Garrick Theatre, ends August 25 2018

Starring Hadley Fraser, Lesley Joseph, Cory English

The grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein is a brilliant young doctor specialising in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, but when his grandfather passes he must travel to Transylvania to deal with his estate. Once there, he finds the lure of his grandfather’s legacy, among other things, just too alluring to resist.

I’ll begin by saying that I have not yet seen the 1974 Gene Wilder movie, but as a fan of other Mel Brooks movies, I was lucky enough to be treated to tickets to see this musical theatre version as it starts to head into the last of its run at the Garrick.

And what a treat it is. Not only do I enjoy the work of Brooks, but I am a huge fan of Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein, and this plays exactly as you might expect – with some knowledge of both: a Mel Brooks take on that subject matter.

So you have young Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced ‘Fronk-on-steen’), a brilliant young scientist with a beautiful fiancée who is everything he wants but has no interest in ever being touched by him, desperately trying to escape the long shadow thrown by his (in)famous family name. Suddenly called off to Transylvania as his grandfather’s sole remaining heir to take care of the affairs of his estate. Once there, he meets Igor (pronounced ‘Eye-gore’ with a petulant air) and a young local girl called Inge, whom Igor has hired to be his ‘assistant’. Inge’s qualifications being a PhD in laboratory work, a seemingly endless line in apparently innocent double entendres and a sexual appetite to match Frederick’s frustration. Throw in the formidable but filthy Frau Blucher, head housekeeper of the castle, and you’ve got a recipe for a solid couple of hours of blue jokes, dad jokes and old jokes all wrapped in catchy show tunes and impressive dancing.

By the time the monster arrives, things really start to hit their stride. Initially blessed with the brain of an idiot and the body of a hulking giant, the monster’s own escapades make for some of the most hilarious moments. Whether it’s an unfortunate encounter with a kindly blind man whose attempts to provide food and luxuries to the Monster end with predictably funny slapstick results, or meeting Frederick’s fiancée, or his own unique take on show tune classic, Puttin’ on the Ritz, there is never a moment involving the monster that won’t tickle the funny bone of any Brooks fan.

It’s a standard length show at a little under two and a half hours, with a twenty minute interval, and the performers always give their all. Joseph in particular as Frau Blucher has just the right mixture of matronly authority and wicked sauciness to steal every scene she’s in. Fraser does a superb job of evoking a Gene Wilder performance without directly copying the great man himself and Nic Greenshields is superbly gifted physically as the Monster, helping keep the sympathies of the audience where they should be for much of his performance where he has no understandable dialogue. Dianne Pilkington hits every high note her part as Elizabeth demands without any apparent effort and Inge was very capably performed by Gemma Scholes at the performance I attended.

By the end of the show, the audience were in the palm of the performers’ hands, and the standing ovation as the curtain went down was evidence, as if any were needed, that the room of people who’d spent the last two and a half hours laughing uproariously at every daft joke and genius lyric had indeed thoroughly and completely enjoyed themselves.

Verdict: It won’t change your life or grant profound insights into anything, but if you have a fondness for Brooks’ blend of deliberately bad jokes mixed with just the right amount of playful smut and physical slapstick, then you would be a fool to miss this while it’s still around. 10/10

Greg D. Smith