O.C. STAGE REVIEW : ‘Frankenstein’ Is Back Just in Time for Halloween : Theater: Santa Ana’s Way Off Broadway production is way out, too. But a lot of fun.

Shall we call them the “Frankenstein” variations? There’s a weird dance version in Long Beach and a Freudian staging in Seattle. Even director George Abbott, at the venerable age of 101, is putting on a musical in New York called “Frankie.”

Mary Shelley would cringe, of course. But her early 19th-Century novel has been used and abused in so many ways through so many adaptations, another this season can’t hurt. And once you get used to the idea of “Frankenstein” as soap opera, the production at Orange County’s Way Off Broadway Playhouse is not as bad as it might seem.

Don’t look for probing subtexts here. This conception goes over the top with such blind zeal that it’s like challenging Niagara Falls in a tin can. As directed by Tony Reverditto, the performances sometimes appear to be intentionally absurd, other times not. But they are never far from overdone, in many cases with really cute German accents.

Tim Kelly’s script tries to draw a bead on the Promethean theme of the novel. It also sticks to the standard details of Shelley’s Gothic plot about the brilliant but moody young scientist Victor Frankenstein, who discovers the secret of animating dead matter and gives life to a zombie sewn together with body parts stolen from the local morgue.

Unfortunately, the dialogue has a tendency toward the cartoonish. For instance, Victor’s new bride (Marnelle Rose) bats out “Apartment 3-G” inanities. “Victor,” she says, moments after being carried over the threshold in her wedding gown, “now that we’re married, won’t you tell me what’s troubling you? You look so distraught.”

Michael Korn plays Victor as a patronizing manic depressive, getting good mileage from a wicked, lip-curling smile. When he sneers, lesser mortals quake. But he is much less successful at conveying despair, which cannot be evoked by the look of a mournful cocker spaniel. At one point, though, he stares at the result of his ghoulish handiwork and says: “Here sits the thing that comes to kill me.” And for a fleeting moment we have pity for Victor.

But most of the script’s pathos is reserved for the creature, played by William Levesque in a surprisingly lackluster performance offset by a top-notch makeup job (courtesy of Joe Blasco). The actor’s green-tinted face is truly ghastly with its surgical stitching, open wounds and blackened lips.

“I am a monster,” says Levesque, time and again striking the dominant note of the creature’s tortured existence. Loathing himself because he is loathed by humanity, the hideous zombie plumbs bottom with the script’s most affecting words: “I am one of no kind . . . an outcast.”

For comic relief we have Jill De Freitas, who plays a nosy, obsequious chambermaid obsessed by dust. The level of performance soars whenever she appears. Her stylish caricature--in the best “Saturday Night Live” tradition--is so vivid she unavoidably draws attention away from principal characters.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Mendoza also comes off creditably with a straight-faced portrayal of Victor’s mother, Frau Frankenstein. Even with an accent thicker than Wiener schnitzel, Mendoza somehow manages to rescue the ridiculous.

This “Frankenstein”--clearly a shoestring production--has a serviceable Victorian setting (no pun intended) and presentable period costumes. The special effects work well. On the night this reviewer saw the show virtually all the basic lighting cues were off, but presumably, they have been corrected.

‘FRANKENSTEIN’

A Way Off Broadway production of a play by Tim Kelly, adapted from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein.” Produced and directed by Tony Reverditto. With Michael Korn, William Levesque, Marnelle Ross, Jill De Freitas, Elizabeth Mendoza, Walter DuRant, Brad Stenoien and Michell Fashian. Makeup design for the creature by Joe Blasco. Makeup artists Margaux Lancaster and Paul Thompson. Set design by Bob Wilson and Tony Reverditto. Costumes courtesy Fullerton College and Chaffey College. The play continues today through Tuesday at the Way Off Broadway Playhouse, 1058 E.1st St., Santa Ana. Curtain for all performances at 8 p.m. Tickets: $8 to $10. Information: (714) 547-8997.