Young Frankenstein

The West Australian premiere of Young Frankenstein is a well paced, very funny rendition of this comic musical. Nicely cast, with well-crafted performances, this show deserves the warm reception it received.

Jessie Angus shines in the title role, delivering an excellent, nicely timed performance including some impressive dancing. He is well matched in Laurence Williams as off-sider Igor, who also creates an excellent character and quickly becomes an audience favourite. John Lambert was lovely as the lumbering monster.

A promising community theatre debut was made by Sarah Elizabeth Hubber who looked gorgeous as lab assistant Inga. Georgia McGivern made a striking contrast in her gorgeously broad-stroke portrayal of uptight fiancé Elizabeth.

Daniel Burton was impressive in the role of Inspector Kemp, but almost brought the house down in a superb cameo as the hermit. Natalie Burbage nailed the role of Frau Blucher, in my favourite performance of hers to date. I enjoyed Allen Blachford's Victor Frankenstein and Jayden Lyon was delightful in his brief appearances as Ziggy.

The ensemble were strong and the dancing, with well constructed choreography by Hillary Readings, was particularly well executed. Musical direction by Kate McIntosh and Taui Pinker was good with the music provided by an eleven piece band, well-played (those without programmes assumed that the music was pre-recorded, as the band were not visible and so good).

Lighting (operated by Kim Angus) was creatively atmospheric but also fun, while costumes were nicely selected. A directorial decision had obviously been made to faithfully recreate the movie where appropriate, while the musical numbers were given free reign. It was a decision that worked, and I was compelled to watch the film before writing this review…the faithfulness was clever and well-executed.

Not everything ran exactly to plan. Sound was quite uneven on the night I attended and there was an unfortunate mike death (well handled by the actor affected, Laurence Williams). Some of the lines in the opening scenes are a little rushed, which is a shame as we miss important exposition.

As the first community theatre production (and first Finley entry) for 2014, this production augers well for community theatre for this year in the west.

Kimberley Shaw

Images: Deprimo Photography