Brian's NYC

The trend in Broadway musical theater is to make things as big, flashy, and expensive as you can. That’s the ugly, commercial side of theater, but it completely adds to the magic and success of the theater (thank you, Disney).

There’s this little show called Young Frankenstein. Oops, did I say LITTLE show? I meant to say crazy huge musical. First of all, it’s playing at the Hilton Theater, formerly the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, a gandiose theater whose lobby consists of marble columns, domes, and curving staircases. Hugely successful shows have played here, such as Ragtime and the revival of 42nd Street. The lobby of this theater is exsquisite. Now, they have an entire STORE dedicated to merchandise, not just dinky booths at other theaters (like Wicked, ahem). There is a VIP lounge underneath the lobby with drinks and a spacious area to relax before the show and during intermission, for those who are willing to shell out the dough. Then again, the price of the premium seats indicates that there are plenty able and willing to shell out the dough…think about paying $450 PER TICKET! That’s not only the most expensive ticket for the show, but also the most expensive ticket in Broadway history. Not enough? Well, with an estimated $20 million budget, it surpasses Wicked as the most expensive show in Broadway history by close to $6 million!

With all of this hype, expensive materials, and stigma against commericial theater, the show has been the talk of the town. I saw this show recently (don’t worry, I got comps!!!), and was blown away by the process of going to the theater to see this show. It seems like so much more of an experience, which I suppose is a positive thing considering how much it’s costing people to see the show.

I have to say, I didn’t like the show as much as I thought I would. The star power is huge for the show, and they do deliver. Roger Bart carries the show on his back as Dr. Frankenstein, Megan Mullaly steals the show with her musical numbers, Sutton Foster looks great as a blonde (and even though her performance wasn’t full out when I saw it because of an ankle injury, she still has the stage presence to sell it to the back of the house), Andrea Martin has perfect comedic timing, Shuler Hensley steals Act 2 as The Monster, and if Christopher Fitzgerald doesn’t win a Tony Award for his performance as Igor, something’s majorly wrong in the world. The Direction and Choreography is innovative and effective thanks to Susan Stroman, a genius in her own right. The sets were flawless…you could see every cent of the budget, and it paid off. Some numbers were extremely memorable, such as Foster’s “Roll in the Hay” and the second act showstopper “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” The use of strobe light and innovative choreography sticks in my mind as one of the standout numbers of the new season (although I have yet to see some of the new releases this season).

Hmm, that’s a lot of praise for a musical that I just said I didn’t like. Allow me to explain…
While some of the production’s money was well spent, I feel like a lot of it was just too-flashy. Take the Act 1 finale, where they bring the monster to life. The sparks and flashing lights were so overkill my eyes involuntarily shut from all of the brightness being exuded from the stage. There were moments when the entire expereince just seemed too contrived, too over the top, like they were expecting to deliver a huge product that missed the mark by a few dozen feet. On top of it all, we are frequently reminded that this is a remake of a film where most of the jokes are still intact. Mel Brooks hit it big with The Producers, but unless you are a fan of his comedy (of which I am not the biggest), YF misses the mark. I felt like any jokes I laughed out loud at were because of the actor’s ability to deliver the comedy, not because of the writing.
In the end, while YF has some redeeming qualities, it does not have the staying power of Brooks’ predecessor. It is not innovative and revolutionary enough to be as successful and stick around. What it gains in its development of commercial musical theater, it falters when it comes to providing staying power. Its appeal is completely superficial; it relies on its performers and flashy special effects to wow a crowd that, judging from the audience at the performance I saw, were split on being wowed.