Merchant Sells Hot Broadway Ticket
The proverbial pound of flesh now being paid for tickets is particularly ironic given how
Daniel Sullivan's revival was first presented in Central Park this summer by the
Public Theater for
free.
The
Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) lists a total of
49 previous New York City productions stetching all the way back to
1768 for what is arguably The Bard's most controversial play. It's particularly provocative due to its depiction of the eponymous character and the ongoing debate over whether that
characterization is anti-Semitic. (The play certainly gave me pause when
I saw it for my first time a few years ago.)
It's been seven years since Pacino was last on Broadway's boards in another Jewish role as Harod in
Salome, one I thought bordered on vile stereotypes. Pacino will be joined in
The Merchant Of Venice by a large cast including
Lily Rabe as Portia,
Byron Jennings as Antonio,
Jesse L. Martin as Gratiano,
Christopher Fitzgerald as Launcelot and
Charles Kimbrough as the Prince of Aragon.
The official
Merchant Of Venice website
describes the show as follows:
The Merchant Of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most thrilling and controversial plays, rich with love and betrayal, forgiveness and revenge. The Jewish moneylender Shylock makes a loan to Antonio, a Christian merchant. Their loan contract, steeped in prejudice and centered on the play's infamous “pound of flesh,” sweeps the two men and everyone in their worlds into chaos. Only the insightful Portia can imagine a way forward, but for her and those she loves, even “the quality of mercy” has its limits.
Despite the lingering controversy over the work, just try getting a decent seat. And with only 78 performances scheduled, you may as well forget about any discounts for the production.
The Merchant Of Venice opens on November 7 and runs through January 9, 2011. (I'll be seeing the show not long after it opens.)
This is
Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.Labels: Al Pacino, Broadway, Byron Jennings, Charles Kimbrough, Christopher Fitzgerald, Daniel Sullivan, Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe, Play, Revival, The Merchant Of Venice, Transfer, William Shakespeare
Finian's Rainbow (The SOB Review) - St. James Theatre, New York, New York**1/2 (out of ****)You have to hand it to
Warren Carlyle for taking that inspirational tune "Look to the Rainbow" to heart. He's practically pulled out every conceivable stop for his enjoyable and entertaining Broadway revival of the
Burton Lane-
E.Y. Harburg musical
Finian's Rainbow in the hunt for his very own pot of gold.
To say Carlyle comes up with a silver instead is not to denigrate his Herculean efforts that includes his mesmerizing choreography. It's just that silver is a tad bit tarnished with verdigris.
The good news is that on Broadway, his
Finian's Rainbow is much more vibrant than
the concert version he mounted earlier this year as part of
New York City Center's Encores! series.
It doesn't hurt that
Finian's Rainbow consistently hits the jackpot with one of musical theatre's most divine scores. Apart from "Look to the Rainbow," it's nearly impossible to shake from your mind Lane and Yarburg's highly hummable "Necessity," "How Are Things in Glocca Morra" and the spellbinding "Old Devil Moon." It's easy to imagine that
Robert Russell Bennett and
Don Walker's full and lush original orchestrations (in the pit, no less) have never sounded better. Each gem is delivered with a flawless verve by the show's top-drawer cast.
In fact, if the luminescent
Kate Baldwin could shine any brighter, her Sharon McLonergan would never be able to see that devil moon. Radiating warmth and grace, Baldwin possesses an exquisite voice perfectly suited to the magical score.
As her love interest Woody Mahoney,
Cheyenne Jackson beguiles through silky-smooth vocals of his own. With guitar slung over his shoulders throughout, Jackson refreshingly imbues his Woody with a requisite innocence.
In the role of the transformed Bill Rawkins, a bigoted white southern senator who's become black by virtue of Sharon's ill-timed wish,
Chuck Cooper soulfully finds the depths of the Deep South via his ironic tune "The Begat."
The impish
Christopher Fitzgerald improves on the role of the leprechaun Og, which he's taken over since City Center and in the process manages to charm his ever-shrinking pants off the audience. With his commanding presence, particularly his hilarious rendition of "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love," it's a wonder Fitzgerald still hasn't lucked out with a leading Rialto role of his own.
