Touching the parts
The human stars of the show included John Carradine, in what would be his last stage role, as the blind beggar.
GIALANELLA Carradine had been making crap – B films, commercials. He was an old man, but he still had that deep, rich whiskey voice. During the previews, Joe rented a screening room and showed us “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein” [from 1935, in which Carradine had an uncredited bit part]. Someone turned to him and said, “It’s such a good movie. What is your memory of that? “He stood for a minute and said,” Two days of work. “
CARRIE ROBBINS, costume designer His hands were so full of arthritis that he couldn’t get dressed. I had a lovely little dresser that could hide in the “fireplace” of the old man’s hut and help him.
Victor Frankenstein’s role went to William Converse-Roberts, a recent graduate from the Yale Drama School who would make his Broadway debut. After extensive auditions by other actors, the Creature’s role went to Keith Jochim, who originated the role in St. Louis.
GIALANELLA Nobody was getting it right. I went to Joe and said, “You need to bring Keith.” They didn’t want to do that. They wanted someone with at least New York credibility.
MARTORELLA Keith’s audition was incredibly moving. We had 10 minutes and he ended up reading for half an hour. Then he came back in the afternoon with the makeup he had designed [for St. Louis]. I wrote in my diary: “It has completely turned into a pile of terror”. I can still see the faces of Tom, Joe and Victor. They were amazed.
The show started loading at the Palace on October 23, 1980. The team started with 15 stage assistants, which quickly increased to three dozen. The start of the previews was delayed by the complexity of Douglas Schmidt’s sets, which rotated on a giant turntable, and by problems with effects such as the Tesla coil, whose total intensity was increased during the rehearsals.