LPO Rep brings 'Young Frankenstein' to life

SANDPOINT — "It is pronounced Fronkensteen."

With an exasperated look, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein glares at his pupils in class at the world prestigious school of medicine to make clear he is NOT like his infamous ancestor.

From the classic lines to characters brought to life — in some cases literally — in the Mel Brooks' movie and musical, "Young Frankenstein" is a beloved classic.

In fact, Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theater founder and director of the local production, Keely Gray said she stumbled across a video of original Broadway cast member Megan Mallaley singing one of the play's songs and said she could just SEE a friend in the role belting out the song.

"It was just one of those things that hit me like a ton of bricks of how much fun it would be," Gray said.

Before long, Gray was reaching out to friends to get their thoughts on if they thought Sandpoint was ready for a repertory theater company. Now, fast forward a few years, LPO Rep launched its inaugural musical Saturday with "Young Frankenstein."

Cast members Mike Clarke, who plays the monster, Andrew Sorg, who plays Frankenstein, to Holly Beaman, who plays Igor (pronounced Eyegor), said they all jumped at the chance to be a part of the production.

"I came up from Oregon where I was really involved in community theater down there," Beaman said. "When I moved up to this area, there just wasn't a lot going on. And so when I heard that they were doing auditions for musical, I was like, there's no way that I was going to not go out for that musical. I've been waiting, waiting for Sandpoint to do something like this for a long time."

Like Beaman, all Clarke said he had to hear was what the production was going to be and he was all in. While he originally tried out for the role of Igor, he said Beaman was destined for the role and he's thrilled to be cast as the monster.

"I absolutely love I've grew up watching 'Young Frankenstein' and … if you know anything about like the original Frankenstein, it's pretty dark. And this one's a little lighter take. It's just someone coming into a world and their take on the world and kind of just being thrown into it like all of us are. I feel like Frankenstein's monster is the rest of us. And was really easy to connect to. I kind of feel like I'm just a big scary toddler."

For the first part of the play, Clarke said his role relies on physical acting and big body movements and then he gets into dancing and singing and having a lot of fun. Although, he said at first the singing gave him a bit of pause.

"Out of all the things I've done on stage because I've done Follies, I've done Shakespeare, I've done local originals, all that stuff; I've done drama," he said. "The only thing that scares me about being on stage is singing on stage. So I asked myself when I took it on, like, why I do this do myself because you know, you don't like having to sing on stage, but you just surround yourself with good people. You just remember, you're doing it for fun. And all that pressure goes out the window."

For Beaman being able to play such an iconic character with some of the play's best lines didn't even enter her mind when she was asked to read the part.

"I just figured I was filling up a space. And so I was I had fun with that, I get to read and I'm just going to have fun," Beaman said. "And so I just got went for it not thinking that they would ever in a million years just consider me for that role. And then the cast list came out and I was just shocked. I was like, 'Really?' And it after the shock wore off. I was like this is gonna be fun. I've never played a character anything like like this before.'

The best part about playing Igor is the sense of humor you get inject into the part, with one funny moment after another after another and after another, Beaman said.

For Sorg, there was never any doubt that he'd be a part of the musical after moving back to the area after several years on the East Coast.

"First off, I love acting," Sorg said. "Second, there's a play in Sandpoint. I'm pretty much going to turn up regardless."

Sorg said he jumped at the chance to play Frankenstein, noting the character goes from someone who refuses to accept any connection to his family to someone who accepts his family connections and history.

"That evolution of the character just allows me to just have fun with it," he said.

Friends with Gray for many years, Sorg also served as a sounding board on the many nuances and pieces needed to put something like LPO Rep together. There was no doubt in either of the friends' minds that live theater, with multiple big productions throughout the years was not only possible but something the community would embrace.

"And that's something that I think like we have the people here who want it, we have the talent in the area that can do it," Sorg said. "Why aren't we doing it? It's like, because we love doing it. They love watching see it, we just need to keep that engine rolling."

Auditions were held in August 2021, with rehearsals starting the following month. The hope, Gray said, was to kick off the two-weekend run on Halloween. Unfortunately, Andrew Sorg, who plays Frankenstein, was diagnosed with COVID and, instead of rushing through in order to hit that original date, the decision was made to push opening night back several months to late February.

