NOW WE'RE COOKIN'!

Standing ovations have become de rigeur on Broadway but not in concert halls and opera houses, where they occur far less often and, therefore, mean something. Even more special is the standing "o" that greets an artist not at the end of a performance but at the beginning, as soon as she walks on stage. When that happens, you know you're in the presence of a someone who has earned the unconditional love and admiration of audiences through decades of stellar work. That certainly describes Barbara Cook, who celebrated her 80th birthday year with two concerts at Avery Fisher Hall on Monday and Tuesday, November 19 and 20, thrillingly supported by the New York Philharmonic under Lee Musiker.

Yes, the audience cheered and leapt to its feet en masse when Cook took the Fisher Hall stage for last night's performance, looking beautiful and slimmer than in some recent appearances. The Philharmonic had paved the way for her entrance with a joyous, rousing account of the overture to Candide, the Leonard Bernstein operetta in which Cook starred on Broadway more than 50 years ago.

There followed a variously romantic, swinging, funny, and heartbreaking set of songs, many of which Cook has sung often in such venues as the Cafe Carlyle, the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Carnegie Hall, and the Metropolitan Opera House. But the evening was sparked by some new or at least newish selections -- and, of course, by the Philharmonic, which accompanied Cook in more than half of the program. She began with "Lucky to Be Me" from On the Town and then said to the audience, "I can't tell you how pleased I am to be singing again with this great band up here," noting that the last time she and the Philharmonic made music together was in the memorable 1985 concert performances of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Therein lies the extra-special magic of this week's event. Over the past several years, Cook has appeared regularly in all sorts of New York City clubs, theaters, and concert halls, but even when performing in such vast venues as the Met and Carnegie Hall, her instrumental accompaniment has been limited to a small handful of musicians. So it's impossible to overstate the thrill of hearing her do her stuff with nearly 100 players supporting her for the bulk of the Avery Fisher program.

Highlights included Rodgers and Hammerstein's "It Might as Well Be Spring" (from State Fair); "A Wonderful Guy" and "This Nearly Was Mine" (both from South Pacific); insouciant renditions of "Give Me the Simple Life" and "Nobody Else But Me"; and the utterly charming ditty "My Dog Loves Your Dog," which Cook told us has been recorded by Cliff Edwards, a.k.a. "Ukulele Ike," a.k.a. the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the classic Disney film Pinocchio. Cook sure knows how to balance a program: She followed her moving performances of "Lost in the Stars" and "No More" (the latter from Into the Woods) with an uplifting sing-through of "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive," presented in a piquant, cha-cha like orchestral arrangement.

Anyone who has experienced Cook in live performance knows that she's famous for her "unplugged" encores, and the song she picked for that treatment on this occasion was so apropos and so well suited to her voice that it almost seemed to have been written for her: "Some Other Time" from On the Town, by Bernstein, Comden & Green.

There's another salient aspect of Cook's concerts that should be mentioned: Whatever the venue, she likes to perform with the house lights up to half. This sometimes can be mildly distracting, as when certain audience members arrive late or have to nip out for a bathroom break in the middle of the proceedings; but it does create an increased sense of connection between Cook and the public that outweighs the distractions. Smart woman, our Barbara!

In a previous review, I half-jokingly suggested that Cook should will her body to science in the hope that someone will discover how in the world she was able to retain a gorgeous, seamless, full-service soprano into her 80th year. I'm no expert, but I think the fact that she never "belts" high notes in raw chest voice has a lot to do with it. (Are you listening, up-and-coming theater girls?) Also, it's intriguing how Cook revels in sustaining high notes on the long "e" vowel (as in "me" and "be"), whereas that particular placement is anathema to most singers because, to some extent, it closes the mouth and the throat. This is just one indication that Cook's voice is unique, as is her artistry.

It has just been announced that Cook will be giving a special encore performance with the Philharmonic on January 8. My advice is to get your tickets now. It's always great to hear this lady sing under any circumstances -- but, as she herself has often said (and sung), "It's better with a band!"

