Puttin' on the Ritz

I approached "Young Frankenstein," the new big-budget music, with a little bit of trepidation. I had been disappointed by the musical version of "The Producers," even though everyone loved it. And Mary and I last week had just seen "Spring Awakening," which had just won a 2007 Tony.

Well after seeing "Young Frankenstein" at the Paramount in Seattle last night, I'm willing to say that it's got the 2008 Tony sewn up.

"The Producers" failed to get as many laughs as the movie did, and it tacked on a bizarre twist with a courtroom scene. "Young Frankenstein" just seems better suited to being a big musical than "The Producers" did.

Right from the start, the musical gets good solid laughs out of dialog, and out of very clever witty numbers. I can't say that music is necessarily that good, but it is serviceable. I can't think of a single song that would get stuck in my head (save "Putting on the Ritz," of course--the only song here whose music was not written by Mel Brooks). "Spring Awakening," on the other hand, still gets caught there more than a week later.

Unlike a bad experience at "Camelot," no song really dragged, and those that did were lightened up with some great spectacle. Actually, if there's anything that "Young Frankenstein" truly nailed, it was Spectacle. There are a lot of ways to make good theater. And awesome spectacle, when you can afford it, is definitely one of them. As in the movie, the "Puttin' on the Ritz" number was one of the best moments. Actually it was a series of great moments, all spectacular in their own way.

The cast was pretty strong. Megan Mullaly from Will & Grace was surprisingly not on stage that much. Frederick Frankenstein, Igor, Frau Blucher, and the Monster himself stole scenes from each other throughout. The four of them held everything together and were very very good. I must commend the Monster in particular for some incredible footwork in his big big shoes.

"Young Frankenstein" is big budget theater done right. Loud, bright, funny, and solid the whole way through. I'm glad I caught it at a 1/4 of the price (I'm guessing even a Row R seat would have been pretty expensive on Broadway). Great fun last night.