While the delay forced some who originally signed on for "Young Frankenstein" to drop out, Gray said most of the team stayed intact – something for which she is appreciative for.

Putting on a production takes a village, with everyone from the cast to the backstage crew to the entire production team working together, Gray said.

One of the things she said she is trying to bring to Sandpoint with LPO Rep is kind of a culture of theater, an understanding of what it takes to put on such large-scale, larger-than-life productions. She wants the entire community to share in the magic, from the auditions to the moment the curtain closes on the last show.

"I'm very adamant about having auditions because I really think it's an opportunity for those who have never tried it before to catch the bug and to really fall in love with theater. And that's kind of what we've experienced with this show," she added.

While she has her "tried and true amazing theater friends" who turned out to auditions, Gray said she met many fabulous people who are now on the cast and fast friends as a result of the auditions.

"I've met so many new people who are so passionate and so talented and who bring so much to the table," she added. "So that's kind of the culture I'm trying to create is just this open door policy of anybody who's excited about performing or being backstage or designing or being a stage manager, that they can kind of come into our family and be welcomed with open arms to explore their talents and their potential and just, you know, soar with us."

The dream of launching a repertory theater company in Sandpoint really can be traced to her days in high school and starring in "Little Shop of Horrors". Knowing the amazing artistic talent in the community — from visual to acting — Gray said she wanted to bring the excitement that Lake City Playhouse in Coeur d'Alene and Spokane Civic Theater in Spokane bring to their respective communities with their productions. She saw a niche for Broadway-style musicals and plays, set apart from Unknown Locals and their original works and the Off Broadway shows put on Dorothy Prophet with the Cade Prophet Memorial Productions.

"What we haven't had in a very long time is somebody doing the well-known plays that have the name recognition," Gray said. "And so that's kind of what LPO Rep is trying to bring to the table is these well-known shows, to put Sandpoint on the map as a place to come see great theater."

A self-described planner, over-thinker and theater nerd, Gray began calling members of the old Unicorn Players and other theater friends to ask them what they thought about launching a repertory theater company. Almost all thought it was an incredible idea and encouraged Gray to pursue the idea.

Still those early days, Gray went on to found LPO Rep as a 501(c)3 nonprofit with Sorg, Kate McAlister and Charis Uzabel as a way to bring big-name plays and musical productions to Sandpoint.

"And they're all a part of the show, which you know, when you're on a budget when you're blooming nonprofit, you have to have all hands on deck, all boots to the ground so they've really been my support structure for going forward," Gray said. "And then along the way, since starting the company, through this show, we found a lot of people who kind of have expressed to me, we want to do this with you, like we're here with you to build this company."

"Young Frankenstein" is just the beginning for LPO Rep, with Gray said they hope to put on four to six productions a year and a youth summer theater camp is in the works in July. In addition, a winter one-act play production will serve as a training ground for people who want to get in on the ground floor to learn everything from stage management to directing. Another intensive training session will focus on acting, dancing and singing.

"Our goal is, is to kind of create this culture, where theater's not only accessible but you have a place to learn the skills and understand what it is to be a professional in theater," Great said. "Because that's ultimately my dream is to create more mes, more professionals who can be in our community and can produce great theater because my hope is that 50 years from now, Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theater is still going and still going strong and producing all of these amazing plays and has, like, all community buy-in so that everybody feels like oh yeah, what's LPO Rep doing this year, I want to go see their shows, or maybe I'll audition for LPO Rep this year."

While she has a bucket list of 20 plays and musicals she'd like LPO Rep to tackle, perhaps the biggest dream musical is "Guys and Dolls", Gray said. From the music to the characters to the dance numbers, the show is iconic and continues to have staying power.

Gray said the fact that LPO is where it's at is due to local support from the community and from such business as the 219 to Beet and Basil for hosting fundraisers and offering encouragement.

That support allows them to bring the magic of live theater to the community with LPO Rep.

"There's nothing like it," Sorg said. "You get the interactions with the people on stage, you get the interactions with the audience. It's why you have so many people who get famous doing a lot of different things, and they'll still want to go back and do theater, because theater has so much of a draw for a person on stage that you just you just love it."

Performances are set for today, Feb. 20, and for Feb. 26 and 27.