreography: Susan Stroman
Set
design: Beowulf Boritt
Costume
design: William Ivey Long
Musical
direction: Andrew Hilton
Mel Brooks’ Young
Frankenstein is a wonderful theatrical production. A great cast, a wonderful
script with a fabulous sense of humour, funny songs with many clear references
to the popular film - the show is a real treat.
The
musical is based upon the 1974 movie with Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman. This
was in turn a major homage to the classic Universal horror films. The musical
continues to celebrate those films, but
it also finds time to celebrate the golden age of the musical too. Clearly
tonight’s cast also had big shoes to fill given the legendary status of the
original cast of the film. The good news is they have more than enough class to
carry it off.
Hadley
Fraser plays the brain scientist Fredrick Frankenstein whose uncle has a
reputation for trying to reanimate the dead. The show opens up with the
pun-filled song The Brain which set
the tone for both the wicked sense of humour and quality of singing on show.
Frankenstein
receives a telegraph to say his uncle is dead and that he needs to go to Transylvania to claim his
inheritance. Before he leaves America, his finance Elizabeth sees him off on the good
ship Queen Mary Shelley. Dianne
Pilkington has great fun in the innuendo filled number Please Don’t Touch.
The
doctor meets up with his assistant Igor, played with great comic timing by Ross
Noble. So can Ross sing and dance? He put in a great shift during Together Again before meeting up with
lab technician Inga. Summer Strallen’s character is another opportunity for
more singing, dancing and laughs as they all head off to the castle
together.
At
the castle they meet up with the housekeeper Frau Blucher - which turns into a
great vehicle for Lesley Joseph to show off her comedic talents and sing. Her
big number He Vas My Boyfriend had
even more laughs for the Theatre Royal crowd. Those memorable jokes from the
film have been retained - so the mere mention of Frau Blucher’s name still
instils fear in the local horses.
The
set helps recreate the castle scenes from the film and the show flies by with a
perfect pace. The songs and dance routines do allow a tribute to the classic US musicals. This in
particular happens with the Puttin’ On
The Ritz scene which has been extended compared to the film and becomes a
full-scale dance routine. Shuler Hensley, who played the role previously in
both the Broadway and US tour productions of the show, is nimble of his feet as
the Monster.
The
laughs were many and frequent. Even when there was a small problem with a door
on the set, this was an opportunity for Ross Noble to address the audience with
a bit of stand-up whilst staying in character as Igor. His remarks immediately
afterwards, about the door, brought the house down.
The
live band, under musical director Andrew Hilton, are out of sight in this
production but never put a foot wrong.
Young
Frankenstein is a marvellous musical. We even debated if it was actually
better than the film on the way home. That debate will continue, however, what
we did agree on, was it was the best musical that we’ve seen this year so far.
…and we don’t say that every day!
Review
by Stephen
Oliver
Tickets:
The pre-West End season
of Young Frankenstein is at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Sat 26 August
until Sat 9 September 2017, playing evenings Tue –
Sat at 7.30pm, matinees on Sat 2.30pm (not 26 Aug) & Thu 7
Sep 2pm. Tickets from £19.50. Tickets
can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls
cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge) or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment