SHULER HENSLEY
REVIEWS
Young Frankenstein
New York
The production offers confirmation of the distinctive, very different talents of Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley and Andrea Martin. ..... Shuler Hensley (Jud in the most recent Broadway revival of Oklahoma!) is terrific, turning Frankenstein’s Monster into the most human character onstage. ..... Ms. Stroman pulls out all the stops for "Puttin on the Ritz". But what really makes it fly is Mr. Hensley’s evocation of the monster’s pleasure in what he’s doing. This big galoot of a mannequin is being seduced by the singular joys of musical comedy and loving it. (Ben Brantley, New York Times)
The Monster is brilliantly played by Shuler Hensley, and the gleeful look he gives the poor lug’s stagestruck eyes is something to behold. He’s alive! Truly. (John Heilpern, New York Observer)
Shuler Hensley plays Dr. Frankenstein's creation with the same kind of lovely pathos that made his Jud Fry the most likable character in Broadway's most recent Oklahoma! revival ..... the frightened creature hesitantly taps out the dance steps he was taught, gradually gaining confidence with the audience's approval ..... and, in the smartest artistic choice of the night, proves himself to be a pretty good hoofer, gleaming with inexpressible joy with every shuffle ball change. (Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld)
As the monster, Shuler Hensley is even better than Peter Boyle, intimating delicacy and heart behind his gross jokes. (Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Shuler Hensley fills the creature's over-size shoes with flair. (Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News)
Shuler Hensley contributes a monster who progresses from creepiness to cuddlesomeness and proves no mean hoofer along the way. (John Simon, Bloomberg.com)
Shuler Hensley, playing the big lug who segues into plummy elegance, more than rivals the late Peter Boyle. (Malcolm Johnson, Hartford Courant)
Once introduced, Shuler Hensley's monster is a scream and a half, allowing Young Frankenstein to explode into musical comedy mania. (Leonard Jacobs, Backstage)
There are three exceptional performances that make you feel you're not just watching the movie again: Christopher Fitzgerald's Igor; the Frau Blücher of Andrea Martin, who can match Charles Busch in the camp department anytime; and Shuler Hensley's monster, animated by a musical-theater flair that was never part of the late Peter Boyle's persona. (Michael Feingold, Village Voice)
Shuler Hensley, a monster with the mostest. (Misha Berson, Seattle Times)
The monster (Shuler Hensley) is a very credible monster and yet manages to be sexy enough to make the Frankenstein version of the Jewish American princess (an appropriately glamorous Megan Mullaly) swoon. (Elyse Sommer, CurtainUp)
The endearing Shuler Hensley. (Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail)
"Puttin' on the Ritz" shows off the tamed monster (a comically braying Shuler Hensley) and an accompanying chorus in top hat, tails, and platform boots ..... Hensley, who won the Tony as the oafish Jud Fry in the 2002 Oklahoma! revival and more recently played a gorilla in Tarzan, adds impressively to his list of brawn-not-brains types. (David Finkle, Theatermania)
The glowering Shuler Hensley is a stitch as his Monster lumbers through the show's "Puttin' on the Ritz" highlight. (Michael Sommers, NJ Star-Ledger)
The creature who comes off best is Shuler Hensley’s The Monster, a pleasingly human and humane creation, despite his bulk. As one surely hoped, the legendary “Puttin’ on the Ritz” sequence is once again hilarious. (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune)
Andrea Martin's Frau Blucher and Shuler Hensley's Monster are demonically adorable ..... We regret that Hensley doesn't get to use his gorgeous baritone throughout the show, but he makes a splendidly human creature. (Linda Winer, Newsday)
Martin, one of the funniest people on Earth, is the one true natural in the production - Shuler Hensley, as a monster groomed for stardom, is a close second ..... The monster's visit to the cottage of a kindly and thoroughly accident-prone blind man (Fred Applegate) ably summons the ghost of slapstick past. (Peter Marks, Washington Post)
