Everybody Loves To Get A Surprise!
Young Frankenstein - Oper Halle, 18th May, 2013
It was a rather spontaneous idea to go as some other plans fell through (blame George Clooney! Yes, him as then shooting his latest movie in the Harz mountains and me not wanting to go to the area intended to go to as it was the area where the movie crew was just that weekend).
Anyway, the musical is based on Mel Brooks' 1974 movie "Young Frankenstein" which was on in New York in 2007 - 2009 with the musical largely making headlines not for the musical itself (reviews were mixed) but for its ticket price system with some premium tickets costing up to $450.
It ran till beginning of 2009, a decent run with nearly 500 performances, but is secretly called a flop even if you read the off post saying it was a hit (as it never released its grosses).
It went on a US tour after but there haven't been any further productions but one, two (?) since the Broadway.
So that the theatre in Halle announced this show as part of their 2012/13 season as the first production of this show in German was surprising, though the theatre seems to focus on bringing new shows to Germany these days.
Cast:
Doctor Frederick Frankenstein - Björn Christian Kuhn
The Monster - Thomas Weissengruber
Igor - Ásgeir Páll Ágústsson
Inga - Julia Klotz (alternating with Bettina Mönch)
Elizabeth Benning - Anna Thorén
Frau Blücher - Gabriele Bernsdorf
Ziggy - Andreas Guhlmann
Hermit / Doctor Victor von Frankenstein - Olaf Schöder
Inspector Hans Kemp - Sebastian Römer
I must say I saw the movie, but I cannot remember it too well, so I suppose it didn't leave the greatest impression, so seeing the musical was a bit re-discovering the storyline which tells of Victor von Frankenstein's grandson Frederick who, after his grandfather's death, inherits the castle including its laboratory and its staff.
Frederick is the Dean of Anatomy at NY's best university, ashamed of his family so insists that he surname is pronounced "Fronkensteen", is forced to to travel to Transylvania leaving his flamboyant fiancée Elizabeth Benning behind.
Arriving in Transylvania he meets the hunchback Igor (who insists it is pronounced Eye-gor) and Inga, a yodelling laboratory assistant, both wanting Frederick to continue his grandfather's work.
Reaching the castle and being "welcomed" by the mysterious housekeeper Frau Blücher, a dream about his grandfather and other ancestors and reading his grandfather's notes he decides to carry on the experiments in the reanimation of the dead creating the monster who escapes at the end of act 1.
Act 2 starts with the search of the monster. Frederick, who is clearly frustrated when failing to find him, is comforted by Inga and they get very close - just when Elizabeth arrives unexpectedly.
Meanwhile the monster bumps into the blind hermit, causes same rampage and runs away again - into Igor & co bringing him back to the castle. Frederick locks himself into a room with the monster and eventually manages to win him over.
Some days (?) later the monster is presented to the town people as a ritzy gentleman (performing with Frederick the most known number from the movie, well the one I remember, dancing to Irving Berlin's "Putting On The Ritz"), but when some stage lights explode, he freaks out and runs away once again but not without kidnapping Elizabeth who he brings to a cave and rapes her. She though, despite what the monster did to her, sees a different side of him and forgives him - and realising what she had been missing in life till then.
The monster is lured back in to the castle where Frederick attempts an intelligence transfer but it seems to fail. The town people arrive with the inspector Kemp who all think the monster killed Elizabeth.
Due to some law Frederick is the one guilty for all this, so the town people hang him after he finally accepted his family name.
Then out of the blue the monster awakes but he can speak properly and has Frederick's medical skills with which he notes that Frederick is not really dead but just unconscious, so the town people wanted to hang im again when just in time Elizabeth appears and Frederick can be rescued.
The monster and Elizabeth declare their love for each other, Frederick (who decides to stay in Transylvania and continue the family business declining the suddenly appearing Count Dracula's offer of buying the castle) and Inga end up together properly as well and even Frau Blücher has a "blind" date - with the hermit. All's well that ends well.
The story is filled, and that is the issue with this show for me, with Mel Brooks' sense of humour. You like that kind of humour, his movies etc., you will most probably like the show. You do not like it and cannot stand his movies this show is most probably not yours.
