You've Got to Check Out Young Frankenstein

The musical Young Frankenstein open on Broadway in November of 2007, and it was a hit right from the beginning. Young Frankenstein is an adaptation of the 1974 film by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder. Based on Mary Shelley’s horror novel published in 1818, the Gothic story was first made into a science fiction film in 1910. Frankenstein the story has beed reproduced across all kinds of media, including TV, movies, plays and comics. There have been sequels of the movie, including Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, a story about the original Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson.

This comical spoof of the classic novel by Mary Shelley portrays a young but well respected, New York brain surgeon that decides to carry on the “family business” after learning that he has inherited his mad scientist grandfather, the original Dr. Frankenstein’s castle in Transylvania.

At his grandfather’s castle, the young doctor’s experiment works when he brings the dead back to life by transplanting a live brain in a cadaver. The problem is he mistakenly used a defective brain, causing the creature to awake and go on a rampage throughout the city. After a couple near escapes by the monster, Doctor Frankenstein’s near death experience and the monster being somewhat domesticated. The story has a surprise and unlikely ending.

Most of the musical is like Mel Brooks' film with just a few small differences. The movie depicts the young Dr. Frankenstein as a lecturer at a medical school. In the musical, he is a brain surgeon. Although these are different careers, they do offer him equal qualifications to fulfill the task laid before him.

There is a quick scene in the film version where the monster encounters a young girl. This scene has been edited from the musical version. However, the creature still meets the blind hermit. These scenes were similar to scenes in the original Frankenstein movie.

In the movie, Elizabeth and the monster get married as do Frederick Frankenstein and Inga. In the musical version, although these four do pair up as mentioned above, the play ends before any nuptials take place. The musical has been expanded and has more scenes and longer scenes due to the musical numbers added to the Broadway production. More humor was also added, making the play a comical experience, indeed.

Mel Brooks was as involved in the production of the Broadway version of Young Frankenstein as he was of his 1974 film. After realizing how well his musical production of The Producers fared, he decided to do the same with Young Frankenstein. Brooks teamed up with Thomas Meehan and together they created the parody of Brooks’ earlier film.

Both the musical and movie have received awards and nominations for awards for their performances in this wacky comical adaptation of what was originally a very serious horror film that left no room for humor.

The Broadway musical production of Young Frankenstein is largely adapted from the hysterical movie version starring Gene Wilder. If you liked the movie, you ought to love this musical. Young Frankenstein is certainly a humorous look at the classic horror novel, Frankenstein.

Note: Although Young Frankenstein performed a pre-Broadway engagement in Seattle August 7 – September 1, 2007, there has been no indication that the humorous musical will be showing at any other venues outside New York City. In New York City, however, the play is performing both on and off Broadway.

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J. O'Connor contributes to ClickitTicket.com, a website that offers Broadway Musical Tickets like Young Frankenstein

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