Over winter break in Chicago’s Mercury Theater, Young Frankenstein (that’s pronounced frahnkenSTEEN) came to life. The comedic spoof was a masterpiece, with audience members laughing through every song.
To start with, the theater itself was about a quarter of the size of Plainfield Central’s auditorium, thus there were no bad seats. Not only that, all of the seats were affordable. One could be very close to the stage; they will most likely never be so close again. The sets were beautiful thanks to Frank Roberts, who provided many set pieces to the theater before his passing.
The musicians deserve applause, especially Eugene Dizon. Dizon played the first keyboard part and conducted at the same time. Lead actor Sean Fortunato, playing Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, was also an amazing musician; his voice was on par with the original album. Mary Robin Roth, playing Frau Blucher, also deserves mention for her ability to act and play her violin at the same time, along with how she made the audience laugh during her amazing performance of the song He Vas My Boyfriend.
Of course, there is also the often ignored crew. There were two people responsible for directing staged fight scenes: Alison Dornheggen and Jonah D. Winston. The performance wouldn’t have been nearly as good without the scenes they were responsible for. Special thanks also goes to the makeup department; it can’t be easy painting an actor green for every performance.
On the subject of a green actor, Andrew Macnaughton, who played The Monster, was devoted to his role. He was incredible. However, most of the credit should go to the writers. Even the smallest jokes had people roaring with laughter, such as Igor the hunchback’s line, “What hump?” (referring to the hump on his back that switches sides throughout the performance) and Inga’s song about a roll in the hay. The entire character of Inga was one of the best parts of this. She was clearly added to make fun of something movie writers do far too often: add a female character just to have someone attractive.
This was by far the funniest show I’ve ever seen. I would see it a dozen more times if I could, and I doubt I’d be sick of it. Anyone who enjoys comedy will love this. Five stars.