Then there's the awe-inspiring
Terri White. Blessed with a booming, yet beautiful voice, White makes a most triumphant return to the stage out of pure necessity, literally and figuratively. While her backstory is enough to have you cheering, it's White's ability to effortlessly hit this one so far out of the park that she comes close to stopping the show. Irish eyes are smiling on her as she follows an amazing personal arc of a genuine rainbow and realizes her own dreams in the process.
Special praise certainly must be reserved for the wondrous
Jim Norton. This Tony-winning actor not only grounds the entire proceedings, but he does so with magnetic charm and easy humor. With rascally eyes twinkling throughout, you'd be forgiven for thinking him a leprechaun himself. You can't help but wish him good fortune for his contributions.
The same goes for Warren Carlyle, too. As I noted above, he's pulled out nearly every stop in making this
Finian's Rainbow as good as a revival as this dated show can possibly get. Well, almost.
John Lee Beatty's two-dimensional scenic design may be verdant as kelly-colored grass, but it's as if Carlyle spent all of his green on everything but the cheap-looking set.
Sad to say, there's also the book. The problematic, silly book. As magnificent as the score, cast and choreography make this
Finian's Rainbow soar, the libretto originally written by Harburg and
Fred Saidy that's been adapted by
Arthur Perlman (the original adaptation for New York City Center Encores! was written by
David Ives) remains as creaky as ever. By cramming in far too many disparate themes -- including a noble one on race that was once way ahead of its time -- the book remains quaint at best. It's so clunky that it threatens to fall under its own weight.
Thus it's a tribute to Carlyle and company that the overall production manages to stand, even if tilting a bit precariously. In their quest for gold, Carlyle and his cast's yeomen efforts have still managed to find something truly precious at the end
Finian's Rainbow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Cheyenne Jackson, Christopher Fitzgerald, Finian's Rainbow, Jim Norton, Kate Baldwin, Musical, Revival, Terri White, The SOB Review, Transfer, Warren Carlyle
Finian's Rainbow Revival: Finding The Sweet PotWhen the
Burton Lane-
E.Y. Harburg musical
Finian's Rainbow first arched over the Great White Way in 1947, it was ahead of its time in challenging the deeply-held racial prejudices, not only the Deep South, but throughout American society.
Considering the times, this was one audacious effort.
It was the same year
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by becoming a
Brooklyn Dodger. It was just a year before
Senator Strom Thurmond waged a racially-fueled, independent run for the
White House as part of the
States-Rights Democratic Party, winning four states. It was seven years before the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled against segregation in the landmark
Brown vs. Board of Education. It was 18 years before the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 ensured no one would be disenfranchised on the basis of their skin color. And it was 21 years before the dreams of
Martin Luther King, Jr. would be indefinitely on hold when
an assassin's bullet felled him.
With
Finian's Rainbow lampooning racist elected officials, along with its highly memorable score -- including such beloved tunes as "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "Old Devil Moon" -- the musical became a solid hit after opening at
46th Street Theatre (currently
Richard Rodgers Theatre), running for an amazing 725 performances.
Directed by
Bretaigne Windust, the tuner scored Tony Awards for the late, great choreographer
Michael Kidd, for
David Wayne's portrayal of the leprechaun named Og, and also for the show's conductor and musical director
Milton Rosenstock. The production also starred
Albert Sharpe as Finian McLonergan,
Ella Logan as his daughter Sharon, and
Donald Richards as Woody Mahoney.
Now, some 62 years later with, thankfully, a vastly different landscape in which the racial divide has been forever bridged,
Finian's Rainbow is back on Broadway at the
St. James Theatre where it began previews just yesterday. This time, the cast is headed by the brilliant
Jim Norton (Tony-winner for
The Seafarer, 2007-08) in the title role, the gorgeous
Kate Baldwin as Sharon, and the studly
Cheyenne Jackson as Woody. All are reprising the roles they created earlier this year at
New York City Center Encores!
They'll be joined by
Christopher Fitzgerald as Og,
Chuck Cooper,
William Youmans,
Alina Faye,
Brian Reddy,
Guy Davis,
Terri White and
David Schramm, among others, under
Warren Carlyle's direction and choreography. It's been reported that this will be a much more realized production than the concert version audiences saw last March.
Aside from the initial 1947-48 production, New York
City Center quite curiously has figured prominently in each of the subsequent three revivals for
Finian's Rainbow right up through the current one.
