Frankenstein: The Musical

Frankenstein was the first musical I ever wrote, and was a rock-opera adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel. It has yet to be performed or recorded, however the libretto and piano-vocal selections are both available for purchase on Amazon.

Plot Summary

Act I

Victor Frankenstein is a man obsessed with his experiments in the natural sciences (The Tale of Frankenstein). His adopted "cousin", Elizabeth, tries to pull him out of his trance by expressing her feelings for him (Without You). But even Elizabeth's affection cannot pull Victor away from his studies. Crushed but committed, Elizabeth decides to stand by him no matter what (I Need Him So). Elizabeth and Alphonse, Victor's father, call Victor's childhood friend, Henry Clerval, home from the university to talk to Victor. After Henry confronts Victor about his family's concerns, Victor confesses that since his mother's death, he has been trying to find a cure for death (Why, My Lord?).

Victor has discovered how to bring life to inanimate matter. He hopes that by creating a man, he will be able to one day end all death (Frankenstein’s Opus). But as he finishes his experiment, his creation does not come to life. Disappointed, Victor retires for the night, convinced that he is a failure. As he sleeps, the Creature slowly awakens and stumbles around Victor's laboratory. As the Creature approaches Victor, Victor awakes and - horrified by the ugliness of the Creature - casts the Creature out into the night, after hurling his coat - which contains his journal - at the Creature. Victor then falls into a serious brain fever. Meanwhile, the Creature is left, alone, wandering the streets of Geneva, constantly being attacked by hostile villagers (Geneva at Night).

Sometime later, the Creature stumbles upon the hut of an old blind hermit, DeLacey. DeLacey, unable to see the Creature's deformity, mistakes the Creature;s silence for retardation. He invites the Creature into his hut and, amazed at how quickly the Creature learns, decides to take the Creature under his wing and be its teacher (At Last a Friend).

Six months later, Henry Clerval is having a picnic with Victor's eight year old brother, William, and the Frankenstein Nanny, Justine Moritz. Henry and Justine have been secretly engaged, waiting for Victor's recovery to announce the engagement (No One Can Replace You). William wanders off leaving them alone.

Meanwhile, the Creature has become fully literate and articulate (The Wonders of Knowledge). As DeLacey sleeps, the Creature sits outside the hut playing the recorder. Fritz, a homeless teenager, wanders by the hut lighting a cigarette and half-consciously throws the match into the hut. Fritz sees the Creature and freezes, paralyzed by fear. Smoke has begun to rise from the hut and as the Creature smells the smoke, he jumps up and runs at Fritz, who runs off into the woods. The Creature runs into the smoking hut and drags DeLacey out. As DeLacey dies, he warns the Creature of a curse on the house of Frankenstein. As the Creature grieves over the loss of his only friend, he discovers Victor's journal in his coat pocket. As he reads the journal and discovers the truth of his nature, he vows to reap vengeance on the man who brought him into this world of pain (Awakening). Just then, William wanders onto the scene and starts yelling for help when he sees the Creature. The Creature calms him down and learns that William is the son of Alphonse Frankenstein. Beginning his plan of vengeance, the Creature kills William (Fear Not My Friend). Suddenly realizing what he has done, the Creature flees the scene of the crime and runs off into the woods. He stumbles upon Henry and Justine napping. They awake and Henry tries to protect Justine from the Creature, and inadvertently reveals that they are of the house of Frankenstein. The Creature hurls William's locket at them and sends them off to warn Victor of the curse that lies on his house (The Curse of Frankenstein).

Act II

Fritz runs into Geneva trying to warn the town of the monster on the loose, but no one will believe him. Art Blunt, a homeless drunk, tells his tale of how he stumbled upon the burned hut of DeLacey and the body of William Frankenstein, which throws the Genevans into a panic (There's a Killer on the Loose!). Justine and Henry run into town panic stricken. When the townspeople find William’s locket on Justine, they deduce that she must have killed him for the locket.

