Note to Mary Shelley fans: Frankenstein, the musical adaptation of the lady's 1818 novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, beats Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein to the starting bell if not to the punch. The Jeffrey Jackson-Mark Baron effort certainly doesn't beat Brooks to the punchline, because the creators are in no mood to be satirical. Working from an adaptation by Gary P. Cohen of the original story, they've made an attempt to be as faithful as possible to Shelley's ultra-solemn cautionary tale. The intention may be honorable, but the results are as lumbering as the Frankenstein monster's gait.



From the get-go, it's plain as the mic arms curling around the faces of the[...]