The
first revival was a brief 15-show stint in 1955 at City Center in which
Will Mahoney was Tony-nominated for his portrayal of Finian. Tony-winning actress
Helen Gallagher played Sharon alongside a young
Merv Griffin as Woody in his only Broadway credit.
The
next Finian's Rainbow revival enjoyed a one-week engagement at the 46th Street Theatre during the late spring of 1960 after being transferred from City Center. Directed and choreographed by
Herbert Ross, the production starred
Bobby Howes (Finian),
Jeannie Carson (Sharon),
Biff McGuire (Woody) and
Howard Morris (Og). For trivia nuts, you'll delight in knowing that
Anita Alvarez starred in each of the first three productions, portraying Susan in all of them.
After catching the City Center concert version last March,
I noted how I enjoyed the terrific individual performances but lamented that Harburg and
Fred Saidy' s "ridiculously creaky book reads more like a relic." Fortunately, one of Steve On Broadway's
trusted eyes and ears at the initial preview told me, "It's a wonderful production."
Instead of just another sentimental journey, can the
Finian's Rainbow revival find anything akin to that audaciously sweet pot of gold it originally found 62 years ago? Find out when I post my SOB Review shortly after the revival's October 29 opening.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Cheyenne Jackson, Christopher Fitzgerald, Finian's Rainbow, Jim Norton, Kate Baldwin, Musical, Revival, The SOB Preview, Warren Carlyle
Did LA Critics Think Minsky's Worth Raiding For Musical?No doubt wistfully hoping for a Main Stem three-peat of sorts, Los Angeles'
Center Theatre Group -- which hosted the launch of two would-be Rialto musicals that would go on to be Tony nominated for Best Musical:
Bob Martin's
The Drowsy Chaperone and
John Kander and
Fred Ebb's
Curtains -- is currently producing the long-gestating, Broadway-aimed
Minsky's.
With score by the venerable
Charles Strouse and
Susan Birkenhead, this new tuner is being touted as a good old-fashioned musical comedy. It also marks another collaboration for Bob Martin and
Casey Nicholaw -- just as the former wrote
The Drowsy Chaperone's clever book with the latter directing and choreographing, they possess the same credits for
Minsky's.
If collaboration is the word, it may come as no surprise that their Tony-winning Best Featured Actress
Beth Leavel is also cast in this production. Leavel is joined by a truly terrific-sounding cast, including
Christopher Fitzgerald -- who is finally receiving his due as leading man in the eponymous role --
Kevin Cahoon,
John Cariani and
Rachel Dratch, along with two actors who made
Hairspray's Edna Turnblad their own as major Great White Way replacements:
Paul Vogt and
George Wendt.
So far, so good, right?
Minsky's opened Sunday night and the reviews were, well, a bit skimpy on the praise. But as
Michael Riedel points out, there's apparently enough, er, material there to keep moving forward -- albeit with some major tailoring -- to make it Broadway ready.
Leaving "
Minsky’s not with the tingly sensation of having seen something exciting and maybe a little sinful, but with the feeling that you’ve attended a comforting church service,"
The New York Times'
Charles Isherwood practically damns with the faintest traces of praise: "
Minsky’s is a musical comedy that too often seems to be looking back to familiar formulas, dusting off and sprucing up clichés from the showbiz trunk for another repurposing....
Minsky’s seems content to do the old steps in the old style, on the assumption that sentimental escapism presented with gusto and polish can turn the trick one more time.... They call it burlesque, and the sequins are used a little more sparingly, but it feels a lot like plain-vanilla Broadway.... The short and slightly portly Mr. Fitzgerald makes an appealingly offbeat leading man in the tough-talking but soft-hearted vein.... Ms. Dratch and Mr. Cariani as the matched misfits almost steal the show with a sour-grapes duet, 'I Want a Life.'... On the whole the score is bubbly and pleasant, with an accent on brassy energy."
