July 18, 2025
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Local News for a Global Village | www.VoiceSB.com
The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College
Hello, Handsome! Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein Wows at SBCC papers, propelling the duo into chaotic hilarity as their re-animated man (Sean O’Shea) immediately escapes to wreak havoc across Transylvania.
By Daisy Scott / VOICE
“If you’re blue, and you don’t know where to go to,” definitely go to Mel Brooks’
Young Frankenstein, presented by the Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College. Full of Broadway flair, bawdy humor, and some of the best comic performances SBCC has seen in recent years, director Rick Mokler’s musical twist on a well-loved film will wow audiences through July 26th at the Garvin Theatre.
Photo by Ben Crop
Given that a well-done parody is in itself no small feat, the Theatre Group’s parody-ofa-parody proves all the more impressive. The brain-child of director Mel Brooks, the 1974 film Young Frankenstein modernized Mary Shelley’s novel into a side-splitting comedy that focuses on Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson, Frederick. In 2007, Brooks adapted his film into a Broadway musical, which has quickly become a new cult classic in its own right.
Yuhasz and Beaghler exhibit remarkable chemistry through each of their musical numbers, bouncing off of each other’s energy in a way that endears them even as they dig up bodies and defy the laws of nature. Kate Brody-Adams in the role of Inga completes the laboratory’s chaotic energy with seductive, lovely vocals, while Tiffany Story, no stranger to SBCC productions, returns as the formidable housekeeper Frau Blucher to deliver a ridiculously raunchy song about her lover, Victor Frankenstein.
Additional stand-out performances emerge with Addison Clarke’s role as Elizabeth Benning, whose masterful stage Kate Brody-Adams, Dillon Yuhasz, Tiffany Story, Ryan Beaghler, and Sean O’Shea in The presence exudes untouchable intrigue, and Theatre Group at SBCC’s production of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein a surprise third-act solo from Will Muse Audiences meet Frederick Frankenstein— as a blind hermit who attempts to befriend who insists his last name is actually Frankenstein’s monster. The musical all comes together in a stunning finale full of ensemble pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”—as he teaches his students about the wonders of the brain. As choreography and a revamped version of the film’s celebrated Putting on the Ritz number. Frederick, Dillon Yuhasz charms audiences from the get-go with a superlative voice and knack Yet perhaps the real unanimated star of the show is the Theatre Group’s remarkable set for subtle expressions to reveal his character’s contradictions. We immediately understand designs. Created by Patricia L. Frank, Garvin Theatre transports audiences into the heart of Frederick to be accomplished yet seeking new heights of knowledge, engaged yet emotionally Frankenstein’s laboratory, complete with the iconic platform that raises Frankenstein’s monster (and sexually) repressed, and practical but waiting for the slightest provocation to cut loose. into the heart of a lightning storm. Add David Potter directing the SBCC orchestra in a jaunty This opportunity arrives when Frederick inherits his infamous grandfather’s estate. There, musical score, and the Theatre Group’s production will have audiences both familiar and new he meets his grandfather’s assistant’s descendent, Igor (Ryan Beaghler)—who quips his to Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein laughing along to each exclamation of “it’s alive!” name must be pronounced “I-gore”—who is all too eager to recreate their ancestors’ ill-fated experiments. This dream quickly becomes reality when Frederick discovers his grandfather’s Premier Sponsor:
FREE Summer Cinema Fridays at 8:30 PM at the SB County Courthouse Sunken Garden
Supporting Sponsor:
Fri, July 18
Fri, July 25
Films presented by: Special Thanks: UCSB Summer Events & Entertainment Grant Program
Media Sponsors:
(805) 893-3535 www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu