Brooks Says His Frankenstein Will Likely Play the Hilton Theatre | Playbill

Related Articles
News Brooks Says His Frankenstein Will Likely Play the Hilton Theatre It's looking more and more likely that the new Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein will play Broadway's Hilton Theatre, home of the new musical The Pirate Queen.

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/b6065a6e462b1718df7cd2b53fc2d004-13F3CF380E6541558D404AE15840AF15.jpg
Times Square poster for the upcoming new musical Young Frankenstein.

In a May 24 interview for the Strip podcast (visit www.thestrippodcast.com), the Tony Award-winning composer says, "It looks like the Hilton Theater. It's a beautiful theatre where I saw Ragtime and 42nd Street. We just simply need a big place. It used to be called the Ford. It's on 42nd Street. Strangely enough, The Producers was a very backstage, very hip musical. And you've got to know a lot, you've got to buy a lot. You have to go along with a great, great Broadway flow. But Young Frankenstein, it's kind of like a great Gothic opera, you know, and young people, children love it. I get a lot of letters from 9-year-olds. Would you please sign my 'Young Frankenstein' DVD or whatever. It's amazing that Young Frankenstein, with some hip references, is a very, very family-oriented show. So we're very lucky to get a 42nd Street theatre. There are literally millions of people in New York City, especially in the summer, and they see the big monster up on the marquee and they say, 'I want to see that.'"

Brooks also confirmed rumored Frankenstein casting: Roger Bart in the title role, Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor, Megan Mullally as Elizabeth and, most likely, Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher. Tony Award winners Shuler Hensley and Sutton Foster are also expected to star as, respectively, the monster (played by Peter Boyle in the film) and Inga (the Teri Garr role).

Song titles, Brooks says, will include "We're the Happiest Town in Town," which the villagers sing at the top of the show when they believe Frankenstein is dead, and "There Is Nothing Like the Brain."

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. As previously reported, Young Frankenstein will have a pre-Broadway tryout this summer in Seattle. The Brooks-Thomas Meehan musical will play an Aug. 4-Sept. 1 stint at Seattle's Paramount Theatre.

Young Frankenstein is aiming for a Halloween opening on Broadway.

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!