Come celebrate Halloween at The Theatre on King (TTOK) as Ryan Kerr and company recreates the cult classic Young Frankenstein from Thursday, October 25th to Saturday, October 27th.
The entire TTOK crew is on board for this clever production filled with thrills, chills, sex, and laughter.
Based on the classic 1974 comedy written by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks (who also directed), Young Frankenstein is a brilliant parody of the Universal take on Mary Shelley’s classic 19th-century story of a man and his monster.
VIDEO: Young Frankenstein (1974) Movie Trailer
Luke Foster plays Fredrick Frankenstein (or, as he’d rather you pronounce it, “Fronkensteen”), who is living under the shadow of his infamous grandfather Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
When he learns that he has inherited the family estate in Transylvania, Fredrick leaves behind America and his fiancée Elizabeth (Angela Sorensen) for the old country where he quickly befriends Igor (Dan Smith), the grandson and namesake of Victor Frankenstein’s lab assistant, and the beautiful and bubbly Inga (Sarah McNeilly).
Upon discovering a secret passage in the estate to a hidden laboratory, Fredrick decides to continue his grandfather’s experiments to reanimate the dead with Igor and Inga’s help.
After successfully stealing the corpse of an executed criminal (Brad Brackenridge), all that Frankenstein needs is a brain.
However, when Igor mixes up the final task, Young Frankenstein awakens a creature so dire and destructive that it will take a little patience, understanding, music, and love to control.
Despite owning a copy of Young Frankenstein in my DVD collection, I admit I’m not as familiar with the film as much as I am with other classic films of its kind. However, according to my guest at the TTOK preview (who considers Young Frankenstein as one of her favourite films of all time), the company at TTOK do a nearly word-for-word recreation of the original film.
Even as someone not as familiar with the source material as I probably should be, I found TTOK’s production of Young Frankenstein to be quirky and good fun-filled theatre.
What is brilliant about Young Frankenstein is that it is funny by not trying to be funny at all. The humour is created by uncomfortable silences, ridiculous situations, and the beautiful portrayal of weird characters in unlikely situations. The laughs aren’t loud but are extremely effective, and instead of slapstick humour the jokes are subtle and awkward.
Furthermore, the production is extremely minimalistic in nature, which actually adds to the imaginative nature of the show as the cast is forced to create an entire motion picture with the limited resources they have. Finding the ways to bring the film to life on the small stage makes Young Frankenstein a triumph for TTOK.
In the role of Fredrick Frankenstein, Luke Foster creates comedy by rarely trying to be funny. He plays the role completely straight and often dead pan. Instead, his facial expressions and his awkward reactions to everything thrown at him create the majority of the comedy. Luke is the guiding force who leads the cast through the world of Young Frankenstein.
Now I’ve seen Dan Smith in a lot of shows over the years. Everyone knows he’s funny, and he has done literally hundreds of zany characters and voices over his long career on the local stage. But I can honestly say that his performance as Igor could be my favourite thing I have ever seen Dan do. His performance is brilliant.
Somehow Dan is able to create a character who is both subtle and quiet but outrageous and loud. In every scene that he is in, he manages to command the stage and, although he doesn’t have the most lines, when he says something he makes it count. Dan manages to fill the big shoes of Marty Feldman (who played Igor in the Mel Brooks film) in this performance, which I consider his best. Local audiences love Dan Smith, and this is a performance you don’t want to miss.
Brad Breckenridge is the obvious scene stealer as The Monster. Looming over the cast like a reincarnated Tor Johnson, Brad engulfs the stage with his might and girth. Without saying many words, Brad brings an entire stable of emotions to the monster including anger, confusion, wonderment, pathos, joy, playfulness, and mad hot sexual desire. Brad does a lot with the creature, which acts as a wonderful showcase for one of Peterborough’s finest performers.
The familiarity between all of the performers adds a sense of warmth and fun that makes Young Frankenstein so enjoyable to watch, from Sarah McNeilly’s whimsical performance as the lovable Inga to Angela’s sexy performance as Elizabeth (if you have an Elsa Lanchester fetish you are just going to love her).
Young Frankenstein also features TTOK favourites Kate Story as Frau Bulcher and Adam Martignetti as Inspector Kemp, with supporting roles played by Sam Sayer, Chris Jardin, Rob Fortin, and Samuelle Weatherdon (who incidentally gets my pick for the best stage death of 2018).
Beyond the cast, it is some of the little touches that make Young Frankenstein so fun to watch. Once again, Kate Story proves herself to have an incredible eye for costumes in her creations for the cast, and the company makes imaginative use of the stage and platforms to create an entire world despite having no set.
A special shout-out goes to Adam Martignetti for the fantastic soundscape he created for the show, from the standard lightning sounds, to a horse sound effect (part of an ongoing joke), to a ridiculous barking dog that gets more ridiculous as it plays.
I was also absolutely fascinated by the music that is played throughout the show. Talking to Adam after the show, he introduced me to the source of the music, which is something called Mall of 1974. The music used in TTOK’s Young Frankenstein is literally music that was commissioned to be used in shopping centres in the 1970s.
This is an entire genre of music all its own, and it’s fascinating and used so effectively in this show. That’s the great thing about music: the moment you think you’ve heard it all, you discover a hidden sub-group just sitting under your nose.
There’s no shortage of ways to celebrate the Halloween season in the Kawarthas, but I can say that Young Frankenstein is a great way to get yourself in the spirit of the season. Imaginative, inventive, playful, witty, and filled with a superstar cast of all your TTOK favourites, this is a show you’ll want to see.
Make sure to get there early, because I suspect that Young Frankenstein will be a sell out.
Young Frankenstein runs from Thursday, October 25th to Saturday, October 27th at TTOK (171 King St., Peterborough). Tickets are $15 at the door (or pay what you can) and the show begins at 8 p.m.
