If you’re blue, and you don’t know where to go to, the Civic Players of Logansport have a show for you: “Young Frankenstein: The Musical.”
The musical adaptation of the 1974 Mel Brooks’ film features music written by Brooks and a book cowritten by Brooks alongside Thomas Meehan.
Be forewarned, much like 2023’s “Rock of Ages,” “Young Frankenstein” is a musical that’s not family friendly or for the faint of heart. But if you’ve seen a Mel Brooks’ film then you know what to expect from the genius of the lowbrow gag.
Brooks made his film career by pushing the comedy envelope with hits such as “Blazing Saddles,” “Silent Film,” “High Anxiety” and the nearly 99-year-old legendary writer/ director recently announced he was returning with a sequel to his 1987 film “Spaceballs.” Nerds rejoiced. Brooks also gave upstart art film auteur David Lynch his big Hollywood break when he chose Lynch to direct 1980’s “The Elephant Man,” a film Brooks executive-produced.
“Young Frankenstein” featured a litany of lost comedy icons such as Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman and Marty Feldman. It’s a story about Frederick Frankenstein, a lecturing physician who inherits the family castle back in Transylvania. Though he has tried to distance himself from his family’s legacy, Frankenstein soon finds himself trying to reanimate the dead.
The musical hit Broadway in 2007 and London’s West End in 2017. The original Broadway cast featured Roger Bart in the lead role, Sutton Foster as Inga, Megan Mullally as Elizabeth and Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher.
Initial reception to the musical was mixed, but in all fairness some of the songs could be called beautiful if they didn’t contain Brooks’ lyrical content. And a lot of the comedy from the film remains thanks to Brooks being so closely involved in the adaptation.
“Mel Brooks’ genius from the movie is carried on in the musical,” said director Lorien Stair-Spicer. “Since he has his hand very heavy in this and you can tell, the dialogue is pretty much the movie verbatim. There are some new parts but all of the zingers are there.”
Stair-Spicer praised her cast and crew for their efforts in preparing for the show, noting the hours put into rehearsals and the arduous schedule for tech week as they prepare for Friday’s opening night at the McHale Performing Arts Center.
This year’s Civic Players musical features a cast mixed with old and new faces and many getting their first chance to star in a lead musical role.
“This is something they volunteer to do to bring a little bit of culture to Logansport,” Stair-Spicer said.
Jean-Luc Plummer stars in the lead role of Frederick. Plummer made his Civic Players debut last year in “Barefoot in the Park” and said “Young Frankenstein” is his first musical. He called the experience fun and challenging.
“You always want to keep challenging yourself,” he said. “It was something I always wanted to try and do.”
Plummer has been studying the film for his role and said he saw a lot of different levels in Gene Wilder’s performance.
“He goes real quiet and gets real loud and crazy,” he said. “It’s an interesting thing to try to bring to the stage because onstage you have to be big all the time. It’s figuring out how to sell it.”
Unlike Plummer, Jennifer Shafer has never seen the film. She’s saving that for after the performance as she prepares to play Inga, originally performed by Garr in the movie. Shafer said she wanted to create her own version of the character.
“She’s a very fun character, not one I’d typically be cast in,” she said. “It really does stretch my acting abilities and I like that.
One challenge she has encountered has been maintaining Inga’s Swedish accent, especially in song. She finds herself slipping into the accent during her normal life.
While it’s her first big role in a musical, she said she loved seeing new faces join the cast.
“We are always trying to grow CPL with cast and talent so it’s really nice to see new faces come out and be interested in something we’ve loved for years,” she said.
Heather Voltz plays Elizabeth and gets the honor of singing the musical’s most in your face number, “Please Don’t Touch Me,” a song that is sure to have some audience members blushing. It’s a role she knew she wanted to play and a challenge she embraced.
“I embrace the comedy,” she said. “(It’s) a pushing him away to pull him in kind of song so that kind of dynamic with our Freddie is a blast to perform.”
She said she wasn’t a natural born dancer so that aspect of the musical has been a challenge for her. She was, however, proud of what she had accomplished on that front. Choreography was done by Megan Samuels and includes some intricate numbers and the cast’s efforts to learn those dances is apparent onstage.
Sadie Proctor plays Igor. It was a last minute decision to audition for the role and she came in with little knowledge of Feldman’s iconic performance from the film.
“It was fun walking into it without having any preconceived notions about the character,” she said.
Proctor described herself as a very quiet person who is finding herself in the spotlight for the first time. She called the musical a chance to step out of her comfort zone.
“I love that challenge and then I can go back to being quiet,” she said.
How does she make that leap onstage? A lot of prayer, Proctor said.
Rounding out the core cast is Donald Conn as the monster, Heather Cavins as Frau Blucher, Evan Vaughan as Inspector Hans Kemp and Chris Miller as the hermit.
One particular highlight of the production is the work the cast and crew did on costumes and make-up, maybe the finest work the Civic Players have done in recent years.
All productions come with challenges, however, and one of the biggest for director Stair-Spicer has been operating without her tag team partner, co-director Sabrina Click, who is recovering after overcoming cancer.
“I’ve been missing my right hand man,” said Stair-Spicer. “It’s been difficult. She was able to come to rehearsal one tech night this week but it just wears her out. But I mean she beat cancer! But I miss her. I miss bouncing ideas off of her. I miss getting her ideas and feedback.”