Calling the show a "nostalgic and not terribly authentic backstage musical
," Los Angeles Times critic
Charles McNulty also offers a mixed review: "[T]hough far from terrible, isn’t quite the electric crowd-pleaser they’re intending. Intermittently delightful, the musical is just as intermittently bumbling, coming alive mostly in the colorful burlesque sequences and taking a sharp nose-dive when attempts are made to contain the parade of skimpily clad dancing girls and shamelessly hoary gags into a traditional book musical.... There are plenty of nifty one-liners and deliriously silly shenanigans, but the book, which has been transplanted from the mid-’20s (in which the film was set) to the Depression-clobbered summer of 1930, has that lumpy look of a dish that’s been fiddled with by too many cooks. Even its dire economic relevance feels belabored.... But the tone of the show could have benefited from a few more grains of documentary truth and a whole lot less musical-comedy fraudulence.... Fitzgerald, who possesses a great trumpet of a voice, excels when a gaggle of leggy showgirls is circling him to the rhythmic bleats of the live orchestra. Leading man he’s not, but he more than compensates with an offbeat charisma.... Leavel ... can be counted on for oomph.... An eccentric constellation of supporting players distracts from the musical’s more threadbare patches."
Despite declaring, "Irresistible throughout is the tuner's cavalcade of song and dance,"
Variety's Bob Verini also gives the show a mixed critique: "The potential of a tuner titled
Minsky's ... is partly realized in its Ahmanson Theater premiere thanks to a strong Charles Strouse/Susan Birkenhead score and state-of-the-art musical staging by helmer-choreographer Casey Nicholaw. On the debit side are a thin, uninvolving storyline and curiously antiseptic take on the raffish art form the tuner purports to celebrate.... Irresistible throughout is the tuner's cavalcade of song and dance.... Aside from Leavel, tuner is light on top bananas and comics generally, though Paul Vogt, John Cariani and Rachel Dratch are amusingly off-kilter zanies. Fitzgerald juggles Billy's machinations with
Mike Todd's brash vitality until he's turned cute and doughy by the love plot, which practically evaporates even as he and (
Katharine) Leonard speak the lines."
Concluding that "the outlines of a well-shaped musical shine through
," The Orange County Record's
Paul Hodgins nevertheless lays bear what he sees as the show's shortfalls: "There are moments of great fun, inspiration and even brilliance in this show.... Indeed, on the level of simple entertainment it succeeds just fine. But in its present form, Martin's contributions to Hunter's original book result in touches of whimsy (mostly welcome) that don't always gibe with other parts of the tale.... The songs are one of
Minsky's strong points.... They smartly capture the sass and verbal adroitness of the time and place.... Nicholaw captures the libertine spirit of classic burlesque with a few elaborately choreographed breast-baring (but not nipple-revealing) moments. Nicholaw shows us that Golden Age burlesque was primarily spectacle and as much a comic as an erotic diversion. I suspect
Minsky's creators know there's plenty of work to be done.... The talented Beth Leavel is given too little to do as Billy's worldly sidekick, Maisie. Fitzgerald's performance is somewhat monochromatic."
I'll be keeping a close eye on this show as it continues making its long journey to Broadway. But right now, the Los Angeles production perhaps seems as far away from its end goal as possible.
UPDATE (2.13.09, 1:45 p.m. EST): According to Playbill, Minsky's will bow on the Great White Way sometime during the 2009-10 Theatrical Season.This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Beth Leavel, Bob Martin, Casey Nicholaw, Charles Strouse, Christopher Fitzgerald, Critics' Capsule, John Cariani, Kevin Cahoon, Los Angeles, Minsky's, Rachel Dratch, Susan Birkenhead, Tryout
Who Knew?Speaking of Young Frankenstein,
whoddathunk that its most entertaining cast member,
Christopher Fitzgerald, would have been the very same actor in that exceedingly clever
Geico ad as its
Cabbage Patch Kid star gone wrong.
Wonder if Fitzgerald was able to save on
his car insurance? Or perhaps he doesn't need any given his New York City domicile.
Post Script: Fitzgerald's castmate and Tony-winning actor Shuler Hensley (a/k/a "The Monster) cameos in Geico's undercover piece on Jed Clampett. This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Cabbage Patch Kids, Christopher Fitzgerald, Geico, Musical, Television Commercial, Young Frankenstein
Did Critics Think Young Frankenstein Was Putzin' On The Shtick?So much for being anything coming close to resembling a monster hit. Instead, critics smelled blood.
Earlier this evening,
Mel Brooks' much anticipated
Young Frankenstein opened to what can only be described as largely disappointing initial reviews. Every single one invariably compared this effort with the ecstatically-acclaimed
The Producers, which took home 12 Tony Awards in 2001. The critics largely thought the songs to be unmemorable with
Roger Bart and
Megan Mullally taking their share of the hits, while
Andrea Martin,
Christopher Fitzgerald,
Sutton Foster and
Shuler Hensley earning what outright praise could be offered.
