Monster smash

Like the film, the musical follows the story of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”), the grandson of the notorious scientist Victor whose creation terrorized the neighboring village of Transylvania years earlier. After he reclaims his family’s Transylvania estate, Frederick falls back into the family business of bringing the dead back to life. Slapstick comedy, double entendres and tap dancing monsters ensue.

The cast, especially the leads Josh Martin as Frederick and Chris Goeckel as the Creature, are exceptional in their roles. Martin may not look like Gene Wilder’s doppelgänger, but his singing and speaking voice convey the perfect mixture of zealous melodrama and dry wit. More importantly, Martin avoids the easy trap of imitating performances from the film.

Goeckel makes the most of his limited dialogue, displaying an impressive range of fear and empathy through his face and vocal grunts. He kills, especially in the show stopping number “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

Other strong performances come from James Houska as deformed assistant Igor (“Eye-gore”), Kayla Green as the wellendowed assistant Inga, Jane Zussman as Frau Blucher (insert horse whinny sound effect) and Mark Bethea as the one-armed, one-legged Inspector Hans Kemp. Bethea’s mechanical arm gag perfectly synchronized with its supporting sound effect is one of the highlights of the show.

The chorus, along with the rest of the supporting cast, brought abundant energy to their scenes. It’s a shame their stage time was so limited.

Visual highlights include several set pieces designed by Bob Nees and director Tom Ferris. The elevating table that reaches to the ceiling is an essential touch, but it was the creatively low-budget design of the brain-transfer device made of Christmas lights and hair dryer helmets that truly captured the feel of a classic B-horror film.

The opening night performance was still ironing out some timing issues, but not everything is Riverwalk’s fault. Brooks’ writing essentially is a series of corny jokes strung together by a loose parody plot. To the extent that his films feel cohesive at all is a magical mystery. Despite Brooks’ name credited for the show’s music and lyrics, some songs, particularly in the first act, feel more like filler than fuel. But true fans of the film will forgive the slow bits and revel in the timeless running gags.

Such as “Blucher” (horse whinny).

“Young Frankenstein”

Riverwalk Theatre 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18;

8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20; 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21 $22/$19 students, seniors and military 228 Museum Drive, Lansing (517) 482-5700, riverwalktheatre.com