12 GREAT SHOWS YOU CAN SEE WHILE THE STRIKE IS ON

Is there a silver lining to the dark cloud of the stagehands' strike against the League of American Theatres and Producers? Well, yes. Even while disappointing thousands of folks who had their hearts set on seeing Spring Awakening, Jersey Boys, Wicked, The Lion King, and other hits, this unprecedented event is giving a huge box-office lift to some worthy shows that are still playing -- either because they're Off-Broadway productions not covered by the disputed contract, or they're among the eight Broadway shows operating under separate agreements. Here are 12 recommendations on what to see:

Altar Boyz
This show about the five members of a boy band singing and dancing their hearts out in their first NYC gig has been running for more than two and a half years at New World Stages, but it has never really become the monster hit it deserves to be. The only possible explanation is that it's Off-Broadway rather than on, with all the unfortunate and unwarranted stigma this still seems to carry for some theatergoers, especially tourists. But ask anyone who has seen it: Altar Boyz is one of the best shows in town. It's playing at New World Stages on 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, right on the fringe of the midtown theater district. P.S.: From what I hear, the current "boyz" are as cute and talented as the originals.

Die Mommie Die!
Charles Busch is beloved as the author/drag star of The Lady in Question, Psycho Beach Party, Red Scare on Sunset, and other Off-Broadway genre spoofs. Now he has brought his unique brand of comic genius to midtown for the first time -- that is, unless you count his Broadway hit The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which Busch wrote but in which he did not star. Die Mommie Die! is set in Hollywood in the '60s. It's the twisted tale of Angela Arden, a has-been singer/actress who has skeletons in her closet and whose home life is weird beyond belief. The show is so funny that, after seeing it, you may require medical attention for your split slides and your busted guts. It's at New World Stages, so you can buy tickets for it when you go to see Altar Boyz.

The Fantasticks
Having run in Greenwich Village for more than 40 years (!!!), this exquisite musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt went north last year and is now ensconced at the Snapple Theater Center, 1627 Broadway at 50th Street. If you missed it downtown, fear not: The new production is virtually a carbon copy of the one that entranced audiences from 1960 through the millennium. Revel once again in this timeless story of young lovers and in such immortal songs as "Try to Remember," "They Were You," and "Soon It's Gonna Rain." Bonus: Earlier this year, the theater within the Snapple Center that houses The Fantasticks was named after Jerry Orbach, who created the role of El Gallo in the show 47 years ago. Now the lobby houses a photo gallery tribute to Orbach that will warm the hearts of his many fans.

Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening
So you can't see Spamalot, Jersey Boys, or Spring Awakening because they're dark during the strike? No problem! These shows and many others are brilliantly skewered in the latest edition of Gerard Alessandrini's evergreen Off-Broadway hit, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. (Can you believe it?) The current cast is terrific, the new material is screamingly funny -- and whereas some previous incarnations of the show played in locations far from Times Square, this one is going strong at the 47th Street Theatre, just west of Eighth Avenue.

The Glorious Ones
I haven't yet seen this new musical, so I can't personally vouch for it. But, as a colleague of mine succinctly stated, any show with a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Seussical, Once on This Island) is a must-see and a must-hear. The Glorous Ones is about the joys and tribulations of a commedia dell'arte troupe. Marc Kudisch, one of the most prodigiously talented performers on the New York theater scene, heads the cast.

Mauritius
Two half-sisters are in possession of a stamp collection including two particular stamps that may be worth millions. Some philatelists are highly interested in the collection, but it's not clear which if any of them can be trusted. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the sisters are at odds over who can claim rightful ownership of the stamps. Theresa Rebeck's Mauritius has a few plot holes, but it's still a gripping play, and the Manhattan Theatre Club production boasts excellent performances by Alison Pill, Katie Finneran, F. Murray Abraham, Dylan Baker, and Bobby Cannavale.

Peter and Jerry
Edward Albee, who is generally regarded as the greatest living American playwright, took his famous one-act "The Zoo Story" -- about a strange encounter between two men in Central Park -- and wrote a companion piece for it, titled "Homelife." Both are now being performed at the Second Stage Theatre on West 43rd Street, under the title Edward Albee's Peter and Jerry. Critics and audiences alike have been raving about the plays and the production, which stars Johanna Day, Bill Pullman, and Dallas Roberts in a truly unnerving performance as Jerry.

Pygmalion
As I've written before in this column, film and television star Claire Danes is wonderful as Eliza Doolittle in the George Bernard Shaw play upon which the classic musical My Fair Lady is based. Fortunately, this is a Roundabout production at the American Airlines Theater, so it's not affected by the stagehands' strike. David Grindley's direction is a bit heavy-handed, and Jefferson Mays' characterization of Henry Higgins has proven to be controversial. But, overall, the show plays beautifully -- and Danes' performance is not to be missed.

