May River Theatre to open season with ‘Young Frankenstein’

The May River Theatre will open its 2016-2017 season with the side-splitting musical comedy “Young Frankenstein.”

It’s a move director Travis Hornsby said the theater company wanted to make not only to open with something light and humorous, but to pay tribute to the comedy genius of Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks.

“The movie itself already has a cult following so to bring that to stage? It’s just going to be a lot of fun,” said Hornsby who, while new to the director’s chair, is a veteran of the May River stage.

Written by Wilder and Brooks and brought to the big screen in 1974, “Young Frankenstein” follows the same hilarious yarn depicted in the movie — a young lecturing physician tries to distance himself from his infamous ancestor by insisting that his surname be pronounced “Fronkensteen.”

It’s a brand of comedy that’s instantly recognizable by audiences, Hornsby said.

“...Brooks writes in such a way that it’s an accessible type of humor,” he said.

And those who are more than a little familiar with the film will remember the hysterically funny Marty Feldman who played Frankenstein’s sidekick Igor.

“The original character Marty Feldman (played) ...was so iconic,” Hornsby said. “His look and his actions. It was a package deal. So we wanted to pay tribute to that, but do our own thing with it too.”

That iconic character is played by talented newcomer Stephan Brannan, Hornsby said.

Daniel Bittick, who played loveable nerd Seymour in the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts’ “Little Shop of Horrors” is back playing Dr. Frankenstein. Madison Ogburn, who played Annie Oakley in May River’s “Annie Get Your Gun” plays Inga.

The cast is having a great time with the production, Hornsby said, and working to keep it fresh.

But no matter how many times you’ve sat and watched and pointed at the screen and clutched your side laughing, the genius of “Young Frankenstein” is “still funny in its own magical way,” Hornsby said.

“I mean I’m the director,” he said. “But even when I’m sitting there watching it over and over again, I’m still laughing every time.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 4:56 PM.