BEVERLY — “Young Frankenstein,” the musical based on the beloved 1974 Mel Brooks/Gene Wilder comedy film, comes alive at North Shore Music Theatre. It’s rude, crude and lewd, just like you’d want and expect it to be. You’re going to laugh your tokhes off.
If the mere mention of Frau Blucher (cue the horses), “What knockers!”/“Oh, thank you doctor” and Ovaltine! send you into hysterics, buy your tickets now.
Brooks’ loving parody of horror flicks is based on the many adaptations of Mary Shelley’s classic novel “Frankenstein.” Young Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Fronkensteen) travels to Transylvania (“Pardon me boys, is this the Transylvania Station?”) and attempts to complete his grandfather’s mission of bringing a corpse to life.
This musical version ups Brooks’ outrageousness quotient. “He Vas My Boyfriend,” sung brilliantly by Sandy Rosenberg, who plays housekeeper Frau Blucher, is uproarious, and Rosenberg milks every line for maximum effect. “Deep Love,” sung by Brittney Morello (who plays Frederick’s uptight fiancee), contains more double-entendres and puns than I’ve ever heard in one song. She nails it. I was seated behind four lovely grandmotherly types whose laughter decibels increased the more vulgar the song became. That, in itself, made me laugh.
It must have been a colossus task staging this for the theater in-the-round, but director Kevin P. Hill, his team and the first-rate cast combine to make this a howling success. There’s a “Putting on the Ritz” dance scene in act 2, where the ensemble wears monster boots that are higher than Lady Gaga’s Alexander Mcqueen ankle breakers, that’ll knock your socks off.
Another eye-popping scene features a horse-drawn (David Visini, Daniel Gold)) hay wagon that transports Dr. Frankenstein (Tommy Labanaris) and voluptuous personal assistant Inga to the castle. The wagon bounces up and down and up and down; shocks wouldn’t help, it’s absolutely priceless.
It’s not fair to compare these performers with Brooks’ dream cast of Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman,Teri Garr and Kenneth Mars, but Hill’s actors more than hold their own (pun intended).
There’s a lot of Wilder in Labanaris’ Dr. Frankenstein. That’s a good thing. It’s a bravura performance. He’s onstage for nearly the entire show, and his energy level is higher than the electrical storm that’ll help bring the Monster to life.
Brooke Lacy’s Inga, the long-legged blonde who gets the good doctor’s blood flowing (to his heart and elsewhere), is superb. She aces her solo song “Listen to Your Heart” and shares great chemistry with Labanaris.
Brad Bradley channels Feldman in his portrayal of Igor (“that’s eye-gore”), all hunched over like Groucho and flashing lascivious looks whenever a lovely lady appears within eyesight. He’s great. “Werewolf” “There wolf!”
Brian Padgett is a hoot as the ginormous Monster. His transformation from “abby normal” brute to song-and-dance man is riotous. He and Morello share special moments whenever they’re together. The show’s funniest scene might be between Padgett and Tom Gleadow, who plays a lonely, blind hermit who attempts to pour “hot boiling soup” into a bowl that the Monster is holding above his lap. Gut-busting slapstick laughs ensued. The show’s second funniest
Multi-tasking Gleadow is also wonderful as Inspector Kemp and the sad sack Mr. Hilltop, who arrives on a stretcher and unwisely volunteered to help Dr. Frankenstein with a science experiment.
“Young Frankenstein” is a monster success.
“Young Frankenstein,” at North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, through Aug. 27. For tickets and information, go to nsmt.org or call 978-232-7200.
