The Musical Young Frankenstein
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The musical Young Frankenstein open on Broadway in November of 2007, and it was a hit right from the beginning. The musical 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. And of course there have been many sequels to the Gothis Story, which indluces Young Frankenstein the movie, and now the Broadway musical.
Young Frankenstein is a tongue-and-cheek look at the original Dr. Frankentein's grandson attempt at the "family business" after he discovers he's inherited the original Frankenstein 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.
The majority of the plot of this musical is largely adapted from Mel Brooks’ 1974 film with the same name. There are just a few minor variations. 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. But you won't find this scene in the play. However, the creature still meets the blind hermit. These scenes were similar to scenes in the original Frankenstein movie. And the blind hermit meeting is hilarious.
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 already mentioned, 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.
One of the things that makes it so funny is that Mel Brooks was involved with the musical as much as he was with his 70's movie. Brooks saw how popular The Producers was, he wanted to duplicate its success with Young Frankenstein. Brooks teamed up with Thomas Meehan and together they created the parody of Brooks’ earlier film.
Both Young Frankenstein the movie and Young Frankenstein the musical have received awards and nominations for awards for their performances in this wacky comical adaptation of what was originally an extremely serious horror film that left no room for comedy.
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.
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