Proffering that
Young Frankenstein is "not exactly the requisite delirium the best musical comedy can provide," the review by
Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press is a mixed bag: "The musical's intentions aren't as clear since song and dance get in the way of the parody, diluting the spoofing....Frustratingly, Bart never gets to burst out with a show stopper of his own. Martin, though, provides some sassy, salacious humor, hilariously channeling the sexual repression of the housekeeper Frau Blucher....
Young Frankenstein should do wonders for the career of Christopher Fitzgerald, an athletic scamp of a guy who portrays Frankenstein's devoted, demented sidekick, Igor. Verbally and physically, the man can command the stage."
Saying that the show is funny "sometimes,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer is also mixed tending toward negative: "The expert actors are never less than enjoyable as characters created, unforgettably, by the now-iconic movie cast. And Andrea Martin's Frau Blucher and Shuler Hensley's Monster are demonically adorable....But the sweat of competence drives too much of the vintage Brooks humor this time, and the staging by ace director-choreographer
Susan Stroman seems more formula than invention."
Claiming that "lightning hasn't struck twice," when making his inevitable comparison with
The Producers,
David Rooney of
Variety still ends up offering a middling to positive critique: "[A]show that could have been a blast ends up being just good enough....But it's a far more mechanical creation, with little of the heart or liberating belly laughs of its predecessor....Standouts are the indispensable Andrea Martin as sinister haushag Frau Blucher and Christopher Fitzgerald as hunchback Igor. Fitzgerald does the impossible by claiming a role forged by
Marty Feldman as his own inexhaustibly vaudevillian comic creation."
Complaining that it left him "with a monster-size headache,"
The New York Times'
Ben Brantley only laughed three times: "[M]oney can’t buy you flair. It can’t even buy you laughs....And if the headline stars, Mr. Bart (in the title role) and
Megan Mullally (as his Park Avenue fiancée), don’t feel naturally wedded to their roles, the production does offer confirmation of the distinctive, very different talents of Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley and Andrea Martin. The show takes many of the elements that made
The Producers such a delight and then saps them of their joy by overselling them."
Accusing Brooks & Co. of having " just made
Young Frankenstein its victim,"
USA Today's
Robert Bianco offers two-and-a-half stars: "What worked on film works, for the most part, on stage. It's when the show gets inventive, expansive and, well, musical that it gets into trouble....too many songs are dull, too many seem randomly inserted, and almost all either send the story wandering off in pointless new directions or extend old bits that were funnier shorter. The songwriting skill Brooks showed in
The Producers is absent here....Struggling to hold his own against the more colorful secondary characters, Bart sends his voice screeching up to a register that, when overamplified, threatens to scratch glass. Luckily, Foster, Fitzgerald and Martin compensate -- with Martin's hilariously varied response to those whinnying horses almost worth the price of admission on its own. Hensley makes 'Puttin' on the Ritz' the show-stopper it should be."
UPDATED (November 9, 2007 - 9:37 am EST)"Although
Young Frankenstein isn't the joyous celebration one hoped for," for
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News, he still musters a marginally positive review: "Make no mistake: The show is big and entertaining. But it never matches the delirious thrills of
The Producers, whose creative team regrouped to make this monster musical based on Brooks' 1974 horror-film spoof....Many of Brooks' songs disappoint, though. They lack the snap and wit he's shown before and do nothing to move the story along....Roger Bart heads the terrific cast as the mad doctor, Frederick Frankenstein. He sings and dances with enormous ease and charisma and acts with the right neurotic edge. Christopher Fitzgerald makes a fitting and very funny Igor, his humpbacked helper."
Lamenting that "it is not the
The Producers,"
New York Post's
Clive Barnes still offers a solid three-star review: "Despite music that's more ho-hum than hummable, Brooks's lyrics are bright and witty. Better yet, the book -- maintaining virtually all of those iconic quotable quotes -- does a great job, with the assistance of co-writer
Thomas Meehan, in transferring the original script to the stage. An even greater job is done by Stroman whose staging, choreography and supervising of special effects manage to suggest the Broadway musical at its dizziest, glitziest and funniest. In her entire career, Stroman has done nothing better - she even outproduces her work on
The Producers."
