by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS
NOW EXTENDED THRU NOV 26
Standing Room Only in Yelm, the same outfit that brought last season’s hilarious Spamalot, taps into the same comic vein to stage this season’s Young Frankenstein. Written by Mel Brooks and based on Brooks’ movie of the same name, Young Frankenstein is a satiric, musical-comedy takeoff on a slew of film versions of the horror classic.
In this warped version, Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson Frederick (Ian Montgomery) inherits the famous monster-maker’s estate in Transylvania and leaves his fiancée Elizabeth behind in America to visit the estate. There he runs into an odd assortment of eccentrics including the hunchback Igor (Jesse Geray), the strange and frightening Frau Blucher (Nancy Hillman), sexy lab assistant Inga (Dahlia Young) and a not-too-bright police inspector with a mechanical arm (Kevin McManus). Following in his notorious grandfather’s footsteps, he creates a new monster, played by Kurt Loertscher. Adding spice to the stew, Elizabeth (Hannah Longshore) pays the young doctor a surprise visit and finds him romantically entangled with Inga. Of course audiences can look forward to chase scenes with pitchforks and the creature’s song-and-dance routine, “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
“Young Frankenstein is a tremendously funny show, with themes of family, identity and heritage,” says director Daniel Wyman. “I’m excited to bring it to our theater, both as a fan of the various works of Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder and by the thought of bringing a show this large and technically challenging to our community.” Wyman has acted in numerous Standing Room Only productions and has been involved in Yelm-community theater for the past 15 years. He directed Monty Python’s Spamalot for SRO last fall. His most recent acting roles were Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest and Juror #2 in 12 Angry Men.
Wyman says, “While we might not be able to match the massive sets that audiences would experience in Seattle or New York, bringing a show like this into our smaller and more intimate venue will give audiences an entirely new look at the material. The subtle nuances in an actor’s performance, that might be lost in a larger production, resonate in such a space, and audiences have a chance to experience the production as though they are a part of it.”
What: Young Frankenstein
Where: Standing Room Only at the Triad Theater,
102 E. Yelm Ave., Yelm
When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays – Saturdays;
3 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 20 – Nov. 26
How much: $17-$25
Learn more: 857-676-8243 | Standing Room Only