Victor awakes from his brain fever to discover that William has been killed and that Justine has been convicted of the murder. Victor rushes to see Justine before she is hung and she tells him that she confessed to the murder because she was scared and didn’t know what else to do. She then tells him that she saw who killed William and her description of the killer convinces Victor that the killer was the Creature (The Devil Killed Your Brother). After Justine's hanging, Victor visits his mother's grave and begins to come to terms with her death (I Can Never Let Go). Elizabeth approaches him to comfort him. Victor, deciding it's time to move out of the darkness, finally proposes to Elizabeth. As they leave the graveyard, Victor hears recorder music and tells Elizabeth to go on ahead. As Elizabeth leaves, the Creature approaches Victor and demands that Victor create him a mate (Someone Like Me). The Creature promises that he and his mate will disappear from the eyes of man and never be seen again. He also promises that he will be with Victor on his wedding night if Victor does not agree to the Creature's terms. Reluctantly, Victor agrees. Art Blunt, who witnessed the confrontation, threatens and attacks the Creature, who kills him in self defense. Fritz witnesses the murder and tries to warn the town again, but again no one will believe him and he suffers a massive mental breakdown.

Act III

Victor's family try to reach out to Victor again as he sets into his experiments, but he can't be reached. Victor reflects on everything he's lost (What Has Gone Wrong?). As Victor brings the Creature's mate to life, Henry bursts in on Victor and begins destroying the machines in Victor's lab. The Creature, hiding behind one of the machines, bursts out and strangles Henry to death. Victor, enraged, destroys the Creature's mate. The Creature repeats his promise to Victor then disappears into the night.

One month later: it is Victor and Elizabeth's wedding. The Creature appears to have disappeared for good (Joyous Day). But as the wedding celebrations commence, the Creature appears out of the crowd and strangles Elizabeth to death with one hand while fighting off Genevans with the other. Alphonse, tired from dancing, collapses in a violent heart attack. As Elizabeth dies, the Creature disappears into the woods of Geneva. The Villagers form into a mob and begin searching the streets for the Creature (Find This Monster). Alone with Elizabeth and Alphonse's corpses, Victor again reflects on everything he’s lost (The Old Familiar Faces). Fritz, in the midst of his hunt for the Creature, stumbles upon Victor. Victor takes Fritz's gun then sends him away. Victor calls out to the Creature, who answers his call. As they begin fighting, the gun is knocked from Victor's hand. The mob of villagers storms in on the fight. Fritz grabs the dropped gun and attempts to shoot the Creature, but shoots Victor instead. The Creature, attempting to flee the mob, climbs onto the roof of the church where he is struck by lightning.

Epilogue

Twenty years later, the townspeople of Geneva hold a ritual and resurrect Victor, the Creature, and the Creature's victims (Resurrection: The Tale of Frankenstein).

Cast of Characters

DeLacey: An old blind man who aquires the friendship of the Creature. DeLacey should be in his late sixties to early seventies.

Victor Frankenstein: A young man in his late twenties to mid-thirties. Victor has dark hair, dark eyes, and a ghostly, pale complexion.

Elizabeth Lavenza: Victor's adopted "cousin" and love interest. Elizabeth is in her early twenties.

Henry Clerval: Victor's best friend. A man in his early twenties, Henry is a faithful friend to Victor.

Justine Moritz: William's nanny and faithful friend of the Frankenstein family. Justine should be in her late teens to mid-twenties.

Alphonse Frankenstein: Victor's loving, aging father. Alphonse is a man in his late sixties to early seventies who, despite continuing heart problems, is still "bright of eye."

William Frankenstein: Victor's twelve year-old brother.

Fritz: A mischievious, trouble-making teenager to whom nobody gives any credibility. He should be in his early-to-mid-teens.

Art Blunt: A crazy homeless man who scrambles his sentences.

The Creature: Victor's creation. A tall, deformed, yet sympathetic figure driven to murder by the alienation from his father (Victor) and mankind.

The Company: An ensemble of Genevans, mobsters, a Wedding Band (consisting of two fiddles, an alto recorder, double bass, and a percussionist) and various incidental roles.

