Puttin' On The Ritz

APT promises hilarity in Mel Brooks musical

Rachel Small is Inga, Reid Collins Shelton is Frederick Frankenstein and Michael Myers is Igor in the Arkansas Public Theatre production of “Young Frankenstein.”
Rachel Small is Inga, Reid Collins Shelton is Frederick Frankenstein and Michael Myers is Igor in the Arkansas Public Theatre production of “Young Frankenstein.”

"If 'The Producers' and 'Rocky Horror' had a baby, 'Young Frankenstein' would be it," says Ed McClure, director of the Arkansas Public Theatre production opening tonight. "I had the luxury of seeing it in New York, on Broadway, and it checks all the boxes -- big musical numbers, singing and dancing, and it's as hilarious as the movie."

A collaboration between Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, the movie version was released in 1974, on the heels of Brooks' "Blazing Saddles." Wilder came up with the premise of the grandson of Victor Frankenstein -- who famously pronounces the last name as Fronk-un-schteen because he's ashamed of his family's legacy -- inheriting the castle and deciding being a mad scientist might not be so bad after all. When Brooks wanted to come aboard, Wilder had restrictions: Brooks couldn't be in it.

FAQ

‘Young Frankenstein’

WHEN — 8 p.m. today & Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, again Feb. 16-19 & Feb. 23-26

WHERE — Arkansas Public Theatre in Rogers

COST — $23-$35

INFO — 631-8988

"I said, 'Am I such a bad actor?'' Brooks said in a 2013 story in Parade magazine. "He said, 'No, but you're always breaking the fourth wall, and you're always surprising, and there's a lot of anarchy in you. I don't want it to be a crazy comedy. I want it to be a real movie with natural comedy.' I said, 'You're absolutely right. That's the way we'll do it.'"

The resulting film won a Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, was nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes and was honored as Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

That's what Reid Shelton expected when he first saw "Young Frankenstein" as a child -- a scary movie. "Then I realized how zany and hilarious it was," says the actor playing Frederick Frankenstein. "It became a Halloween tradition. Then I found out they did a musical, so I immediately downloaded the album. Mel Brooks wrote the entire musical score!

"When I finally saw the musical on tour, I laughed the entire time! I've always wanted to do it."

He did, playing the lead with the Greene County Fine Arts Council in Paragould. "But it's not bothering me to do it again!" Shelton debuted with APT as Uncle Fester in "The Addams Family" and has recently been appearing as a radiologic technologist at both the Pat Walker Health Center and at Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic. He is also conducting research at the University of Arkansas and plans to enroll in medical school this fall.

"I always wanted to do theater -- I started when I was like 14 years old -- but when I was going into college, I had a last-minute change of heart," he says. "I decided to do something a little bit more stable. I found a second home in the field of medicine. But on the extracurricular side, theater gives me that fulfillment, too."

What Shelton thinks audiences will enjoy the most is "how obnoxiously funny and how talented the cast is." Michael Myers, an APT veteran who played the Master of Ceremonies in "Cabaret," thinks he was lucky to get the most challenging role: Igor, Frankenstein's assistant.

At 6 feet tall, Myers would tower over the original Igor, Marty Feldman, but he's figured out how to work the hunch.

"Even when I'm standing next to the females in the show, I'm still shorter than they are," he says. "Vocally, you have to give a little bit more, focus on breathing. Your air's not really constricted when you're bent over, but it is a little challenging."

McClure says the biggest challenges for him have been the amount of dancing in the show -- the success of which he credits to choreographers Jenella Young and Alix Keil -- and the "really odd sets" that include laboratories, castles, a Hudson River pier and a rotating bookshelf.

"Just the normal technical challenges," the veteran director says with a laugh. "Oh, and a monster who has to be able to sing and dance on stilts... You can't ad lib dancing."

NAN What's Up on 02/10/2017

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