This month marks the bicentennial of the first theatrical adaptation of Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein, “Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein” by Richard Brinsley Peake, which premiered on July 28, 1823. This coincides with the release of the most recent adaptation, the Joe LoBianco film, FRANKENSTEIN, Eric B. Sirota’s musical theater work which ran Off-Broadway on-stage for three years prior to the pandemic. It opened in 2017 around the time of the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s novel, which was written in 1816 and published in 1818.
In Mary Shelley‘s novel (entitled “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”), Victor Frankenstein works in isolation. He tells no one of his endeavors. He does not share it with Elizabeth, his best friend Henry, or his teachers, and he has no assistant. This is actually key to the story since Victor’s flaw as a scientist was not “hubris” as is often said, but according to Sirota, a scientist himself, “his lack of collaboration, mentorship, and peer review." In his new adaptation, that was maintained. But Victor’s main flaw which led to the tragic outcome, was not about science, but his lack of empathy for his creation, his child; in a sense it is about bad parenting. And Sirota’s musical is about the human need for love and companionship; the heart of Mary Shelley‘s story.
In popular culture, the character known as Igor, Victor’s assistant, has become embedded in people’s minds as part of Frankenstein. However, no such character existed or could have existed in Mary Shelley‘s novel, for the reason described above. Igor was not a 20th-century Hollywood invention. The 1823 stage adaptation, Presumption, had added a character named Fritz, a bumbling assistant. In fact, in the 1931 Hollywood classic, the assistant was named Fritz. It later evolved into what we now know as Igor, first appearing in Son of Frankenstein (1939) where Bela Lugosi played “Ygor.” And canonized as “Aiy-gor” in Young Frankenstein. Recently the 2015 film, Victor Frankenstein, is described as the story told through the eyes of Igor, played by Daniel Radcliffe.
One can understand why such a character would have been created for a stage adaptation. Unless the play was framed as a monologue to Walton, the ship captain who rescued him from the ice in the Arctic, as Mary Shelley’s novel was, he would have no one to talk to. It clearly makes a play or film easier to write, even if it changes key elements of Mary Shelley’s story. Adaptations are just that – adaptations. Being ‘true to the story’ is a relative thing. The novel was structured and written by Mary Shelley as a work for the printed page. Stage and screen are different mediums. Adaptation is necessary. Sirota describes his work as “a contemporary work of musical theatre which honors the source material.”
But to adapt Frankenstein as a work of musical theatre successfully in this way was not an easy task. The novel is not structured in a way easily conducive to it. And perhaps that is why it took Sirota 36 years to learn the craft, write and rework, till it opened Off-Broadway in NY in 2017.
It was another adaptation of Frankenstein that spurred him to write the musical. According to Sirota, “I first read Frankenstein in 8th grade. In 1981, during winter break of my first year in grad school at Harvard where I was studying Physics, my mother took me to a preview of the infamously short-lived Broadway production of the Gialanella play, based on Mary Shelley's novel (NYT: A Frankenstein That Never Lived). I thought, ‘Why aren’t they singing?!’ I re-read the book and heard the story sing in my head as a musical. Like Victor Frankenstein, I was a scientist working towards my degree, far from home and far from the girl I loved, and the story spoke to me both intellectually and emotionally. At that point, I decided to adapt the novel as a musical.”
The new film adaptation is not simply a video capture of a live stage performance, the kind which is quite prevalent now. It was reimagined for the screen and filmed and edited like a movie musical with studio-recorded songs, edited effects, and much post-production. The musical score was expanded and orchestrated, and the cast was also enlarged. Some scenes were re-ordered and a song was added. However, the fundamental choices made in Sirota’s stage adaptation remain.
Directed by Joe LoBianco, this film is produced by John Lant and Tamra Pica in collaboration with Write Act Repertory, Tin Mirror Productions, and Gatehouse Entertainment. It was reimagined and restaged by John Lant for the film medium and directed by Joe LoBianco, with technical consultant Tom DiOrio and fellow producers Maarten Cornelis, Eric B. Sirota, and Cara London.
The cast is led by Daniel Robert Burns (Victor Frankenstein), Marc Christopher (Creature), Grace Hwoang (Elizabeth Lavenza), Tim Bacskai (Henry Clerval), Ren King (Innkeeper), Jay Lucas Chacon (Innkeeper), Daryl Glenn (Victor's Father) and Lauren Coccaro (Justine), with Julie McNamara, Isaiah Delgado, Rebecca Ponticello and Melissa Cathcart.
The musical director is Kent Jeong Eun Kim, and the orchestrations are by Kent Jeong Eun Kim, Kim Jinhyoung & Eric B. Sirota.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the few classic novels still frequently read, especially in schools. There is a discount for group licensing, good for both group showing or individual access for each person, details of which can be found on the website.
Later this year, Avail Films will release a DVD version of Frankenstein, which will also feature a "Behind the Scenes” bonus feature which includes extended interviews with the cast and crew.
For further information, please visit www.thefrankensteinmusical.com and www.streamingmusicals.com to stream Frankenstein on demand.