Young Frankenstein, the musical – at the Norris Theatre

Tracy Lore as Frau Blücher and Larry Raben as Frederick Frankenstein in an earlier production of “Young Frankenstein.” Photo: Moonlight Stage Productions

Tracy Lore as Frau Blücher and Larry Raben as Frederick Frankenstein in an earlier production of “Young Frankenstein.” Photo: Moonlight Stage Productions

Monster Mash

Larry Raben and Tracy Lore star in “Young Frankenstein” at the Norris Theatre

Sure, it’s still September, hot weather and all that, but I’m hoping for a touch of thunder and lightning tomorrow night (Friday, Sept. 23). That’s when the musical comedy “Young Frankenstein” opens for three weeks at the Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills, thus launching the venue’s 34th season.

Based on the 1974 film written by Mel Brooks along with its star Gene Wilder, the stage adaptation of “Young Frankenstein” opened on Broadway in November, 2007, directed and choreographed by the renowned Susan Stroman. When the awards season came along a few months later it picked up the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. Not bad. There were also several Tony and Drama Desk nominations, but all the statuettes went to other people and other shows.

As for the story itself, the plot (graveyard or otherwise) picks up a couple of generations after Victor Frankenstein and his Monster have met their inglorious fates: It’s not for man to play God, et cetera. Although he’s tried to remove himself from the family name by giving it a new pronunciation (fronk-en-steen), Frederick Frankenstein has inherited his grandfather’s castle and heads for his ancestral home in Transylvania. After his arrival, where he’s met by Igor (grandson of that other Igor), sparks fly and soon enough another Doctor Frankenstein has given life to another Monster, who of course escapes from the laboratory and causes havoc.

The latest revival, as far as anyone in the room is aware, is a South Bay premiere. And who exactly is in the room? Well, James Gruessing, the director, Larry Raben who plays Frederick Frankenstein, and Tracy Lore who is reprising her role as the humorless Frau Blücher, the one whose name, when spoken aloud, causes the horses to neigh.

Raben has previously appeared in “Young Frankenstein” three times, while Lore already has four productions to her credit. What’s more astonishing is that they’ve been in the same production three times. Now four.

And are you doing the same roles that you’ve done before?

“Yes, we are,” Raben replies.

Did you maybe want to switch parts this time?

While they laugh, Gruessing smiles: “Just in the matinees,” he jokes.

When the musical comedy was decided upon as the season opener, Gruessing knew he wanted Raben and Lore back on stage together again. “They were the first two phone calls,” he says. “They were already in mind, but everybody else auditioned.”

And since they’ve been in the show before are they telling you [how to direct]?

“The funny thing is,” Gruessing says, “I’ve been in the show with them, so we kind of all do it together.”

Larry Raben and Tracy Lore in rehearsal, or are they just hamming it up for the camera? Photo

Larry Raben and Tracy Lore in rehearsal, or are they just hamming it up for the camera? Photo

Sticking with the tried and true

Performing together (in “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Boeing-Boeing,” etc.) as well as apart (“The Odd Couple” for him and “Thoroughly Modern Millie” for her, etc.), Larry Raben and Tracy Lore have not only graced the Norris stage several times each, but they’ve played the South Bay and beyond. For example, Lore has been in several musicals for 3D Theatricals (“Beauty and the Beast” recently), and Raben has, among so many other things, performed in Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” on Broadway. This writer has seen both of them numerous times, so it was fun to turn the tables a little and momentarily have them as my captive audience.

“We’ve made minor tweaks, playing with different things,” Gruessing says of the current show.

“The thing that’s great,” Raben adds, “is that Jim is so fluid comedically that he can take the template and then we mix it up and find new stuff. And he’s really adamant, as are Tracy and I, about using the film first and foremost.

“Now, this musical is an homage to the classic movie (which is an homage to “Frankenstein” and “Son of Frankenstein” and other Universal Pictures of the 1930s), and the people that are coming to see it know it frame by frame, so we want to make it a living experience but also give people what they know and love.”

In other words, it’s a show that diehard fans will not let you tamper with very much.

“As long as you give a nod to the film you have a lot of room comedically,” Raben says.

Gruessing concurs. “And there are many iconic one-liners in the movie that the audience will know. They have to be said just so, because that’s the line everybody remembers. You can’t put a new spin on that line or else you might get booed.”

“Right,” Raben says. “Everything else around it you’re fine, but that one line you have to build to it the right way.”

Yo-ho, yo-ho, an actor’s life for me

Apart from undertaking the role of Leo Bloom (also played by Matthew Broderick) in “The Producers” on Broadway, Raben has performed the part in other productions. In fact, he’s your textbook example of a working, always-in-demand actor.

“Last year I left mid-May and didn’t come home until after Christmas,” he says. “It was just one out-of-town job after another. When you’re lucky enough to keep working it’s a lot of suitcases.”

And when you came home there were boards nailed across all your windows…

Well, not quite. Just “a stack of bills and some very long grass.”

“So it’s great to be in Mel’s other musical,” Raben says, picking up the thread. “He does have just an amazingly wacky sense of humor. And if you are the kind of comedian who understands how to play his material it’s just joyous to have another script by him.

“I’m such a fan of Gene Wilder and his work, rest in peace,” Raben continues. “A genius comedian. And I will go anywhere in the world to play this role.”

Lore has similar good words for Cloris Leachman, who starred on screen as Victor Frankenstein’s assistant and lover, Frau Blücher. “I don’t even try to copy her,” she says; “it’s such an iconic role.”

Both actors praise the original Broadway cast as well.

Now, the irony is, the Norris stages such well-produced shows that other actors and theater companies should be praising them. But if the company gets overlooked it may largely be due to its tepid programming, not its high standards. This production, for example, has enlisted Hollywood makeup artist Brad Hardin, who will ensure that Pablo Rossil’s Monster (played by Peter Boyle in the film) looks fresh and genuine for each performance.

Others among the cast of 24 include Anne Montavon as Inga, Lindsey Alley as Elizabeth, and Greg Nicholas as Inspector Kemp. There’s also a 14-piece orchestra and the sets are from the national tour. Better yet, when we compare the Norris Theatre to many of the larger venues where musicals are staged, the audience is at most only a few rows away.

“That’s the new slogan,” director Gruessing says with a laugh. “Any closer and you’d be on stage.”

Young Frankenstein opens Friday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m., in the Norris Theatre, 27570 Norris Center Drive, Rolling Hills Estates. Performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., through Oct. 9. Tickets, $55 to $65, plus a $5 ticket facility fee. Not recommended for children under 13. Upcoming musicals during the 2016-17 season are Nunsense and The Music Man. Call (310) 544-0403 or go to palosverdesperformingarts.com. ER

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