The musical's book, the music and the lyrics are all by Mr Brooks (Thomas Meehan is also credited with the book), so the stage show is not a much different turn on the story, but pretty much tries to recreate the movie onstage (as much as I can remember it and reading reviews online that's how it is).
There is nothing wrong with it, as other shows did exactly that too - it is just a question of how it is done to make a show work or not.
For me personally, while not a fan of Mel Brooks, the show is entertaining to a certain degree.
It has its funny moments, though sometimes it just gets too much, there are just so much antique vaudeville-style humour I can take in a nearly three hours show (the movie is 105 mins long, so even with interval there is a need for extra material or fillers) and it seemed they worked sometimes way too hard to make this comedy work - not the production, but the book already with the overload and overblown amount of punch lines, gags, jokes etc. that make e.g. an adolescent giggle when visiting an adult novelty shop for the first time but for me it is eventually just an overkill of stuff I have seen dozen times before and what makes it even worse is that pretty every gag is milked as much as possible so that a simple joke turns into a dragging prank. Ouch. So that the actual production and its director Ralf Rossa (who also choreographed) can just do so much on making it work on-stage.
The rest of the show and the production though make up for it as the score.
Some people did not rate it highly but for me it is a tuneful tribute to some of the musical periods I like most making my feet tapping along to the melodies. Yes, nothing sounds really new but it does not mean it sounds stale or dull - and honestly I prefer decently copied than badly created. The score was also wonderfully and energetically performed by the orchestra and conducted by Robbert van Steijn feeling fresh and lusty - especially the one song not written by Mel Brooks' "Puttin' On The Ritz" shows the quality of the orchestra and is certainly one of the exhilarating highlights of the evening.
As mentioned already direction is satisfying with besides the weak book the show flowing well, not making the mistakes some other repertory theatre regularly seem to do with trying to re-invent the wheel, there are some cleverly staged scenes as when Inga and Frederick try to find out where the sound of a violin comes from and the musical numbers well choreographed with not taking away the focus from the protagonists and turning it into a ballet show putting the ballet dancers into too much focus, with the support of a of highly efficient and well designed set (by Matthias Hönig) to allow that.
Also the costumes, wigs, etc have been well-thought-out and match the period the piece is based in.
Anna Thoren, whom I had never been a fan of before in any show seen her in, her accent (yes, one of my absolute pet hate in theatre if you haven't figured out yet) being my main issue and I usually found her play rather bland, but here she is definitely a most positive surprise being so entertainingly and hysterically eccentric-vulgar showing for once how much talent she really has - maybe in the past I just saw her in for her wrong parts.
Julia Klotz, for me one of the most talented performers we have in Germany these days, is an enjoyably splendiferous Inga. Her partly yodelled "Roll In The Hay" had me in stitches being so fetching and hilarious.
I cannot tell how often I have seen Thomas Weissengruber as Koukul in "Tanz Der Vampire", and occasionally his play as the monster reminds me of how he used to play Koukol and he needs to drop the Austrian accent when speaking (there, I found someone in this production "showing off" my pet hate ;-) ) but he was a terrific delight especially during the hermit and the "Puttin' On The Ritz" numbers
Gabriele Bernsdorf as Frau Blücher from the in-house ensemble is an eerie housekeeper adding her comic talent to the part and making it her own being so artfully exaggerating showing that casting from the own ensemble can work IF you cast the right person with the right part.
And it did not stop there as also Ásgeir Páll Ágústsson from the own ensemble as the hunchback slightly demented Igor leaves a great impression being full of relish and sappy play often stealing the show.
Björn Christian Kuhn as the earnest Frederick von Frankenstein is not the mad scientist I had expected and others may have wanted to see but for me he did a lovely job. I was actually pleased that with so much mayhem around him there was one more serious part on stage to keep a balance creating a continuous character being goofy and smart at the same time - and I actually do not see the part as a mad one - after all Frederick always looks at it scientifically and most seriously.
Rounding off the principal cast Olaf Schöder as the hermit and Sebastian Römer as inspector Kemp delivering persuasive and congenial portrayals. The rest of the ensemble shows the high quality of the house ensemble and the choir .
