A Sunday morning with young Frankenstein, his monster, his comely assistant Inga, scary housekeeper, Frau Blücher, (complete with horses neighing in fright) and goo-goo-eyed servant with a roving hunch, Igor, tempered with a lot of naughty jokes was just what the doctor ordered to drive away the blues.
And that is precisely what Leila Alvares served with an excellently-produced Young Frankenstein . Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974) is a cult horror comedy about Frederick Frankenstein, who wants to disassociate himself from his infamous ancestor, Victor. He comes to Transylvania after his grandfather passes away to settle the estate but becomes fascinated with Victor’s work and decides to reanimate a corpse with naturally disastrous consequences. Mel Brooks wrote music and lyrics for a musical based on Young Frankenstein which opened on Broadway in November 2008.
Leila directed the musical with great panache for Bengaluru audience. The infectious energy of cast, the excellent costumes, the involved sets and the music all combined to create a wholesome experience. While the actors and dancers were uniformly good, special mention should be made of Shyju Varkey (Dr. Frankenstein), Rahael Roy Thomas (Igor) and Bhumika Anantharaman (Frau Blücher).
Dance directors Alisha D’Souza, Lionel De Nazareth and Akshay Tiwari captured the verve and vitality as well as the precision of extravagantly-choreographed numbers. With live music and singing, the nearly three-hour production called for some serious stamina which the cast proved equal to.
The CAUSE Foundation Production goes to Kochi, Mangalore and Goa before returning to town for another weekend.
