That's Frahnk-en-steen

So...we got Broadway tickets (and a babysitter) for our anniversary this year. The tickets were for Young Frankenstein. Being the Mel Brooks fan, I had to see this. I went in with no real expectations. I knew this wouldn't be as funny as The Producers, but it couldn't be worse than Monty Python's Spamalot (which I did still enjoy, just didn't think it was as great as everyone makes it out to be). I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. While I didn't find it as funny as The Producers (though Tash found it funnier), I really enjoyed myself.

If you don't know the plot of the film, its covered pretty well here on Broadway. When his infamous grandfather dies, Frederick Frankenstein (Gary Bart in the Gene Wilder role) returns to Transylvania and gets reluctantly involved in the "family business" of reanimating dead corpses. This leads to many problems with the locals who are tired of the Frankenstein family making their lives a nightmare. Frederick winds up creating a new monster (Shuler Hensley in the Peter Boyle role) that he hopes will be different and also winds up falling in love with his assistant Inga (Sutton Foster in the Terri Garr role), much to the chagrin of his fiance Elizabeth (Megan Mullaly in the Madeline Khan role). The end of the show is somewhat different from the film, but not enough to matter.

Brooks has assembled the same creative team as The Producers and while the show is a lot of fun and technically amazing (there are loads of neat special effects), it doesn't feel as fresh as the previous Brooks musical. Here is a rundown of the show's numbers and my general thoughts on each:

The show starts with a lightning flash and a recreation of the very opening of the film (lightning lighting up the castle...here its on a scrim). And we're told the play takes place in 1934 in Transylvania Heights.

The Happiest Town -- The show starts off with a fun number in which the citizens or Transylvania rejoice that Baron Frankenstein has died...so they're not "The happiest town in town" (a funny lyric that doesn't get much mileage). Inspector Kemp (Fred Applegate in the Kenneth Mars role) arrives to let everyone know that there is still one Frankenstein left, a grandson in New York.

The Brain -- Here we meet Frederick in a scene lifted directly from the film that's still pretty funny on stage. But now they've added a song about how much Frederick loves studying the brain. Gary Bart is definitely not trying to imitate Gene Wilder as he tends to scream lines to punctuate jokes. At first it was a bit ANNOYING, but eventually it woorked to differentiate the two actors nicely.

Please Don't Touch Me -- Instead of being at a train station, Freddie says goodbye to Elizabeth at a boat dock (which makes more sense). With the joke of her not wanting to be touched because she's had her hair done, her nails done, a new dress, etc now turned into a very funny number the problem of Megan Mullally's performance explodes onto the stage. No, she's not trying to recreate Madeline Khan's wonderful performance...but she seems to be channeling Karen from Will & Grace by way of Mathew Broderick in The Producers which is totally wrong for this role (she teeters from being drunk to being spot on to even possible soudning like she forgot a line in one song). We also discover here just how much of the film's sexual innuendo has been transferred over...all of it...and its been amped up to 11 (Elizabeth uses the word "tits" about a few dozen times in a row at one point). Its a funny song that needs a better leader.

Together Again -- As Freddie arrives in Transylvania (by train so we can get the whole "Pardon me boy is this the Transylvania Station" joke), he meets Igor (Christopher Fitzgerald in the Marty Feldman role). This is easily the most memorable original song in the show (which isn't saying much). Igor's film entrance is recreated as best as possible on stage and is enhanced to be even funnier as Freddie moves around in the fog prompting Igor to move around in "surprise" more than he should. Igor tells Freddie how they met in a dream before. And then we get the "walk this way" joke.

Roll In The Hay -- Freddie meets his new assistant Inga (or is it Ula...the role from The Producers now seems much more interchangable with this one than they did on film). Igor takes them for a ride in a hay wagon up to the castle. The effect of making the trip (which involves a stationary cart, two actors dressed like very real horses -- at least at first -- and a movie to make it look like they're moving) are pretty amazing to see. We even get the "where wolf" joke complete with "live" were wolf.

Join The Family Business -- Mel Brooks pretty much lifted "Tevye's Dream" out of Fiddler on the Roof for this one. It involves a neat effect of the castle shaking, a number of ghostly ancestors (and their assistants) and a giant monster puppet. Definitely a memorable highlight of the show (even if I can't remember the tune or lyrics).

He Vas My Boyfriend -- Frau Blucher (horse whinny sound) is played by Andrea Martin. She is easily the best part of the show and this number (which has that Cabaret feel) highlights all of it. The scene also highlights the show's biggest problem. The very memorable music that Frau Blucher (horse whinny sound) plays in the film is COMPLETELY ABSENT from here (did they spend too much money on other things? How memorable is this music? A guy in our row was whistling it during intermission). A BIG letdown in my book.

The Law -- Kemp and the villagers decide to "schnoop" around the castle to see if the new Frankenstein has been up to no good.

Life, Life -- Freddie brings the Monster to life (complete with the charades game involving the sedative and the revelation that Igor got "Abby Normal's" brain instead of Hans Delbruck -- in a scene that's much funnier than the film I might add).

Welcome To Transylvania -- The villagers welcome to good doctor with a song and as the Monster starts to awaken offstage we move into...

Transylvania Mania -- where Igor tries to distract everyone from the Monster's howling. The monster breaks free and the first act ends.

He's Loose -- Everyone is trying to recapture the Monster in the foggy woods at the start of the second act.

Listen To Your Heart -- Inga seduces Freddie. Yawn.

Surprise -- Elizabeth arrives to surprise Freddie (with an entourage that resembles Roger DeBris' from The Producers) but gets a surprise of her own as she finds Inga & Freddie together.