Well, overall am torn with this show. The production is definitely well made with an excellent cast and just for that worth seeing but in the long run the weak book is a reason for me to see this show just once and is not a must see.
For a trailer and some picture click >>here
Anyway, the musical is based on Mel Brooks' 1974 movie "Young Frankenstein" which was on in New York in 2007 - 2009 with the musical largely making headlines not for the musical itself (reviews were mixed) but for its ticket price system with some premium tickets costing up to $450.
It ran till beginning of 2009, a decent run with nearly 500 performances, but is secretly called a flop even if you read the off post saying it was a hit (as it never released its grosses).
It went on a US tour after but there haven't been any further productions but one, two (?) since the Broadway.
So that the theatre in Halle announced this show as part of their 2012/13 season as the first production of this show in German was surprising, though the theatre seems to focus on bringing new shows to Germany these days.
Cast:
Doctor Frederick Frankenstein - Björn Christian Kuhn
The Monster - Thomas Weissengruber
Igor - Ásgeir Páll Ágústsson
Inga - Julia Klotz (alternating with Bettina Mönch)
Elizabeth Benning - Anna Thorén
Frau Blücher - Gabriele Bernsdorf
Ziggy - Andreas Guhlmann
Hermit / Doctor Victor von Frankenstein - Olaf Schöder
Inspector Hans Kemp - Sebastian Römer
I must say I saw the movie, but I cannot remember it too well, so I suppose it didn't leave the greatest impression, so seeing the musical was a bit re-discovering the storyline which tells of Victor von Frankenstein's grandson Frederick who, after his grandfather's death, inherits the castle including its laboratory and its staff.
Frederick is the Dean of Anatomy at NY's best university, ashamed of his family so insists that he surname is pronounced "Fronkensteen", is forced to to travel to Transylvania leaving his flamboyant fiancée Elizabeth Benning behind.
Arriving in Transylvania he meets the hunchback Igor (who insists it is pronounced Eye-gor) and Inga, a yodelling laboratory assistant, both wanting Frederick to continue his grandfather's work.
Reaching the castle and being "welcomed" by the mysterious housekeeper Frau Blücher, a dream about his grandfather and other ancestors and reading his grandfather's notes he decides to carry on the experiments in the reanimation of the dead creating the monster who escapes at the end of act 1.
Act 2 starts with the search of the monster. Frederick, who is clearly frustrated when failing to find him, is comforted by Inga and they get very close - just when Elizabeth arrives unexpectedly.
Meanwhile the monster bumps into the blind hermit, causes same rampage and runs away again - into Igor & co bringing him back to the castle. Frederick locks himself into a room with the monster and eventually manages to win him over.
Some days (?) later the monster is presented to the town people as a ritzy gentleman (performing with Frederick the most known number from the movie, well the one I remember, dancing to Irving Berlin's "Putting On The Ritz"), but when some stage lights explode, he freaks out and runs away once again but not without kidnapping Elizabeth who he brings to a cave and rapes her. She though, despite what the monster did to her, sees a different side of him and forgives him - and realising what she had been missing in life till then.
The monster is lured back in to the castle where Frederick attempts an intelligence transfer but it seems to fail. The town people arrive with the inspector Kemp who all think the monster killed Elizabeth.
Due to some law Frederick is the one guilty for all this, so the town people hang him after he finally accepted his family name.
Then out of the blue the monster awakes but he can speak properly and has Frederick's medical skills with which he notes that Frederick is not really dead but just unconscious, so the town people wanted to hang im again when just in time Elizabeth appears and Frederick can be rescued.
The monster and Elizabeth declare their love for each other, Frederick (who decides to stay in Transylvania and continue the family business declining the suddenly appearing Count Dracula's offer of buying the castle) and Inga end up together properly as well and even Frau Blücher has a "blind" date - with the hermit. All's well that ends well.
The story is filled, and that is the issue with this show for me, with Mel Brooks' sense of humour. You like that kind of humour, his movies etc., you will most probably like the show. You do not like it and cannot stand his movies this show is most probably not yours.
The musical's book, the music and the lyrics are all by Mr Brooks (Thomas Meehan is also credited with the book), so the stage show is not a much different turn on the story, but pretty much tries to recreate the movie onstage (as much as I can remember it and reading reviews online that's how it is).
