Young Frankenstein Schedules Pre-Broadway Tryout

By Andrew Gans
and Zachary Pincus-Roth
27 Apr 2007

Times Square poster for the upcoming new musical Young Frankenstein.
Times Square poster for the upcoming new musical Young Frankenstein.

Young Frankenstein, the eagerly awaited new Mel Brooks musical, will have a pre-Broadway tryout this summer in Seattle.

Variety reports that the Brooks-Thomas Meehan musical will play an Aug. 4-Sept. 1 stint at Seattle's Paramount Theatre. Although Chicago hosted the pre-Broadway tryout of Brooks' smash hit The Producers, the producer of Frankenstein have chosen the city that hosted the tryouts of Hairspray and The Wedding Singer; those musicals both played the Fifth Avenue Theatre.

Young Frankenstein, based on Brooks' 1974 film, has a score by Brooks, a book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman — the same team that turned The Producers into Tony gold.

The design team comprises Robin Wagner (set design), William Ivey Long (costume design) and Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design). All three also designed The Producers.

The likely stars of Young Frankenstein are Tony Award winners Shuler Hensley (in the role of the monster, played by Peter Boyle in the film) and Sutton Foster (Inga, the Teri Garr role), along with the former "Will & Grace" star Megan Mullally (Elizabeth, the Madeline Kahn role).

Frankenstein is aiming for a Halloween opening on Broadway. A theatre has not been announced, although the likely suspects are the St. James Theatre, The Producers' long-time home, or The Hilton Theatre, where The Pirate Queen recently opened to mixed reviews.