However, blasting this as a "shrill, misbegotten, deeply cynical enterprise,"
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun submits perhaps the deepest pan: "[W]ith the exception of about a dozen jokes (nearly all of which were pulled verbatim from the film) and an Act II showstopper, the final product has a shockingly lackadaisical, dashed-off quality that no amount of whiz-bang stagecraft can conceal....Sadly, however, the shrewd casting does not extend to its Doctor Frankenstein. Roger Bart (the lisping Carmen Ghia from
The Producers) has been square-pegged into the straight-man role, one for which he is particularly ill suited. Rather than attempting to rein in the surrounding madcaps until the effort occasionally reduces him to hysterics, which would have recalled Gene Wilder in the film, Mr. Bart performs nearly every scene in an exasperated shriek that brings to mind an unmodulated
Nathan Lane."
So there you have it, no rapturous (and mostly mixed at best) reviews and every single one makes comparisons with Brooks' greatest hit
The Producers. Will this matter when Brooks & Co. supposedly have over $30 million in advance ticket sales? Probably not, but it sure could bring down the top ticket pricing in a hurry....yet Mel Brooks may still be laughing all the way to the bank.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:It's Alive! Young Frankenstein Opens On Broadway (November 8, 2007)
Bart's Back: Bad Omen? (October 24, 2007)
The Broadway Theatres Not Impacted By Labor Dispute (October 17, 2007)
Shubert Alley Schadenfreude, Or Mel's Funk (October 11, 2007)
Once Again, I Have To Ask.... (September 20, 2007)
Young Frankenstein's Gross Out Factor (September 7, 2007)
Seattle Times: Young Frankenstein's Shtick Gets Old (August 24, 2007)
Riedel's Deep Abby Normal?(August 17, 2007)
Young Frankenstein (The SOB Preview) (August 13, 2007)
Will These Eyes Meet? Hoping For Better Than 75% (August 10, 2007)
Is Mel Worth It? (August 4, 2007)
Thanks, Mel! (July 6, 2007)
What Motivates You To See A Broadway Show? (July 5, 2007)
That's Franken$$$$$TEIN! (June 29, 2007)
Cloris To Mel: Put Up Your Dukes! (June 13, 2007)
Pirate Queen Set To Abdicate Hilton Throne (June 6, 2007)
Billion Dollar Broadway Baby? Almost. (May 30, 2007)
Mel Brooks: "It Looks Like The Hilton Theatre" (May 25, 2007)
End Of Plank For Pirate Queen? (May 18, 2007)
It's Official: Mullally Cast In Young Frankenstein (March 9, 2007)The Hits From Coast To Coast (March 8, 2007)
Whither Goeth Chenoweth? (February 27, 2007)
Producers Out, Young Frankenstein In (February 22, 2007)
That's FrankenSTEEN: Just In Time For Halloween (January 24, 2007)
M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)
Young Frankenstein Workshop To Feature Monster Casting (October 11, 2006)
Labels: Andrea Martin, Broadway, Christopher Fitzgerald, Critics' Capsule, Film, Mel Brooks, Musical, Roger Bart, The Producers, Young Frankenstein
It's Alive! Young Frankenstein Opens On BroadwayIt all comes down to this evening.
After months and months of negative publicity for
charging $450 for the top seats,
not publicly sharing the grosses,
not paying dues for the Dramatists Guild,
dumping the beloved Cloris Leachman, and
star Roger Bart's bad back,
Mel Brooks' second film adaptation to be turned into a big splashy Broadway musical finally opens this evening.
Brooks' beloved
film Young Frankenstein gets fine tunered with the help of
Thomas Meehan and director/choreographer
Susan Stroman.
Bart takes on the title role, with
Megan Mullally, ahem, assuming the position of Elizabeth,
Andrea Martin instilling fear in horses as Frau Blucher,
Christopher Fitzgerald humping along as Igor,
Sutton Foster rolling in der hay as Inga and
Shuler Hensley puttin' on the ritz as the Monster.
While I've been highly critical of the aforementioned offenses, I also have been able to separate those issues from my enjoyment of the show during its Seattle tryouts. As cathartic as dissing it with a stinging review might have been,
I'm the first to admit that I rather liked Young Frankenstein.