The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular
Yes, the nativity scene still seems a non-sequitur, and it's been somewhat Vegas-ized this year. Also, the show has a hokey new sequence about a little boy who firmly believes in Christmas even though his older brother has his doubts. But, but, but: The sets and special effects are amazing, the costumes are eye-popping, and the Rockettes have still got it goin' on! Radio City Music Hall has about 6,000 seats, and there are multiple performances of the Christmas Spectacular each day. So if the Broadway show you wanted to see has been shuttered by the strike, chances are that you can score tix to this holiday perennial if you head over to the theater at 50th Street and Sixth Avenue.

The Ritz
Another Roundabout production, housed in the fabled Studio 54. It's a revival of Terrence McNally's '70s farce about when happens when Gaetano Proclo, a poor sap from Cleveland, comes to NYC to hide out from the mob. Unbeknownst to him, the bathhouse in which he chooses to hide caters to an exclusively gay clientele -- and there's a whole lot going down in the sauna and the steam room. This hysterically funny fish-out-of-water comedy stars Kevin Chamberlin as Proclo and Rosie Perez in a Tony Award-worthy performance as Googie Gomez, the supremely untalented singer who headlines the bathhouse's floor show.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
It was recently announced that this funny, charming, and intimate Broadway musical about kids competing to be named the best speller in their district will close in January after a run of nearly three years. Performances are continuing throughout the strike because the show is under a separate contract at the Circle in the Square, and I'm glad to hear that it has been selling out over the past few days. (This is probably due largely to the fact that the theater is located in the same building as the monster hit Wicked, which has been temporarily shuttered by the strike.) Check it out!

Xanadu
A spoof of the execrable 1980 flick and of early '80s pop culture in general, this hilarious musical with a book by Douglas Carter Beane has audiences rolling in the aisles at the Helen Hayes Theater. (Well, I didn't actually see that happen when I attended, but I did notice some people laughing so hard that they nearly fell out of their seats.) As the romantic leads, adorable Kerry Butler and hunky Cheyenne Jackson are so fantastic that they somehow prevent supporting players Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa from stealing the entire show. Pounce now!

THE MERM GETS HER DUE

I'll never forget my one experience of Ethel Merman in live performance: a weekend matinée of Hello, Dolly! in 1970, when I was 13. My parents had paid $7.00 for my "twofer" seat in the orchestra at the St. James Theatre, and I sat in awe as that thrilling voice filled the house. The other salient point about Merman's Dolly is that she was hilariously funny, especially during the Act II scene in which she pantomimed ecstasy while appearing to consume a full-course meal in about two minutes.

As great as she was, not everyone "got" her. I remember a fellow student of mine in a musical theater class at NYU commenting that she found Merman's voice "annoying" and "shrill" as heard on recordings, and asking if someone could please explain her popularity. I bristled, but then I calmed down and replied that Merman was a true creature of the stage. Her clarion voice and outsize personality may not have translated all that well to film, television, or even cast albums, but these very qualities were deeply appreciated in the theater -- especially in the days before aggressive sound amplification.

She was born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann on January 16, 1908 in Astoria, Queens, NYC, and died on February 15, 1984. We who worship at her altar are delighted that the upcoming centenary of her birth is being celebrated with the publication of two new biographies: Brian Kellow's Ethel Merman: A Life (Viking) and Caryl Flinn's Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman (University of California Press). Though I haven't yet read either one, I spoke with both authors about their content, and now I really can't wait to get my hands on the books.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about Merman," says Kellow, features editor of Opera News and author of The Bennetts: An Acting Family. "Many people assume she was Jewish, but she was Episcopalian. And a lot of people assume she was gay, but she was not. I can say that with full confidence! Jacqueline Susann was a bit of a star-fucker, and she had a mad crush on Ethel, but it wasn't reciprocated. Jackie got her revenge by creating Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls. In the book, Helen is clearly Merman. She drinks champagne on the rocks, and so did Ethel; she has a Renoir in her bedroom, and so did Ethel. I asked the editor of Valley of the Dolls if they were afraid that Ethel would sue. He said they hoped she would, so they would get more publicity for the book -- but she didn't."

