[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Nocturne Theatre’s Frankenstein: Resurrection, an original new musical written and directed by Justin Meyer, with music by award-winning composer Chris Thomas.
What could be a more perfect combination? The most gothic story ever written and a gorgeously baroque rock musical set a century after Frankenstein disappeared into the Arctic ice along with his monster.
Frankenstein: Resurrection is an astonishing new musical production at the utterly sublime Nocturne Theatre, formerly the Glendale Center Theatre. I’m thrilled that it was this incredible play that drew me to this place. What a beautiful theatre, darkly romantic, lavish in its Victorian mid-century fusion. A place for furtive clandestine meetings in dimly lit corners and a superb setting for the insanely creative costumes and sets that this unforgettable story inhabits.
It begins in the lab…a floor beneath the infamous Paris morgue where bodies are routinely displayed for the amusement of the masses. I now have the answer to that oft-repeated question: what did we do before social media? The lab belongs, at least for the time being, to Doctor Seraphina Pretorius, whose father was the former director. But her father died on an expedition to retrieve Dr Frankenstein’s notebook in a quest to continue his work of reanimation. He found the book, clutched to the breast of the perfectly preserved body of the man himself.
Frankenstein followed his monster into the ice to ensure no one else would be harmed by him, and it was the monster that watched over him as he lay frozen and waiting for fate or something darker to bring him home for over one hundred years. The monster killed Pretorius to prevent him from continuing the terrible legacy, but he failed to prevent both the bodies and Frankenstein’s notebook from being brought back to Paris. To the morgue, to the lab and to the equally ambitious daughter whose determination to complete her father’s work brings Frankenstein and his monster back to life.
It’s an ingenious concept. With layers of science and fantasy, passions and fear. As Frankenstein himself is brought back, it becomes clearer than ever who was the real monster in the original story and who is to be feared the most in this one.
There are some incredibly inventive additions to this story, not to give anything away at all, but it put me in mind of H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, another gothic horror story. And there is much more nuance that you might expect, much more depth and sorrow and transformative philosophy. And the songs!!!! Absolutely phenomenal. I was completely blown away! This cast was also beyond expectations. Every single actor was superb, fully committed, infinitely gifted, and sang their hearts out…in some instances quite literally!
As the journey through this wonderful production is brought to its torturous and remarkable end, I couldn’t help but wonder what happens next. I think the mark of a successful story is in its echo. I couldn’t shake so many moments from this show. If we are lucky, there might be one or two that stick with us as we wend our way home. Perhaps for a day or two even. But this show has too many to count.
Frankenstein: Resurrection is the real deal. Brilliantly directed, with performances that resonate and ricochet of each other.
The monster is unforgettable and mournful and wise. And everybody else is human, as one might expect. Filled with their own agendas, battling every complication all of us have in our lives and, as usual, coming up a little short. And then there is love in all it’s guises. And those echoes again creating ripples of heartache and unrequited and unrelenting sadness. In the end, it is a monument to the repeating direness of the human race. No matter how many chances we are given to resolve our ridiculous nature, we always seem to scatter them to the wind. But then that does make for some truly incredible art, doesn’t it?
I highly recommend Frankenstein: Resurrection. It is the season for this, after all, and you could not find a more perfect show to dress darkly for; I can promise you!!!! Bring your friends, bring your family, your spouses, your lovers and your dead!!!
When:
September 11-30
Where:
The Nocturne Theatre
324 N Orange St, Glendale
Tickets:
Frankenstein Cast
Jett LaFever (Elsa Pretorius),
Kayla Fast (Seraphina Pretorius)
Justin Meyer (Victor Frankenstein)
Jay Michael Roberts (The Creature)
Brayden Hade (Emile Deschamps)
Jonah Lees (Septimus Pretorius)
Jennifer Karraz (Mary Pretori
Kylie Grogen (Elizabeth)
Diego Huerta-Gutierrez (Dr. Boulanger)
Faith Berrigan (Homunculi)
Bedjou Jean (Explorer)
Pixie LaReina (Specialty Performer)
The Production Team
Sets/props by Jay Michael Roberts
Costumes/creatures by Tanya Cyr