Capital Region Performance Gallery

by Dick Frantzreb

Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen many productions put on by Rocklin Community Theatre (not nearly as many as I would have liked), and each one has seemed to outdo the previous one for sheer entertainment quality. The show that I saw tonight, Young Frankenstein, extended that record for me. It was nothing short of a triumph for Rocklin Community Theatre (RCT) and for all those who brought this improbable story to life.

All RCT’s shows are performed in Finnish Temperance Hall (a name belied by the offerings at the snack bar). It is a relatively small room with a stage that is narrow and shallow compared to other theatres in our area. But once the action started tonight, the performance space was immaterial. Those of us fortunate enough to be in the audience were treated to an explosion of talent and creativity.

I’ll venture that everyone attending this show was a fan of the 1974 movie with the same title. Before seeing the show, it was probably hard for others (it certainly was for me) to imagine how that brilliant comedy could be made into a musical ─ with 22 songs! At least it was hard to imagine how all that music could be inserted without disrupting the charm of the plot. But it didn’t take long to see that the music, if anything, enhanced that charm, giving us in the audience a delightful retelling of the familiar story ─ in a more entertaining way that we could have imagined.

(Click here to open the program in a new window.)

The show started with a black-and-white newsreel in which Inspector Kemp welcomed the audience to Finn Hall and made all the mandatory announcements about exits, photography, etc. His clever dialog was followed by an introduction of each of the players as “stars” of the show, followed with complete credits for everyone involved in the production. This slick opening to the program demonstrated two things to me: (1) that Rocklin Community Theatre is dedicated to a high degree of professionalism and (2) that the technical people who support community theatre didn’t sit idle during the pandemic.

The genius of the basic plot of Young Frankenstein is that it’s built on the unexpected. Maybe that’s the genius of all comedy. Certainly, Director Mike Mechanick and his co-conspirators reveled in keeping the audience on its toes, starting with the first scene when players, dressed in black, some carrying a coffin and others with black umbrellas, entered to the accompaniment of funereal music. That didn’t last long. Presently they threw off their black coverings to reveal bright costumes, while a very alive dancer tumbled out of the coffin. Then they all performed the first number of the show, “The Happiest Town in Town” ─ the first of many high-energy, sometimes almost manic musical numbers.

Since I’ve mentioned the music, I need to point out that Rocklin Community Theatre’s shows aren’t performed to a soundtrack. They have live orchestras. Tonight, there were 14 orchestra members sequestered elsewhere in the building, and they performed seamlessly with the singers on stage. In fact, they performed so well that they might as well have been a soundtrack, and I doubt that the average audience member ever paused to consider that they were listening to a live orchestra.

Another excellence of this show was the projections on the upstage screen. Time after time, I was impressed with the coordination of the projections with the songs or plot development. I was first struck by this in “The Brain,” but that coordination continued throughout the show. I know that theatrical licensing agencies have come to provide a wide variety of sophisticated resources for community and school theatrical productions. So maybe these projections were rented. If they were developed by RCT, I’ll stand amazed. But even if they were rented, it was a wise choice by RCT to enhance the delight of its audiences. (OK, I stand amazed.  Two months later, I learned that Director Mike Mechanick personally designed all the screens used in the show.)

The fundamental pleasure for anyone who had seen the 1974 movie more than once was that so much of what was on display tonight was familiar ─ so many of the gags, so many of the lines. And that level of what I’d call “authenticity” was a platform that made the songs and all the enhancements that much more enjoyable. And this “authenticity” shouldn’t have been a surprise because Mel Brooks (who co-wrote the 1974 move with Gene Wilder) co-wrote the book for this show ─ as well as the music and lyrics ─ 48 years later!

But the funny dialog and witty lyrics were only part of the comic package delivered to tonight’s audience. There were sight gags, jokes, double-entendres, facial gestures and actions, etc. No opportunity was missed for adding a comic touch. As a result, tonight’s audience could have provided the laugh track for a TV sitcom because it felt like we were treated to one laugh after another. But above and beyond the gimmicks and the humorous material was the skill of the players, both principals and ensemble. We saw one great comic character after another. It was a festival of comic acting technique.