Shuler Hensley (the Monster), Andrea Martin (Frau Blucher) and Christopher Fitzgerald (Igor) are wonderful, providing unadulterated slapstick entertainment. (Matt Windman, AM New York)
Shuler Hensley gets to show off some fine silent-comedy skills as the fearsome Monster who just wants to be loved. (David Rooney, Variety)
The grotesque yet curiously poignant monster (Shuler Hensley) performs a hilarious top-hat-and-tails routine. (Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph)
The creature (a delightfully lumbering Shuler Hensley). (Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press)
Hensley makes "Puttin' on the Ritz" the show-stopper it should be. (Robert Bianco, USA Today)
As the Monster, Tony winner Shuler Hensley is both sweet and sour à la Peter Boyle. (Tom O'Neil, LA Times)
Shuler Hensley stomps, growls, and tap dances memorably as the monster. (Eric Grode, New York Sun)
Shuler Hensley as The Monster, and Fred Applegate provide nimble support and are called on to carry two of the best-remembered scenes from the movie: the Monster’s hilariously disastrous slapstick visit with the hermit, and the one musical number actually in the film, “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” (Randall A. Byrn, Blogcritics Magazine)
Hensley lends the nearest thing this show has to a heart to the lumbering 7-foot green-headed monster. (Jacques Le Sourd, The Journal News)
Young Frankenstein does, indeed, create his own monster (a deftly hulking Shuler Hensley). (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times)
Seattle
Shuler Hensley as the Monster (a role he has also played in the film Van Helsing) has a powerful presence which sucks you into watching his facial and body movements - critical to the success of his mainly mute role. And when Hensley does let loose in choreographic terms for "Puttin' on the Ritz" or to briefly vocalize on the "Deep Love" reprise, the only description adequate is (to borrow the Monster's famous lyric by Irving Berlin) super duper! (David-Edward Hughes, Talkin' Broadway)
..... the eponymous monster brought winningly to life here by Shuler Hensley ..... The musical’s other dance peak comes midway in act two with the tap extravaganza of “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” enlivened by Hensley’s inarticulate scatting. The actor delights when melting to reveal the soft cry-baby beneath the hulking brute. (David Rooney, Variety)
The casting is uncommonly deep, with all the leads demonstrating a similar old-school combo of versatility, chops, and star power ..... Shuler Hensley's performance as Frankenstein's monster stretches even more widely from slapstick to (once the monster masters speech) a dash of grandeur and pathos. (Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly)
With assists from platform boots and rigor-mortis face paint, Shuler Hensley plays the monster with a toweringly funny mix of staggering and stammering, grace and eloquence. The joys of his big production number include hallucinatory slow strobe-light effects and an amazing me-and-my-shadow soft shoe sequence. (Joe Adcock, Seattle P-I)
Shuler Hensley, under pounds of green rubber as the Monster, is still able to convey the man within the grimacing beast. As in The Producers, the highlight of the play is the show within the show, starring the Monster in an amped-up, full-fledged production number version of "Puttin’ on the Ritz." (Seattlest)
But the biggest hit of all is the tap-dance duet with Frankenstein and monster on “Puttin' on the Ritz,” a takeoff on Fred Astaire’s dance to the Irving Berlin song. ..... The real standouts are the supporting players, including ..... Shuler Hensley as the monster. (Alec Clayton, Tacoma News Tribune)
Shuler Hensley, a menacing Monster and light-footed hoofer, and Christopher Fitzgerald's zany Igor, were opening-night favorites." (Philip Boroff, Bloomberg.com)
As the monster, Hensley doesn't get to sing much (he's got a great basso voice), but he lumbers around like a stun-gunned bull, and with Fred Applegate adeptly revives the film's funniest set piece: the monster's slapstick visit with a blind hermit. (Misha Berson, Seattle Times)
As for The Monster, played by Shuler
Hensley, the signature piece is "Puttin' on the Ritz," a
larger-than-life tap number enhanced with strobe lights and a cast of
dancers clad in clumsy monster shoes. (Theresa Goffredo, Everett
Herald)