Musical Monster Mash-up and More

The Theatre Group at SBCC opens its 80^th season with Mel Brooks‘ musical adaptation of his own smash hit film Young Frankenstein in the first big professional production of the show that was boffo on Broadway, one that coincides with the 50th anniversary of the film earning an Oscar nomination. The plot finds Frederick Frankenstein inheriting his famous family’s estate in Transylvania, and while he sees himself as a much more serious scientist who would never make monsters, Frederick finds himself falling back into the same scientific experiments that his grandfather did. 

But unlike the original movies about the monster, Young Frankenstein is a comedy, and the Broadway show adds the musical element. 

“The musical closely follows the movie, which was a spoof of the 1930s Frankenstein movies,” said director Rick Mokler. “It’s very clever how they took each of the scenes and turned them into songs. Some are very vaudevillian, others are wonderfully dramatic but they’re all fantastic Broadway songs, surprisingly catchy and very accessible. It’s one of those very hummable shows.”

The cast includes Dillon Yuhasz, who played straight man Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at SBCC, as Frederick. Mokler called the actor “an amazing physical comedian who is really funny. He can dance and has a great singing voice, too. He’s the full package, and we are lucky to have him.” 

SBCC veteran Sean O’Shea, who founded the Santa Barbara Shakespeare Festival and teaches stage combat at UCSB, portrays the monster, using platform shoes to enhance his already six-foot plus frame. 

“It’s impressive how comfortable and agile he is with all of that,” Mokler said. 

As with Brooks’ The Producers, Young Frankenstein manages to come off as a very traditional musical while also making fun of the genre, Mokler said. 

“There’s the big opening number, a big closer at the end of Act 1, the 10 o’clock aria. There are two big dance numbers with a full chorus, even tap dancing, lots of very funny moments, some romance – all the elements of a traditional old-fashioned musical, except it’s spoofing it all the time.”

More importantly for our times, Mokler said, Young Frankenstein – which plays July 11-26 at the Garvin Theatre on the SBCC campus –is very cheerful and upbeat. 

“It’s escapism at its best.”

Visit www.theatregroupsbcc.com

No Sweat, Sherlock 

Jeffrey Hatcher’s mystery thriller Holmes and Watson turns Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed fictional detective on his ear in a fast-paced tale that begins when Dr. Watson is summoned to a remote asylum where three inmates all claim to be Sherlock Holmes. Director Michael Brusasco cautions audiences heading to see the PCPA production, which performs July 11-26 at the Solvang Festival Theater, to keep their wits steady. 

“What you’ll see will be a fog-laced, shadow-drenched, puzzle box of a play (with a script that) is a gift of precision – sharp, spare, and cunningly constructed. It demands clarity but invites ambiguity… We aim for tension with a wink, mystery without melodrama. Just enough danger to keep things interesting. Still, trust no one. Not the characters. Not the actors. And certainly not me.”

Visit www.pcpa.org