Anecdotes of The Merm abound, hilarious but not necessarily factual. "When you do a book like this," says Kellow, "you don't realize how much time you're going to spend hacking away at the apocryphal stories, trying to figure out what's true and what isn't. Ethel was certainly an enigmatic woman, and I think there were parts of her personality that she kept hidden, even from herself. But I interviewed more than 125 of her close friends and colleagues. That was the backbone of my work; there's nothing more exciting than a good primary source. I was able to dig up so many of the people she had worked with -- back to Stars in Your Eyes and DuBarry Was a Lady in 1939, and all the way up through Gypsy and Hello, Dolly! I've tried very hard in this book, aside from just giving you her life, to show the changes in the Broadway musical that took place while she was a star. But there's plenty about her four husbands as well."

Merman had a reputation for almost never missing shows. She was also known for "freezing" her performance so that it would be exactly the same from night to night, and some who saw her contend that there were times when she phoned it in. Says Kellow, "My own feeling is that it's hard for any star not to do that sometimes in a long run. I get a little bit put out when people like Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents cast aspersions on Ethel's performance in Gypsy. Vocally, no one has ever come close to matching her. I think Sondheim was upset because Ethel had nixed him for writing the music for the show. I don't think she was a towering intellect, but Ethel had very sharp instincts about what was good for her and her career. Jule Styne's contribution to Gypsy was invaluable."

Like Kellow, Caryl Flinn -- an educator whose other books include The Strains of Utopia: Gender, Nostalgia and Hollywood Film Music and The New German Cinema: Music, History, and the Matter of Style -- hopes that her Merman bio gives a well-rounded picture of the legend's life and career. "A lot of people go around with a notion of Ethel as this caricature, a middle-aged woman with big hair and a wide-open vibrato," says Flinn. "That's based largely on her TV appearances in the '60s and '70s. She certainly was a sassy, brassy woman, and that came across in shows like Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam. But there were a lot of different Ethel Mermans produced over her lifetime. There are some adorable pictures of her in the 1920s, and some of the one-reelers she did in the '30s have her singing blues and ballads. It's a different performer than the one who belted out 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' But she always had a complete lack of self-consciousness, whether on stage or before the camera."

As for Merman's habit of playing out to the audience, Flinn says, "I think she learned a particular type of performance style that was of the '20s, when singers would clamp their feet on the stage and project because of technological reasons and other reasons. I believe that she never accustomed herself to singing with a microphone, and there were times when she would only occasionally look at her co-star. A good example of that is the Ford 50th Anniversary TV special with Mary Martin, from 1953; Mary looks adoringly at Ethel all through their duet, whereas Ethel looks at Mary maybe once or twice during the entire 20 minutes. But again, in the early shorts, we see a different kind of performance style and repertoire from Merman."

Though The Merm is an iconic presence to musical theater mavens, Flinn has found that she's not as famous among the general public as one might have thought: "In the New York area, everyone knows her, but not elsewhere. I had a master's student in theater who barely knew who she was. And I can't tell you how many people outside theater circles have said things like, 'Wasn't she in all those swimming moves?' or 'I loved her on I Love Lucy.' Somehow, they confuse her with Esther Williams or Ethel Mertz. That really alarmed me.

"I didn't want to reproduce Ethel the cliché in my book," Flinn states, "and I didn't want her to vanish into gossip and legend. I wanted it to be a more solid chronicle, including the difficulties in her personal life. I had no idea of the level of abuse she faced in her third marriage to Robert Six, the airline executive, until I heard about that from her son, Bob Levitt, Jr. [by her second husband, journalist Bob Levitt]. I did three or four days of interviews with him. He had never worked on a biography of his mother before, so that was a major contribution to the book. On a lighter note, I was able to track down one of Eddie Cantor's daughters. She was such an enthusiast for Merman in the '30s that Merman appointed her the president of her fan club. She had so many wonderful stories about going to see her in those days."

Aside from personal interviews, Flinn had another great resource at her disposal: "Ethel's dad kept nearly 40 volumes of huge scrapbooks, starting in the late '20s. He saved absolutely everything on her, even clippings from the German language newspapers in New York. Some of the scrapbooks are missing, but about 36 are intact at the Museum of the City of New York. There are so many gems in there: a card that Jerome Robbins sent to Ethel on the opening night of Gypsy, ticket stubs, and so on. I spent about four months going through those."

