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Regional Reviews: San Francisco Young Frankenstein, The Fantasticks and
Young Frankenstein is a two-hour 40-minute glitzy musical that has the hilarious Young Frankenstein looks like a '50s musical, with long-limbed babes, corny zingers that are still fun, vaudeville shtick, double entendres, eye-popping stagecraft, energetic dancing and peppy songs. Despite the unmemorable music, clever vaudeville numbers like "Together Again" are done delightfully by Roger Bart as Frederick Frankenstein and an uproarious Igor played by Cory English, with the piece de resistance being the Monster (Shuler Hensley) doing "Putting on the Ritz" with the cast coming out in monster footwear and top hats and tails doing a 1930s-style production number. Young Frankenstein is not as zany as Brooks' The Producers but there are many joke-driven scenes. Joanna Glushak wows the audience with "He Vas My Boyfriend" and walks around the stage looking like Mrs. Danvers with a weird accent. Anna Horak as Inga belts out "Roll in the Hay," and "The Transylvania Mania" that ends the first act reminds me of "The Spanish Panic" from Once Upon a Mattress. Roger Bart, who originated Dr. Frankenstein on Broadway, has the role down cold. It looks as if he is really enjoying the role and sometimes it seems he is wonderfully ad libbing some of the zingers. He alone is worth the price of admission. Shuler Hensley, who also originated his role on Broadway, is perfect as the Monster. When he screams "Putting on the Ritz," it brings the house down. The encounter between him and the Blind Hermit, played hysterically by Brad Oscar, is one of the funnier moments of the show. As Frederick's fussy fiancée Elizabeth, Beth Curry has a mellifluous voice that shines in the song "Deep Love" after her roll in the hay with the monster. Cory English has perfect timing and is a real hoot as Igor, pronounced "Eye-gor". He cracks me up with his one-liners and weird English accent. On a local note, Matthew Brandon Hutchins, who was a staple at 42nd Street Moon musicals, gives a good account of himself in the dance numbers. He is also the understudy for Dr. Frankenstein. Choreography by Susan Stroman is full of life, especially in the "Transylvania Mania" number. Staging is excellent, especially the grand special effect of the making of the monster in the eerie lab, crackling with lightning and a huge tower of lights that glow with even greater power as the monster comes to life. Young Frankenstein is not an intellectually motivating or imaginatively groundbreaking musical, but it is a good old-fashioned, tuneful, high-burlesque revue that should draw people who are looking for a good-time, entertaining musical. Young Frankenstein runs through July 25 at the Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 415-512-7770. Coming up next from Best of Broadway is Disney's Beauty and the Beast, opening the Golden Gate Theatre on August 17 and running through August 19th. Dreamgirls also opens at the Curran Theatre on August 24 and runs through September 26. Photo: Paul Kolnik
Over the years The Fantasticks has been seen in 67 countries and translated into many languages, including Mandarin and Arabic. There was a film made by Michael Ritchie in 1995 with Joel Grey and Barnard Hughes playing the parents. The film was not released until 2000 for many legal reasons. The Fantasticks is a simple story based on Edmond Rostand's play Les Romanesques, and the tuneful lyrics and music by Tom Jones and Harvey Smith require only a piano to reveal their restrained blend of straightforwardness and cleverness. The musical is performed almost as a commedia dell'arte as a play within a play by the actors. The most popular song is the well-known "Try to Remember" that has been sung by every singer in cabaret and recordings. The first act features young couple Matt (Jeremy Kahn) and Luisa (Sepideh Moafi) who are deliriously in love, but they are separated by a wall (Norman Munoz). The kids are next-door neighbors and these scenes remind me of the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, Luisa's mother Bellomy (Joan Mankin) and Matt's father Hucklebee (Louis Parnell) have a nefarious plan to unite these two love birds. All is sweetness and light as the two lovers become one. In the second act, disillusions set into the plot. El Gallo (Tarek Khan), the Old Actor Henry (Ray Reinhardt) and his accomplice Mortimer (Yusef Lambert) destroy the rapture of the first act as the two young lovebirds find out that love occurs in the real world only when you can see each other's shortcomings. Director Bill English has assembled an excellent cast of singers and actors for this production. When you enter the intimate theatre you see an amazing set. There has been an environmental disaster. The stage has broken arches, boulders and debris thrown about the stage. Out onto the stage come the actors dressed in outlandish costumes that might have been picked up in salvage bins. Tarek Khan introduces the characters and, with his powerful voice, breaks into "Try to Remember." Khan (42nd Street Moon include By Jupiter, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) is suave in his portrayal of the Narrator and El Gallo. He has a strong voice and presence in this appealing tale of fantasy and real love. Sepideh Moafi (As You Like it at San Jose Rep) is enticing playing the lovely and naïve Luisa. She has a honeyed voice in her numbers. Jeremy Kahn (Kimberly Akimbo at SF Playhouse and recent graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University) has a marvelous, wistful idealism in his acting. He has excellent vocal chops also. Louis Parnell (Art, Coronado, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Cabaret—BATCC award in 2008) as Hucklebee and Joan Mankin (Dead Man's Cell Phone, Mrs. Bob Crachit's Wild Christmas Binge) as Bellomy are uniquely fetching as the parents. They are captivating when they divulge their engaging song and dance routine in "Plant a Radish" about how much more gratifying it is to plant