Please Send Me Someone -- Another big highlight of the show as we meet the Hermit (Fred Applegate again this time in the Gene Hackman role -- and the quick transform from Kemp to the Hermit is displayed during the Curtain Call and its pretty amazing). The blind Hermit wants the Lord above to send him "someone"...so of course, you know the Monster's gonna come crashing through the wall at some point (he gets a whole song and thankfully its very funny). The rest of the scene plays out as it does in the film, but being a live show where things can go wrong we got to see a happy accident as the candle went out before he could light his cigar, so Applegate had to change the line "Fire is our friend" to "Fire is our friend -- sometimes" and then milked the mistake for the rest of the scene.

Man About Town -- Freddie tries to calm the Monster after he's been recaptured. Don't remember the word "fuck" being in the film, but it got a laugh here anyway.

Puttin' On The Ritz -- OK...you knew it had to be here and they basically did to this what they did to "Springtime for Hitler" in The Producers in that its been made longer and bigger. Here, it still works but seems a bit like warm leftovers as Igor, Frau Blucher (horse whinny sound), Inga/Ulla and a bunch of tap dancers with monster shoes dance up a storm with Freddie and the Monster.

Deep Love -- After escaping from the theater and taking Elizabeth with him, the Monster satisfies a need and Elizabeth sings the biggest double entendre song EVER...heck its really just single entendres all over the place...in spite of Mullally's bizarre performance, its a funny song and rather memorable...

Frederick's Soliloquy -- Freddie does the brain transference as the mob breaks in. They take him to the square to hang him...and they do...

Deep Love (Reprise) -- But the Monster arrives just as it happens and is able to revive him and sing of his love for Elizabeth since he now "talks like Noel Coward" (as Kemp says).

Finale Ultimo -- We get a happy ending that no one will remember the words or tune to.

All in all, the show has many faults (they got every joke and bit from the film up there except the Monster meeting the little girl...and the missing theme music is unforgivable), but it is a lot of fun in spite of Megan Mullally's weird performance. Of course, knowing that Kristen Chenowith was the first choice makes Mullally all the more hard to take. Chenowith would have done Madeline Kahn proud.

Its definitely not The Producers which lent itself to the musical genre very easily since it was a story about a Broadway musical. This show is based on a movie that was a love letter/homage to a genre & time of filmmaking that was long ago. Not quite as easily adaptable. Brooks does a decent job by throwing every joke he can at the wall and seeing what sticks (a lot like his later movies). Its funny but feels tired and old at the same time.

While I did enjoy the show, I really hope the threat that "Next year Blazing Saddles" is just a threat and not a promise.


Be seeing you.

A Trio of Movie Reviews

Hey folks,

I know its been over a month. Sorry for that. We're in a bit of transition here at the house...mostly due to expecting a second child sometime in late May/early June. There have been a few other things as well, but I'll get to them in due time.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving in the meantime. We had a nice small one (the three of us, my parents and my Uncle). Grilled the turkey on the Komodo Kamado Ceramic Grill we bought at the beginning of the summer. Yum! With the rest of the menu, I think we've found one that can work with minor alterations in subsequent years.

Anyway...we had the opportunity to see Across The Universe a few weeks ago in the theaters. Good movie, not great. I was expecting to either love it or hate it...but I just liked it. Thought it was audacious of Julie Taymor to even tackle something that could remotely resemble Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Fortunately, it didn't fall into the "so bad, its good" category. If you like musicals or Beatles tunes or even off-beat filmmaking, you should catch this film at some point.

Meet the Robinsons from Disney is a funny, cute and touching story about an orphan who is looking for his place in the world. Louis is something of a child prodigy who likes to invent things and one day at his school's science fair, he is approached by another boy claiming he needs to stop the man in the Bowler Hat and that he's from the future. To say any more would ruin the twists and turns this film does have. Let's just say a good chunk of it will have you saying "they must have rewatched Back to the Future one too many times while high". Not your "typical" Disney animated feature (do they even still make those anymore?), but a lot of fun regardless.

Ratatouille is Pixar's new entry for the year (although we could just say its Disney's second entry for the year and be done with it). The film concerns a rat named Remy who is a bit of a gourmand. When Remy gets separated from his family he winds up teaming up with a dorky young kid and helps him become the next "Iron Chef" (just kidding, but you get the point). Funny and charming, this is pretty much what you'd expect from a Pixar film at this point (just remove Randy Newman from the equation). Definitely worth seeing.

Two minor complaints about both films being released on DVD. It seems that Disney has abandoned their old philosophy of releasing both a standard single disc DVD and a Two Disc Special Edition set at the same time. Now while I don't expect Meet the Robinsons will ever get a special edition beyond the few extras on this current release, the BluRay release of Ratatouille (and Cars) has me thinking that there will be something later. The BluRay versions have many more extras than the standard DVDs. If this is a ploy to get people to jump to the HD format, I don't see it working. The only thing that will make anyone jump to either HD disc format is to end the fucking format war. HD-DVD (a stupid mouthful that should have been called HDVD or something else entirely) and BluRay are quickly consigning themselves to a niche smaller than LaserDisc before we are forced to buy/rent downloads by the studios (which gives them more control and us a lot less...if Amazon's Kindle gets popular for books in any meaningful way, you can pretty much kiss the concept of consumer "ownership" goodbye).

Anyway...that's all for now. Hope to be back sooner rather than later. I've got some pointed comments of the two current entertainment strikes going on that I'll eventually post and since the new Futurama movie hits this week, I'm sure I'll want to yak about that.

Be seeing you.