Flinn's work on the book has engendered an increased admiration for Merman's talent. "Some people said she would walk through shows and give mechanical performances; others phrased it in a more positive way, saying that she was reliable as clockwork. Ethel was so self-assured and self possessed, but she could be bawdy as hell, and she had a great sense of timing. She had a blast making the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Remember that scene where they turn her upside down and put her in a trash can? The studio did a huge blow-up of a photo of that scene, and they displayed it at the wrap party. Ethel was a good sport about it; she signed the photo and she said she wanted to use it as her Christmas card that year. A lot of the reviews of the movie remarked on her ability to hold her own with Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, and Buster Keaton. She was hysterically funny."

WHO'S AFRAID OF AMERICAN OPERA?

Why do so many people who love The Light in the Piazza, Passion, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, and The Most Happy Fella never get into works that are officially classified as American operas? Perhaps it's the "opera" label itself that scares off a large percentage of musical theater buffs -- which is probably why Stephen Sondheim doesn't apply it to Sweeney, even though that masterpiece has been performed by several opera companies, and also why Frank Loesser never used the "o" word in reference to Happy Fella. (He said it was "a musical with a lot of music.")

Trust me, folks: If you can appreciate the ambitious works noted above, you should throw your fears to the winds and check out such thoroughly accessible American operas as Regina, Susannah, Of Mice and Men, The Tender Land, and The Ballad of Baby Doe. Another one that deserves to be placed high on the list is Vanessa, with music by Samuel Barber and a libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti. As it happens, opportunity has knocked: This brilliant piece has now been given a rare revival by the New York City Opera, and it's not to be missed.

Vanessa might be described as a mixture of themes, styles, and subject matter prevalent in Chekhov, Strauss, Puccini, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill, with a dash of Henry James thrown in for seasoning. Menotti's tale is that of the beautiful, middle-aged, reclusive aristocrat Vanessa and her niece, Erika, both of whom become romantically obsessed with the enigmatic Anatol, son of the man who abandoned Vanessa 20 years earlier. The action takes place in an unspecified "northern country" of Europe. (This has caused some observers to question the work's credentials as an American opera, which makes as much sense as suggesting that La Bohème isn't really an Italian opera because it's set in Paris.)

The NYCO production is a superb showcase for Lauren Flanigan. Justly regarded as one of the supreme singing actress of her generation, Flanigan is a force of nature as Vanessa; her pointed soprano rides over Barber's huge, lush, sometimes spiky orchestrations with ease, and her characterization is so complex that we can see why the composer originally envisioned Maria Callas in the role. Opposite such magnificence, mezzo Katharine Goeldner more than holds her own as Erika: Her mezzo is plummy, her acting is great, she's pretty, and she's a great fainter to boot.

Tenor Ryan MacPherson is so right for Anatol in terms of voice, looks, and manner that it's difficult to envision anyone else in the part. Richard Stilwell and Branch Field are also perfectly cast as the Doctor and the Major-Domo, respectively. And it's a privilege to have Rosalind Elias, who created the role of Erika in the 1958 world premiere production of Vanessa at the Metropolitan Opera, on hand as the Old Baroness; she doesn't have much to do in terms of actual singing, but Elias is a formidable presence throughout the drama.

One of the special joys of attending opera is the chance to revel in the unamplified sounds of a full orchestra comprised of 50 or more players. In a program note for this production, David Shengold writes: "Few commentators note that much of the drama of Vanessa takes place in the superbly scored orchestral interludes." NYCO's musicians play those interludes and the rest of this thrilling score to the hilt under the strong yet sensitive leadership of conductor Anne Manson in her company debut.

The production team is headed by three men who are equally well known for their work in theater: Michael Kahn (director), Michael Yeargan (set designer), and Martin Pakledinaz (costume designer). Originally created for the Dallas Opera, the sets and costumes are wonderfully evocative; a scrim depicting a grove of bare trees in winter sets an appropriate tone for the proceedings, and the drawing room of Vanessa's country home, where much of the action takes place, is beautiful yet somehow very cold.

Unfairly neglected in recent decades, Vanessa will hopefully soon be back in the repertoire of the world's major opera houses to stay, thanks in large part to this gripping presentation.