vegetables than to raise children. Choreography by Barbara Bernardo is pleasurable. Ray Reinhardt (many esteemed roles in Bay Area and on Broadway A Flea in Her Ear and Tiny Alice) is brilliant as Henry the over-the-top Shakespearean actor with a shaky memory of the Bard's words. He reminds me of Sir Donald Moffitt during his later years. Norman Munoz is marvelously unrestrained as The Mute. He is one of the most athletic actors I have seen this year, jumping and climbing about the stage to help the action along. Rounding out the cast is Yusef Lambert (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), who is very good in the smaller role of Mortimer. Robert Moreno is perfect on the piano while Nina Ball's set and costumes are excellent. Director Bill English makes magic of this enchanting musical. His direction is smooth. The Fantasticks will please fans of the original setting and anyone in the mood for a winsome love story. The Fantasticks, or as director Bill English calls it, Love Among the Ruins, plays through September 4th at the SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 415-677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org. There next production will be Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited opening on October 2nd. Photo: Jessica Palopoli
Alan Ayckbourn's plays are wildly popular in the U.K. and he is one of the most frequently produced modern playwrights in that country. He has been considered "the English Neil Simon" or "the Moliere of the middle class" by London critics. Unfortunately, his plays are not highly successful here in this country. The "Americanized" version of this play, starring Phil Silvers, Tom Aldredge, Sandy Dennis and Richard Mulligan, was not a big success in 1971 in New York, playing only 104 performances. American actors usually cannot get the droll timing or the real British style of his comedies. One of the major problems is that some actors tend to overact or hit you in the face with their acting. Ayckbourn really needs actors who are schooled in presenting farce. That said, the Neil Simon plays don't go over well in the U.K. because British actors can't get the rhythm of the American playwright. Off Broadway West director Richard Harder decided to put back the British accents in this production, which is presented on a very small bandbox stage housing a singular living room and dining room set. The six actors occupy the same space without knowledge of each, which is a difficult thing to do since larger companies use the proscenium stage. It helps to establish this in the first scenes so as not to confuse the audience. Richard Harder has managed to convey the separation of the couples well. How the Other Half Loves is about three couples linked by a two-timing affair. It takes place on two separate nights. The couples are divided by class, from upper to middle class duos. Fiona Foster (Sylvia Kratins) is having an affair with Bob Phillips (James Darbyshire), who is a smug lower-class subordinate in Fiona's husband Frank Foster's (Jeff Garrett) company. Bob's wife Teresa (Corinne Proctor) has an idea something is going on, but Frank, one of the most dim-witted characters I have seen, has no idea that his wife is having an affair. You just might call him a "twit." Entering the picture is the third couple, the Featherstones, who have absolutely no idea what is going on but are somehow inadvertently involved in this crazy situation. During a sparkling dinner that takes place on two separate nights, one at the Fosters' and the next night at the Phillips', chaos breaks out. Director Richard Harder has assembled an effective cast of players in this two-and-a-half-hour comedy. He should be applauded for attempting to give these six actors an Ayckbourn feel, especially in the second act. The British accents work very well, thanks to James Darbyshire, a native of London who is the unofficial dialogue coach. Darbyshire (trained in summer school both at RADA in London and ACT in San Francisco) is excellent as the boorish Bob Phillips. He is perfect as a good "lager lout" particularly in the dinner scene. Sylvia Kratins (The Homecoming plus work at TheatreWorks, Theatre Q and Pear Ave Theatre) marvelously portrays Fiona as a cool and collected wife. She is almost out of the Noel Coward comedy of manners mold. Jeff Garrett (New York: Yakov in Enemies and the title role in Saint Hugo) tends to go overboard as Frank Foster. He plays the role as a cross between Michael Palin and John Cleese in a Monty Python skit. However, the audience enjoyed his antics on opening night. Corinne Proctor (Den of Thieves at SF Playhouse) is a very talented young actress, but she tends to scream as she portrays Teresa in the first scene. It is as if she is performing in a large theatre like Radio City Music Hall. However, she tones down the speech in the dinner scene as Teresa proceeds to get drunk and loud on a bottle of wine. Proctor is very competent playing the misused wife of Bob in the second act. Rounding out the cast are Jocelyn Stringer (company member since 2008) as Mary Featherstone and Adam Simpson (Romeo & Julien at the Boxcar), appealing as the naïve couple who have no idea what is going on. They are outstanding as the dinner guests with no social skills. Jocelyn Stringer's facial expressions are great in the dinner sequence. Adam Simpson does a great impression of the strict and no-nonsense husband of the put-upon wife. Set Designer Steven M. Vickers manages to effectively make the intimate space into a living and dining room set. Lighting by Colin Cross is also effective, and the costumes by Barbara Michelson-Harder look like those worn by London citizens in the 1970s. How the Other Half Loves plays through July 31st at The Phoenix Theatre, Suite 601, 414 Mason Street, San Francisco For tickets call 800-838-3006 or visit www.offbroadwaywest.org. The company will be presenting Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler in the Fall. Photo: Barbara Michelson-Harder
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