Young Frankenstein - The Musical is Benchmark Musical Theatre's debut at New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth | Interview

Aside from a gala concert last summer, this is the company’s first show, directed by Benchmark’s founder Nick Williams.

A relatively new musical – it had its West End debut in 2017 – it is an adaptation of Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy classic film, itself spoofing the 1930s Frankenstein films.

The grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein inherits his family’s estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick, Igor, and a leggy lab assistant, Inga, Frederick finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors...

Adam Fox takes on the role of Frederick, but as he admits, ‘I knew absolutely nothing about either the film or the musical,’ when he was approached by Nick to audition for the part.

‘I know Mel Brooks did The Producers, which I do know, and it runs in the same vein as that, so in terms of the style of show, I sank into that quite easily. But the show and film themselves, I knew nothing about. So I did the research and I've watched the film since to check out the source material to see where it's all derived from.’

Sarah Melville plays Frederick’s love interest – Inga. Her and Adam have known each other since studying together at Chichester University and are both now also committee members at Chichester Amateur Operatic Society (CAOS).

They most recently performed together in that company’s Half a Sixpence.

But as Sarah says: ‘It's really good to be together again. It's the first kind of real romantic pairing we've had.

‘We did Half a Sixpence together where we were kind of opposite each other, but not quite – it's nice to do a show and have so many scenes with him because we tend to be in shows where he's on one side of the stage and I'm on the other side and we don't often get to interact.’

Sarah was also unfamiliar with the show before this.

‘My mum went to see it when it was in the West End and I remember her talking about how great and how funny it was, but I didn't know the film or any of the music so it was all completely new to me.

‘I had a listen to all the music and thought it sounded like such a fun show. Obviously it's Mel Brooks so it's got that jazzy, zany, silly style to it. I read the plot description and thought it sounded like it could be really good fun.’

The show was originally planned to run in January, but was postponed because of Covid concerns. After taking a month away from it, the cast resumed rehearsals.

Adam says: ‘It's given us that chance to come back at it with an extra couple of months, where we already know the script and what's going on, and finesse bits.

‘It's really nice to have that extended time to lift the level and I think it's helped us all out.’

Sarah adds: ‘I think it was absolutely the right decision to move it back a bit because of Covid, with another potential wave.

‘I'm not complaining because it has given us a bit more time to refine everything and to just have more time together.’

And it sounds like the cast have had a lot of fun putting the show together.

‘We've had such a great time,’ says Sarah. ‘There's a lot of others I didn't know in the cast before this, and we've all become really close friends, having a good laugh together.’

Young Frankenstein is at New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth from April 19-22. Go to newtheatreroyal.com.