Musical Numbers

Prologue

Overture/The Tale of Frankenstein - COMPANY

Act I - Kyrie Eleison

Scene 1: Without You - Victor, Elizabeth

I Need Him So - Elizabeth

Scene 2: The Wonders of Nature - Henry, Victor

Why, My Lord? (Why Must it End?) - Victor

Reflections - Victor, Henry

Victor's Dream - Victor

Scene 3: Frankenstein's Opus - Victor, Henry, Elizabeth, Ensemble

Horrid Wretch - Victor

Geneva at Night - ENSEMBLE

Scene 4: At Last a Friend - DeLacey, Creature

Scene 5: No One Can Replace You - Henry, Justine

Scene 6: The Wonders of Knowledge - Creature, Victor

Awakening - DeLacey, Creature, Victor

Fear Not My Friend - Creature, William

Don't You Touch Her! - Henry

The Curse of Frankenstein - COMPANY

Ent'racte

Act II - In Memoria Aeterna

Scene 1: There's a Killer on the Loose! - Fritz, Art, GENEVANS

What Has Happened? - ENSEMBLE
Scene 2: Dear William - Alphonse

Scene 3: No One Can Replace You (Reprise) - Henry, Justine

The Devil Killed Your Brother - Justine, Victor, Henry

In Memoria Aeterna (Why, My Lord?) - Justine

Scene 4: Hang Her! - Justine, Henry, GENEVANS

Scene 5: I Can Never Let Go - Victor

Without You (Reprise) - Victor, Elizabeth

Someone Like Me -Victor, Creature

Killer on the Loose! (Reprise) - Art, Fritz, Ensemble

Ent'racte (Optional)

Act III - Requiem

Scene 1: Worrisome - Alphonse, Victor, Elizabeth, Henry, ENSEMBLE

What Has Gone Wrong? - Victor

Scene 2: Frankenstein's Opus (Reprise) - Victor, Elizabeth, Henry, Creature, ENSEMBLE

Darkness Upon Us - Victor, Creature

Scene 3: Joyous Day - COMPANY

Scene 4: Find This Monster - Fritz, GENEVANS

Scene 5: The Old Familiar Faces - VictorParadise Lost - Victor, Creature

Epiloge (Optional) - Pie Jesu

Resurrection (The Tale of Frankenstein) - COMPANY

Instrumentation

Woodwinds (5)

Reed 1: Piccolo, Flute, G Alto Flute, Tenor Recorder (Optional)

Reed 2: Oboe, F English Horn

Reed 3: Flute, Bb Clarinet, A Clarinet, Eb Alto Saxophone

Reed 4: Bb Clarinet, Bb Bass Clarinet, Bb Tenor Saxophone

Reed 5: Bassoon

Brass (5)

1 F French Horn

2 C Trumpets

2 Trombones (1 Tenor, 1 Bass)

Percussion (3)

Mallets: Bells, Marimba (Xylophone), Chimes, 3 Timpani

Miscellaneous: Crash Cymbals, Triangle, Bass Drum, Tambourine, Medium Gong, Sleigh Bells, Bongo Drums (only if replacing Wedding Band).

Drum Set: Bass Drum, 3 Toms, Snare Drum, Suspended Cymbal, Hi-Hat, Triangle, Guiro

Guitars (3)

2 Electric/Acoustic Guitars (2nd Guitar Optional)

1 Electric Bass

Harp (Optional)

3 Synthesizers (3rd Optional)

Strings (11):

6 Violins

2 Violas

2 Cellos

1 Double Bass (Optional)

Notes

1. The score is arranged so that, if desired, it can be performed as a rock band, or a rock orchestra. This is the minimum instrumentation for the rock band: Guitar 1 & 2; Electric Bass; Synthesizers 1, 2 & 3 (Synth. 3 = Synth. Str.); Percussion 2 & 3 (Miscellaneous & Drum Set)

2. The 2nd Guitar is arranged to fill in some of the gaps for the rock band arrangement. Therefore, the 2nd Guitar is not necessary and may not be desirable for the full orchestra arrangement.

3. The 3rd Synthesizer is arranged to replace the string section. Woodwind and brass parts are cued in the 1st & 2nd Synthesizer parts. (If the 3rd Synthesizer part is desired to replace the strings for the full orchestra arrangement, it only fully replaces the Violins and Violas, not the Cellos and Bass.)

4. All 3 Synthesizer parts require a double-keyboard setup.

5. The Trumpet and Tenor Trombone players should have mutes available

6. Drum Set player should have yarn and wire mallets available.

*Note: This is the ideal instrumentation, however I would be more than happy to arrange a simplified orchestration on request to accommodate smaller productions.