Seeing Young Frankenstein with my favorite theater companion

                So, I’ve decided to admit it to myself: I still hate the balcony.  But, what I’ve realized is that I love theater more than I hate the balcony.  It sounds silly, but it’s the truth.  Sure, I’d so much rather be in the front row than the back row; I’d also rather be in the back row than not in the theater at all.

                I promise this is going somewhere.  I sat in the back row again.  I got student rush tickets for a Saturday matinee (of course) of Young Frankenstein at the Durham Performing Arts Center.  My date for the show was my wonderful father, who was in town for a father/daughter extravaganza weekend.  I used my student ID to buy the $12 tickets, and my dad bought the beverages.  My dad was my theater companion throughout my childhood and adolescence, so it was great to be back at the theater, just me and him.

                So, even though we were in the very back row, the show was super.  My father and I both enjoyed it very much.  It turns out that we were the perfect theatergoing team for Young Frankenstein because the show has such an array of pop culture references, we were able to fill each other in.  He would turn to me and whisper “Jimmy Stewart,” and I would turn to him and whisper “Fergie.”  And while it was appropriate for my father and I to attend together, there were some especially young folks in the seats in front of us (parents and two kids, both younger than eight), and I think the subject matter was a little mature for them.  I cringed when Elizabeth says “tits” about 87 times in a row, hoping that the children wouldn’t be scarred for life.  Well, they seemed to handle it fine, and stayed for the entire show (and were quite well-behaved!), but I think I would advise parents not to bring kids younger than middle school to Young Frankenstein.

                I haven’t seen the movie, and was almost entirely unfamiliar with the show.  I knew that “Puttin’ on the Ritz” was in it, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  My dad had seen the movie.   I felt that the show was classic and contemporary, and my dad said that it was a great adaptation of the film.  His quote was “you know the lines, but you still laugh.”  That’s the best kind of humor – when it never gets old.

                I really wish I could have seen the show when it was in New York, but I’m so glad I got the chance to see it here (even from the balcony).  I hope it gets revived sometime on Broadway, because I don’t think it really got the appreciation it deserved the first time around.

                And, I’m working on learning to love the balcony.  I’ll let you know how that goes.