The real test with tonight's opening and tomorrow's reviews is whether the critics can do the same, or if they'll use the "this was too much like the movie" line to pile on. Find out tomorrow in my critics' capsule.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Bart's Back: Bad Omen? (October 24, 2007)
The Broadway Theatres Not Impacted By Labor Dispute (October 17, 2007)
Shubert Alley Schadenfreude, Or Mel's Funk (October 11, 2007)
Once Again, I Have To Ask.... (September 20, 2007)
Young Frankenstein's Gross Out Factor (September 7, 2007)
Seattle Times: Young Frankenstein's Shtick Gets Old (August 24, 2007)
Riedel's Deep Abby Normal?(August 17, 2007)
Young Frankenstein (The SOB Preview) (August 13, 2007)
Will These Eyes Meet? Hoping For Better Than 75% (August 10, 2007)
Is Mel Worth It? (August 4, 2007)
Thanks, Mel! (July 6, 2007)
What Motivates You To See A Broadway Show? (July 5, 2007)
That's Franken$$$$$TEIN! (June 29, 2007)
Cloris To Mel: Put Up Your Dukes! (June 13, 2007)
Pirate Queen Set To Abdicate Hilton Throne (June 6, 2007)
Billion Dollar Broadway Baby? Almost. (May 30, 2007)
Mel Brooks: "It Looks Like The Hilton Theatre" (May 25, 2007)
End Of Plank For Pirate Queen? (May 18, 2007)
It's Official: Mullally Cast In Young Frankenstein (March 9, 2007)The Hits From Coast To Coast (March 8, 2007)
Whither Goeth Chenoweth? (February 27, 2007)
Producers Out, Young Frankenstein In (February 22, 2007)
That's FrankenSTEEN: Just In Time For Halloween (January 24, 2007)
M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)
Young Frankenstein Workshop To Feature Monster Casting (October 11, 2006)
Labels: Andrea Martin, Broadway, Christopher Fitzgerald, Film, Megan Mullally, Mel Brooks, Musical, Opening Night, Roger Bart, Sutton Foster, Thomas Meehan, Young Frankenstein
Riedel's Deep Abby Normal?New York Post theatre gossip wag Michael Riedel's been having lots of fun with
Young Frankenstein and its Seattle tryout by quoting a "Deep Abby Normal."
Although he says today that
he hinted last week who his mole is, in re-reading that column, I couldn't detect a trace of whom that might be. But his column today would suggest it's none other than
Christopher Fitzgerald, or at least that's what I surmise by "I already hinted at this, but I'll refresh her (
Susan Stroman) memory: He lives in Transylvania, and he has a hump."
By the way,
Playbill has some halfway decent initial pics of the show, including one of Fitzgerald more than capably filling Marty Feldman's shoes as Igor. In case you missed my comments the other day, I said, "If there is just one Tony nominated performance from
Young Frankenstein -- and I personally believe there could very well be at least four or five -- it will be Christopher Fitzgerald. He (is) exceptional."
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Young Frankenstein tickets (Seattle).Click here for Young Frankenstein tickets (Broadway).Related Stories:Young Frankenstein (The SOB Preview) (August 13, 2007)
Will These Eyes Meet? Hoping For Better Than 75% (August 10, 2007)
Is Mel Worth It? (August 4, 2007)
Thanks, Mel! (July 6, 2007)
What Motivates You To See A Broadway Show? (July 5, 2007)
That's Franken$$$$$TEIN! (June 29, 2007)
Cloris To Mel: Put Up Your Dukes! (June 13, 2007)
Pirate Queen Set To Abdicate Hilton Throne (June 6, 2007)
Billion Dollar Broadway Baby? Almost. (May 30, 2007)
Mel Brooks: "It Looks Like The Hilton Theatre" (May 25, 2007)
End Of Plank For Pirate Queen? (May 18, 2007)
It's Official: Mullally Cast In Young Frankenstein (March 9, 2007)
The Hits From Coast To Coast (March 8, 2007)
Whither Goeth Chenoweth? (February 27, 2007)
Producers Out, Young Frankenstein In (February 22, 2007)
That's FrankenSTEEN: Just In Time For Halloween (January 24, 2007)
M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)
Young Frankenstein Workshop To Feature Monster Casting (October 11, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Christopher Fitzgerald, Film, Michael Riedel, Musical, Seattle, Susan Stroman, Tryout, Young Frankenstein
