Hunter Foster: Dr. Frankenstein's Creation
What are the odds that a real-life brother and sister would win leading roles in two different musicals with "Frankenstein" in the title—and that the shows would open in New York exactly a week apart? When the siblings in question are Hunter and Sutton Foster, the casting overlap doesn't seem all that surprising. Since storming onto the Broadway scene a decade ago, the multitalented pair has snagged a series of choice roles both on and off Broadway, leading to their current gigs in Frankenstein Hunter plays the title role in the new off-Broadway musical at 37 Arts and Young Frankenstein Sutton is blonde bombshell Inga in Mel Brooks' Broadway extravaganza. Older sib Hunter has worked his way up from small parts in Grease and Footloose to star turns in Urinetown, The Producers and a Tony-nominated performance as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. Along the way, he also found time to write the book of the musical Summer of '42. Broadway.com asked the multitalented Foster to chart the progress of the new Frankenstein and, not surprisingly, he ended up offering a few loving nudges at his little sister.
My name is Victor Frankenstein—not Frahnkenshtein, as heard in some circles. I have spent the last four weeks on a new "creation." I can't really go into details, but it's an off-Broadway musical. An art form that is claimed to be dead. Thirteen of us gathered together on a sunny September morn to help revive this creature. To bring the art form back to life.
First Day: I have just flown back from a villa in Italy no, seriously, I am jet-lagged and a little ragged. We start rehearsals not with music, choreography or acting, but with a walk along "the grid." What is the grid, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. But if you are reading this, promise not to tell anyone, especially Mel Brooks—he might steal some of our secrets. The grid is the lines placed on the rehearsal room floor that represent the set of the musical being working on. It lets the cast know where a door is, and so forth. We all begin our walk along the taped-down lines, discovering movements, gestures, anything that can inform us of our characters and our relationships with the other folks involved with this "creation." When we encounter another person along the grid, we are to change intentions, focus, levels… at this point I want to change jobs. But it only takes a few days to notice that we are all suddenly acting as a company. We become aware of each other's movements and sounds. Walking the grid allows us to react on impulse. Hopefully this will transfer to the stage as a way to make the performance spontaneous and organic.
Holy Opera, Batman! As we go deeper into rehearsals of this new "creation," we transfer the grid to the stage and begin our work there. I soon realize that I have maybe five lines in the entire show. The rest is sung. Oh, well, there go my late nights of cheese plates, shiraz and Match Game reruns… I gotta rest that voice! This "creation" is a sung-through musical!
Hot Stuff: Costumes are added, the sound design takes shape, the final set pieces come into place and the enormous lighting plot begins to fire up. And boy is this "creation" hot! A dense collection of lights hovering over the center of the stage, something like ten thousand instruments beaming down on me as if I was Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Somebody get me the SPF 45.
Sydney Again: I thought I saw Garner outside the stage door. Yeah, she kind of reminds me of my sister. But I know my sister can't kick bad guys' ass like J.G. can…
It's Alive! Tonight is the birth. First preview…when this "creation" becomes a fledgling off-Broadway musical, ready to swim amongst shark-filled waters. It begins its long journey towards its final maturation on opening night at 37 Arts. By that date, I feel sure that I will have received every Frankenstein mug, sticker, magazine article, DVD, book, key chain and little green bolt-necked doll known to man. But here is my caveat: I will rewrap them and give them to my sister for her opening night a week later. Pretty smart, huh? Just don't tell her about it or about the grid…
The Funny Frankenstein: The "Frankenstein-that-must-not-be-named" has just started previews on Broadway. People ask me why they should see our show. I say see both… but if you have to see just one, remember we're $400 cheaper. And, as my co-star Jim Stanek likes to say, "We're funnier backstage."