By BRYAN CHRISTOPHER
Frank Henenlotter’s 1990 schlockfest Frankenhooker has almost everything for fans of campy horror: a ludicrous plot, insane dialogue and delightfully ridiculous special effects. But what it doesn’t have is a single musical number.
That’s where Tacoma, Washington’s Ethereal Kaos Productions comes in, as founders Ethereal and Keos Rosenblum have adapted the film into FRANKENHOOKER: A NEW WAVE MUSICAL. The show premiered on Thursday, June 18th, at the Blue Mouse Theatre in Tacoma, with a follow-up performance on Friday, June 26th, at Seattle’s Puget Sound Theatre. RUE MORGUE got to sit in for a sneak peek at their rehearsals and chat with the cast and crew.
The seed for a Frankenhooker musical was planted when Ethereal and Keos caught the film for the first time at Tacoma’s Friday Night Frights event. “I was immediately picturing a stage play for it,” explains Ethereal. “We really like doing shadowcasts [events where live actors pantomime movies while the movie plays in the background]. We used to be part of the Rocky Horror troupe out here. And we’ve done shadowcasts for Beetlejuice and Little Shop of Horrors. So we had done those before, and we thought, what if we foray into our first ever complete stage musical?”
So the Ethereal Kaos team went into writing mode, crafting lyrics for thirteen original songs, and getting help from Anthony Dluzak (host of Friday Night Frights) and Argentinian composer Analia Lentini to craft melodies meant to blend new wave music like The Cure and Depeche Mode with Broadway showstoppers.
Enthusiasm at the rehearsal was infectious. Ronnie Powers, who plays lead Jeffrey Franken, wasn’t even envisioning getting a major role. “I’ll play random victim #25,” he recalls telling Ethereal Kaos. “I don’t give a crap; I just want to be in the show.” Now he finds himself having to learn not just dialogue, but lyrics and choreography for some very wild songs. (Just wait until you get a load of “Supercrack”!)
But for those worried the music will come at the expense of the effects, prop master and performer Beetle has you covered. She’s created props for multiple shows, including the sandworm for the Beetlejuice shadowcast and several versions of Audrey 2 for Little Shop of Horrors. For Frankenhooker, Beetle has recreated all the “hits” you remember from the film, from a brain with an eyeball in the middle and an exploding guinea pig to a bowl full of tits that Beetle admits she created just because she wanted to see it.
What’s more, Beetle doesn’t just build the props; she actually inhabits some of them, as seen in her rendition of “Path of Least Resistance.” She’s inside the automated lawnmower that makes mincemeat of Elisabeth, the poor woman who would become Frankenhooker.
Speaking of Elisabeth, burlesque performer Khitty Khataclysmic gives her own fresh spin on the titular character, bringing new life to a role that Ethereal Kaos reworked to add more depth and agency. You’ll get a chance to see Elisabeth dig deeper into what happened to her and how she’s going to get revenge on her creator. As Khitty explains, the result will satisfy both long-time Frankenhooker fans and people who’ve never even heard of the movie.
“If you have seen the movie, you haven’t seen it done this way. It’s got more fleshed-out dynamics. It’s still a little misogynistic because we know what the movie is. However, we’ve definitely helped add in more modern ideologies, and there are more feminist approaches that they go for. It’s not like the movie you’ve seen. For people who haven’t seen it, I just think they’ll enjoy it anyway because of the ridiculousness. It’s an interesting story; while we do have comedy, there’s still a little bit of gore, and there’s a little bit of sexiness because, ya know, crack hookers… If you can get past some of the weird stuff, I think you’ll have a great time!”
Based on what I’ve seen so far, this is definitely a perfect evening for those who “wanna date.”
Check out the official Etheral Kaos Productions Facebook page for more information. Click here for tickets to the June 26 performance FRANKENHOOKER: A NEW WAVE MUSICAL at Puget Sound Theatre.
