"Young Frankenstien"

@ The Cadillac Theater:
Reviewed by Ike Holter
.........................

Mel Brooks new musical comes with a litmus test.
Frankenstein and his Monster preform "Puttin' on the ritz" with top-hats and snap canes. After about two minutes they're joined by three supporting players: the girl, the sidekick, and the comic relief. THEN--the entire twenty-two person chorus.
The song goes on. For five minutes. With strobe lights. And costume changes. And kick-lines and leaping and pratfalls and it's all too much for most sane people.
"Puttin' on the ritz" is probably the only part of Mel Brooks original film that worked in musical form. Now, it's one of the worst numbers in a show weighed down with overload.
Roger Bart reprises his role of Dr. Frankenstein from the Broadway version of Mel Brooks original film based on the original story by Mary Shelly. (Wow. Headache.) Bart's energy is infectious; the entire supporting cast is at their best when they're keeping up with Bart's rat-tat-tat rhythm. After a supporting turn in "The Producers", Bart knows how to sell Brook's Sid Caesar style of speech.
While the cast is perfectly acceptable, the musical numbers are flatter then Frankenstein's feet and twice as clunky. Numbers come and go as they please with no real help to the plot.
Fans of the film will smile during the first act's nods to the original source material, but the slavish second act's reenactments of the classic film grind this monstrosity to a halt.
Once again: When the entire cast begins an over-choreographed dance break-down to "Puttin' on the ritz", you're either in for the long haul or you're out of the theater quicker then the first audience of "Springtime for Hitler."