"It's alive...!!!" -- Not only a gleeful Scott Page reprising his 2016 role as Frankenstein's "Monster", but the entire Wetumpka Depot Theatre's cast, creative team, and a full house opening night audience created a wonderfully madcap rendering of the Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan musical version of the 1974 hit comedy/horror film, Young Frankenstein.
Unsurprisingly, several Young Frankenstein aficionados in the audience anticipated familiar lines of dialogue ["Walk this way." "What knockers!" "Would you like a roll in the hay?" "I was going to make espresso." among them], and horses whinnying at every mention of the name "Frau Blucher", thus adding to the laugh-out-loud moments that punctuated director Kristy Meanor's infectious production.
Her seventeen ensemble cast members delivered Brooks's irreverent tongue-in-cheek dialogue and over-the-top characters with utter abandon, a tribute to this dynamic fast-paced parody of the classic 1930s films centered on a brilliant mad scientist and the monster he created and of Mary Shelley's 19th Century debut novel on which they were based.
Yes, there might just be "something in this play that will offend everyone" [adult themes, salty language, sexual innuendo abound], but it is done with such charm and unabashed delight, that all can be forgiven. -- In fact, satire challenges us to recognize and then laugh at our own flaws, a good lesson for everyone.
While actors receive immediate gratification from applause, cheers, and laughter -- well-deserved in this production -- the creative team deserve recognition for their invaluable collective and individual efforts contributing to the show's success. [And, by the way, many in the audience praised them during the intermission and after the final applause died down.] -- Charles Eddie Moncrief's and Derek Sullivan Craft's complex moveable sets defined an assortment of locations that were seamlessly manipulated by the cast and crew; Tony Davison's musical direction was precise [though actors' voices sometimes were overwhelmed by the sound-track or audience laughter]; Thomas Rodman's lighting added various atmospheres; Ryan Sozzi's costumes were brilliantly conceived and rendered, helping to define characters [did he also create the sometimes outlandishly witty wigs?]; and Daniel Grant Harms once again created clever, expressive, and energetic choreography throughout --- WOW! all around.
For all our familiarity with Brooks's film, it's a credit to Ms. Meanor and her acting cohort that they retain the essential framework of their individual characters' conduct and appearance without directly mimicking their movie-actor counterparts. Each principal role was an accomplished physical and vocal rendering; they told their individual stories and were generous to their scene partners.
Take your pick for a favorite: Eric Arvidson as the bewildered blind Hermit, and a couple of other burlesque turns; Kaylee Baker's not-so-innocent insouciant laboratory assistant Inga; Paiton Lami-Doyle's enigmatic housekeeper Frau Blucher; Kim Mason's reprisal from 2016 as Dr. Frankenstein's fiancée, the brassy-tease Elizabeth; Nick Swartz as a Teutonic one-eyed cop; Nick Warman as the hunchbacked servant Igor [or is it "Eye-gore"?]; Scott Page is terrific as a creature made from the corpse of a recently hanged criminal and given an "abbey-normal" brain; David Rowland [he played Igor in 2016]: absolutely brilliant as the grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein who comes to Transylvania to settle the family estate and gets caught up in fulfilling his mad-scientist ancestor's experiments in reanimating the dead.
And they all seem to be having a great time on stage. It's infectious. And a lot of fun.
