Review: ‘Young Frankenstein’ comes alive at Mercury Theater, thanks to Igor and the Monster

They spent $20 million to open “Young Frankenstein” on Broadway in 2007. But all the money in Bavaria couldn’t avoid comparisons with “The Producers,” the Mel Brooks movie-to-Broadway masterpiece of a few years prior.

Alas, “Young Frankenstein,” based on the 1974 movie with a book penned by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, did not translate as well. I remember writing that the theatrical problem (aside from the suffocating amount of stuff on the stage) was that the boring and defensive central character Victor Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”) didn’t really want anything in particular, beyond avoiding any and all comparisons to his lineage. Unlike “The Producers’” Max Bialystock, who’d do pretty muchanything with a little old lady to score a hit. On Broadway, “Young Frankenstein” was an oversized monster mash and a monster bust to boot.

But at Chicago’s intimate Mercury Theater last Thursday night, the show sat far more easily as a fun, Halloween-season entertainment, directed by L. Walter Stearns with a budget and cast a mere fraction of the size of the original. It’s still B-level material, but yuks abounded, thanks mostly to the two actors playing the roles with most of the comedy. Igor, played here by Ryan Stajmiger, turns in a knockout, Broadway-quality performance, and the Monster, essayed by Andrew MacNaughton, kills it during the show’s funniest number, “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” charmingly staged by choreographer Brenda Didier and filled with amusements.

When the Mercury first started producing its own musicals, one benefit was that it allowed Chicago’s musical theater stars to work more frequently in the city limits and in a small theater. Sean Fortunato, who plays the title role here, certainly is in that category and he finds a viable way into his nervous dude, mostly by emphasizing his neuroses, albeit with a dose of Gene Wilder-like charm. You can also find in the cast such stellar stalwarts as Lillian Castillo and the droll veteran Mary Robin Roth (whose Frau Blücher gets to sing “He Vas My Boyfriend,” the show’s best-known and second-funniest number).

There were no surprises in Stearns’ staging, which runs mostly afeard of the show’s many sexual jokes (if you’re going to do Brooks these days, you gotta have more guts). But the well-sung show bops along at a good pace, cocktails flowed from busy, white-coated bartenders at intermission, and hoops and hollers flowed just as consistently from a Southport Corridor audience out for some PG-13 fun.

Truly, Stajmiger took all kinds of risks, grabbed this show (not to mention the audience) by the scruff of its neck and made it work, near single-handedly. What a fabulous comic turn.

Igor for President.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: “Young Frankenstein” (3 stars)

When: Through Dec. 31

Where: Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Ave.

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Tickets: $35-$85 at www.mercurytheaterchicago.com