Like science, the theater teaches us to accept our successes as well as our failures with quiet dignity and grace.
That statement is completely absurd, of course, as fans of the 1974 Mel Brooks classic ?Young Frankenstein? know well. It?s a story of the ages, covering all genres: romantic comedy, sci-fi, horror, drama.
And now? musical.
Allen Community College Theatre presents ?Young Frankenstein? at 7:30 tonight at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, and again on Friday and Saturday.
ACC stage veteran Austin Wickwire leads the cast as Dr. Frederick Frankentein (it?s pronounced Fronk-en-steen), an esteemed and eccentric professor ashamed of his heritage as heir to a Transylvanian estate made both fah-mous and in-fah-mous by his great-grandfather, Dr. Victor Frankenstein (it?s pronounced Frank-en-stine).
Austin Wickwire (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein) awakens the monster in Jake Anderson during Allen Community College?s ?Young Frankenstein.?
Wickwire, with his unruly mop of hair and thick goggles, provides just the right touch of gravitas and slapstick as the reluctantly mad scientist. He?s respectful in his lust for a tantalizing but distant fiance, Elizabeth Benning, portrayed by Carolyn Appleton, who knows just how to tease and taunt while remaining regal and chaste as she sings ?Please Don?t Touch Me.?
The death of his great-grandfather takes young Frankenstein to a Transylvanian castle filled with a zany cast of characters:
Austin Wickwire reacts to learning Julius Hodges? Igor gave him an abnormal brain. ?Young Frankenstein? debuts tonight at 7:30 at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
? Julius Hodges as the shifty-humped Igor (it?s pronounced Eye-Gor), a role that pulls humor from every slumping, sliding inch of his cape-draped body and expressive facial features;
? Kate Huskey delights as the buxom Swedish ?personal assistant? whose classic movie line, ?Roll in the Hay,? has become a fun traveling song;
? and Zohrehya Masuch, who is seriously frightening as the dominating servant and paramour of the late Victor Frankenstein. Saying her name makes horses neigh in fright (trivia time: that?s because her name means ?glue? in German).
Wickwire?s character is convinced to ?Join the Family Business? by an ensemble of ghoulish ancestors led by the devilish Judd Wiltse as Victor Frankenstein.
As Wickwire describes: ?They were all so terrifying but, boy, could they dance.?
An attempt to reanimate a corpse doesn?t go quite according to plan, as Igor delivers the wrong brain: ?Abby Somebody. Abby Normal.?