It seemed to me that each of the 8 principals had strong, listenable singing voices, frequently with comic styling. The staging was complex and attention-grabbing and the choreography was fresh and well suited to each musical number and character. There were many times when I felt that these people, for all their talent, rehearsing and effort ─ deserved to be performing in a much larger space. Each player had crafted their character with a recognizable nod to the movie, but with their own personality and what I think must have been a fair amount of improvisation.

Gene Wilder was a brilliant Frederick Frankenstein, but watching Nick Hancock play the role made me forget all about Wilder. Before tonight’s show, I was reflecting how Marty Feldman died far too young, and in T.J. Fassler’s Igor, I at first noted (with delight) a bit of Feldman’s British accent. But Fassler’s performance was not an imitation, but a recreation. Ren Elser hit all the right notes, both musically and comically in her role of Inga. And speaking of right notes, Amanda Duisenberg (whose acting I have admired for many years) played the untouchable, mercurial Elizabeth to perfection, including that strong, “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.” Then there’s Helen Ventura, who created a unique Frau Blucher, more memorable than Cloris Leachman’s. I’m expecting to see her laugh in my nightmares.

The role of Inspector Kemp was bigger in the musical than in the movie, and Jay Evans, in a great costume, made the most of the new musical and comic moments for the character. The ghost of Frederick’s grandfather, Victor, was an innovation in the musical, giving the opportunity for another song, “Join the Family Business” ─ a truly eye-popping production number, with Jordan Plumb at the center of it. And Gavin Ferguson, as the Blind Hermit, gave everyone the satisfaction of seeing his scene well played. He also gave us a bit of anxiety when it looked like he was about to step off the stage as he sang “Please Send Me Someone.”

I saw RCT’s 2013 production of Young Frankenstein, and I was surprised to see that Rob Hayes also played the Monster in that show, a role he “reanimated” tonight. The care this company took with details was evident in one very important consideration ─ the appearance of the Monster. His platform shoes gave him significant extra height, and his costume was appropriate. But his make-up was amazing, amazing enough to warrant a credit in the program for “Monster Make-up” technician, Cyndi Wall. And the facial expressions of Rob Haynes were delightfully goofy ─ or whatever the situation required. The same can be said for his strained vocalizations ─ before late in the show when he was able to speak.

I have to comment on the “Ensemble” because they were the bedrock of this show. It felt like they were in nearly every scene ─ intensely committed, “present,” enthusiastic, uninhibited, spontaneous ─ and fun to watch. At one point, I wrote in my notes that I was watching “lightly organized chaos.” Periodically in a show, especially during an important scene between 2 or 3 actors, I look away at the other principals or members of the ensemble who are out of the spotlight. You can tell the people who are completely committed to the scene if they are reacting to the principals or doing something in character. Every time I checked, that’s what I saw among those in the semi-darkness of the stage tonight.

I’m guessing that most of the players (except the “Dance Corp,” of course) were not trained dancers, but the dance numbers were wonderfully creative and fast-moving.

This was not a show for the prudish, and RCT gave it an "R" rating in their ticketing website. Honestly, I only remember hearing one utterance of a word that would be bleeped on broadcast radio or TV. And the cleavage didn’t go too far. But the sexual innuendo was constant in jokes, double-entendres, gestures, situations, lyrics, and dialog. With those of delicate sensibilities having been warned off, tonight's audience roared with laughter at this humor.

I’ve seen Mike Mechanick perform and direct in several pre-pandemic shows. It was nice to see him roaring back from our shared enforced idleness with what anyone would have to consider a community theatre “magnum opus.” There was so much to take in with this performance, and I’ve only been able to include 2/3 of my furiously written notes. From this experienced director and performers ─ orchestra and staff included ─ we in the audience got, on this night, just about the best that community theatre can offer.

(This show ran April 29 - May 15, 2022. For more information about Rocklin Community Theatre, visit www.rocklintheatre.org.)