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There's another production in NYCO's fall repertoire that's sure to appeal to musical theater lovers, even though the opera is French and is performed in the original language (with supertitles). Cendrillon is Jules Massenet's beguiling take on the Cinderella story, which has served as the basis for such musicals as the Rodgers and Hammerstein TV spectacular of 1957 (later remade twice and adapted to the stage), the Disney animated feature Cinderella, and the films The Glass Slipper and The Slipper and the Rose.

Henri Cain's libretto for Cendrillon is fascinating for its variations on the traditional tale, which can be traced back as least as far as ninth-century China. The nasty stepmother and stepsisters are most definitely on hand, but so is Cinderella's father, who says he loves her yet still allows his wife and stepdaughters to treat her like dirt. Another intriguing facet of this version is the implication that at least some of Cinderella's encounters with Prince Charming -- here, "Prince Charmant" -- take place in her dreams.

Cendrillon is almost as much of a rarity on today's opera house stages as Vanessa. Even if you have encountered the Massenet work before, you've never seen it as it's being done at NYCO -- not unless you happened to catch this wonderfully theatrical production elsewhere. (The sets and costumes were designed by André Barbe for L'Opéra National du Rhin in a co-production with Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, owned by Opéra de Montréal).

The action has been updated to the fabulous 1950s, a period well established in the opening scene by a huge, looming, cartoon-like refrigerator, oven, and other household appliances. (In a delightful bit of stage business, Cinderella makes her first entrance from out the oven, which she presumably has been cleaning.) The equivalent of the Prince's palace is a nightclub called "Le Palace." Subsequent scenes take place at a drive-in movie, where Cinderella and the Prince finally hook up, and in a suburban tract house development.

The general tone of the production is similar to that of The Hard Nut, Mark Morris's '50s take on The Nutcracker, though not quite as jokey. Adding to the fun is some nifty newsreel footage that's projected during the drive-in sequence, including clips of two royal weddings: Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan. Later, we see old home movies of a middle-class couple's nuptials, the point being that a happy marriage is not the exclusive province of royalty.

Cassandre Berthon and Frédéric Antoun are an extraordinarily comely pair of young lovers as Cinderella and her prince; they also sing beautifully, even if their voices aren't very large. Eugene Brancoveanu's sonorous baritone is greatly appreciated in the potentially unsympathetic role of Pandolfe, Cinderella's father. Joyce Castle, whom you may know for her work in such NYCO productions as Candide, Sweeney Todd, and Brigadoon, is a stitch as the stepmother -- especially in her first costume, which must be seen to be believed. Further comedy is provided by Lielle Berman and Rebecca Ringle as her self-centered daughters. Katherine Jolly trills prettily as the fairy godmother.

Under director/choreographer Renaud Doucet, the updating of the story comes across as sweet and whimsical rather than heavy-handed. George Manahan conducts a performance that brings out all the beauty of Massenet's melodies and orchestrations. Cendrillon continues in the City Opera repertory through November 18, so you should consider it as a delicious, pre-holiday treat.

THE MONSTER BASH

Is there room in this town for two musicals based on Frankenstein, the classic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley? We'll know very soon! The much-talked-about Mel Brooks extravaganza Young Frankenstein is set to open on Broadway on November 12; but Frankenstein, an Off-Broadway tuner with music by Mark Baron and book and lyrics by Jeffrey Jackson, beat the other show to the punch when it opened last night at the 37 Arts Theater. Here are some photos from the opening party at Studio 450.

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Steve Blanchard gives a moving, beautifully sung performance as the Creature. Here he is with actor/singer/model William Suretté, whose image is featured in the logo art for the show.

Hunter Foster plays the tragic Victor Frankenstein, but he was in great spirits at the party in the company of his lovely wife, Jennifer Cody.

Mandy Bruno and Jim Stanek, who play Justine Moritz and Henry Clerval, posed with an action figure of the traditional Frankenstein monster.

Here's a shot of the show's authors, Mark Baron and Jeffrey Jackson.

Among the notables in attendance at the party: Sandy Duncan (Peter Pan) and Zeljko Ivanek (The Pillowman)...

Here's Mark Zimmerman, president of Actors' Equity, with Dee Hoty, late of Lone Star Love.

Robert Cuccioli, who also survived the Lone Star Love debacle and who'll soon be starring in Man of La Mancha at the White Plains Performing Arts Center, made the rounds at the party.

Here's entertainment lawyer Mark Sendroff with actor Ben Mostyn.

And here's Jared Bradshaw (center), one of the stars of Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening, with friends.