There is nothing wrong with it, as other shows did exactly that too - it is just a question of how it is done to make a show work or not.
For me personally, while not a fan of Mel Brooks, the show is entertaining to a certain degree.
It has its funny moments, though sometimes it just gets too much, there are just so much antique vaudeville-style humour I can take in a nearly three hours show (the movie is 105 mins long, so even with interval there is a need for extra material or fillers) and it seemed they worked sometimes way too hard to make this comedy work - not the production, but the book already with the overload and overblown amount of punch lines, gags, jokes etc. that make e.g. an adolescent giggle when visiting an adult novelty shop for the first time but for me it is eventually just an overkill of stuff I have seen dozen times before and what makes it even worse is that pretty every gag is milked as much as possible so that a simple joke turns into a dragging prank. Ouch. So that the actual production and its director Ralf Rossa (who also choreographed) can just do so much on making it work on-stage.
The rest of the show and the production though make up for it as the score.
Some people did not rate it highly but for me it is a tuneful tribute to some of the musical periods I like most making my feet tapping along to the melodies. Yes, nothing sounds really new but it does not mean it sounds stale or dull - and honestly I prefer decently copied than badly created. The score was also wonderfully and energetically performed by the orchestra and conducted by Robbert van Steijn feeling fresh and lusty - especially the one song not written by Mel Brooks' "Puttin' On The Ritz" shows the quality of the orchestra and is certainly one of the exhilarating highlights of the evening.
As mentioned already direction is satisfying with besides the weak book the show flowing well, not making the mistakes some other repertory theatre regularly seem to do with trying to re-invent the wheel, there are some cleverly staged scenes as when Inga and Frederick try to find out where the sound of a violin comes from and the musical numbers well choreographed with not taking away the focus from the protagonists and turning it into a ballet show putting the ballet dancers into too much focus, with the support of a of highly efficient and well designed set (by Matthias Hönig) to allow that.
Also the costumes, wigs, etc have been well-thought-out and match the period the piece is based in.
Anna Thoren, whom I had never been a fan of before in any show seen her in, her accent (yes, one of my absolute pet hate in theatre if you haven't figured out yet) being my main issue and I usually found her play rather bland, but here she is definitely a most positive surprise being so entertainingly and hysterically eccentric-vulgar showing for once how much talent she really has - maybe in the past I just saw her in for her wrong parts.
Julia Klotz, for me one of the most talented performers we have in Germany these days, is an enjoyably splendiferous Inga. Her partly yodelled "Roll In The Hay" had me in stitches being so fetching and hilarious.
I cannot tell how often I have seen Thomas Weissengruber as Koukul in "Tanz Der Vampire", and occasionally his play as the monster reminds me of how he used to play Koukol and he needs to drop the Austrian accent when speaking (there, I found someone in this production "showing off" my pet hate ;-) ) but he was a terrific delight especially during the hermit and the "Puttin' On The Ritz" numbers
Gabriele Bernsdorf as Frau Blücher from the in-house ensemble is an eerie housekeeper adding her comic talent to the part and making it her own being so artfully exaggerating showing that casting from the own ensemble can work IF you cast the right person with the right part.
And it did not stop there as also Ásgeir Páll Ágústsson from the own ensemble as the hunchback slightly demented Igor leaves a great impression being full of relish and sappy play often stealing the show.
Björn Christian Kuhn as the earnest Frederick von Frankenstein is not the mad scientist I had expected and others may have wanted to see but for me he did a lovely job. I was actually pleased that with so much mayhem around him there was one more serious part on stage to keep a balance creating a continuous character being goofy and smart at the same time - and I actually do not see the part as a mad one - after all Frederick always looks at it scientifically and most seriously.
Rounding off the principal cast Olaf Schöder as the hermit and Sebastian Römer as inspector Kemp delivering persuasive and congenial portrayals. The rest of the ensemble shows the high quality of the house ensemble and the choir .
Well, overall am torn with this show. The production is definitely well made with an excellent cast and just for that worth seeing but in the long run the weak book is a reason for me to see this show just once and is not a must see.
For a trailer and some picture click >>here
