Gothic horror isn’t really my cup of tea, but if it’s among your favorite theatrical genres, you just might find The Nocturne Theatre’s World Premiere Gothic horror musical Frankenstein: Resurrected right up your dark alley.

Rather than simply adapt the original Mary Shelley novel as others have before, book writer Justin Meyer has opted to flash forward a century and focus, initially at least, on a character not created until 1933’s Universal Pictures Frankenstein sequel Bride Of Frankenstein, Dr. Septimus Pretorius (Jonah Lees), who as Frankenstein: Resurrection would have it, became so obsessed with the experiments conducted by Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Meyer) that he journeyed far north to the frozen Arctic where the crazed doctor lay buried, killed by his own Creature (Jay Michael Roberts), who couldn’t bear the thought of additional dead bodies being brought back to life.

Cut to Dr. Pretorius’s daughter Seraphina Pretorius, MD (Kayla Fast), who’s spent the past few years hard at work in the depths of the Paris morgue doing some human resurrection experimentation of her own, albeit unsuccessfully, that is until she gets her hands on Victor’s preserved-in-ice body and brings him back to life as he once had done for his own Creature.

Enter Seraphina’s sister Elsa (Jett LaFever), whom the resurrected Dr. Frankenstein has taken it into his head to believe is his long-deceased love Elizabeth.

Complications, as they say, ensue.

If the above synopsis sounds rather a tad convoluted, it is, which is one reason I found my attention waning throughout Act One as I attempted to piece together plot elements that didn’t end up coalescing until some post-show research and reflection.

It didn’t help my efforts at concentration that composer/orchestrator Chris Thomas and lyricist Meyer have written a score almost entirely made up of power ballads, and though each is gorgeous on its own, particularly when performed by vocalists as gifted as Fast, LaFever, and Meyer, the cumulative effect ended up being, even for a power ballad lover like myself, a case of too much of a good thing.

That’s not to say there isn’t talent galore on the Nocturne Theatre stage, or that costume & creature designer Tanya Cyr hasn’t let her imagination run wild and filled the stage with one stunningly monstrous creation after another.

Add to that the eye-dazzling work of FX team Cyr, Sydni Sawyer, Spike Braun, Guy Michael, Corvis Gonzalez, CJ Zeleznice, and Suzie along with Robert’s horroriffic scenic design and Meyer’s striking lighting design and you’ve got production design that is not only one of the Nocturne’s best, it may well be the most distinctively “Nocturne” design to date.

LaFever is on fire as Elsa, and when she and Last join power pipes (and especially when you add Meyer’s and Roberts’ soaring tenors to the mix), it’s like the ultimate Knockout Round on The Voice.

Brayden Hade heads a uniformly terrific supporting cast, as Emile Deschamps, Faith Berrigan, Kylie Grogen, Diego Huerta-Gutierrez, Bedjou Jean, Jennifer Karraz, Pixie Larena, and Christopher Thume bring to life anywhere from four to six roles each, and if I have any complaint about these multitalented multitaskers, it’s that they spend so much of their stage time inside head-to-toe costumes as the grotesque laboratory creatures known as Homunculi that something feels lost when faces can’t be seen.

 Last but not least, Melissa Meyer’s highly imaginative choreography adds to the creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky atmosphere throughout as the cast vocalize under Thomas’s adept music direction to prerecorded orchestral tracks.

 Frankenstein: Resurrection is produced by Melissa Meyer and Justin Meyer. Micah Delhauer is assistant lighting designer and engineer. Matt Merline is sound engineer and Julia Vollstedt is assistant sound engineer. Rodrigo Garcia is stage crew. Casting is by Meyer2Meyer Entertainment.

With further attention paid to narrative clarity, more richly developed characters, and greater stylistic and emotional variety in its score, Frankenstein: Resurrection could well have what it takes to move beyond its Nocturne Theatre origins. Even as is, it’s nothing if not original and daring, especially if Gothic horror is your thing.

The Nocturne Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., Glendale. Through November 1. See website for detailed performance schedule.
www.TheNocturneTheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
September 24, 2026

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Tags: Chris Thomas, Justin Meyer, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mary Shelley, The Nocturne Theatre