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
Bart's Back: Bad Omen?It's never a good sign when one of the key principals in a new show is out with an injury, but that's the case with
Roger Bart in
Young Frankenstein.
Bart has been sidelined, at least temporarily, with a lower back injury. As a result, he's missed some performances since the October 13 matinee.
First I heard of it was via
Chris Caggiano of
Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals, who posted his scathing review of the show on Monday. Chris saw understudy
Matthew LaBanca in the role of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, whom he described as "game and energetic, and almost letter-perfect in his knowledge of the role. The audience didn't seem to care that the actor playing the title character was out." A pity about the show itself.
Over at the
New York Post, columnist
Michael Riedel uses the opportunity to joke about the show:
Roger Bart, will be out at least until the weekend due to a bad back. (And he hasn't even read his reviews yet.)
Riedel goes on to say that the dark horse in this year's Tony derby may very well be
Cry-Baby, especially since the buzz he's hearing out the
Hilton Theatre ain't that great about
Mel and his new show.
What's that line from the "
Cell Block Tango"? Something about "He had it coming!"?!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Buzz, Chris Caggiano, Cry-Baby, Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals, Mel Brooks, Michael Riedel, Musical, Roger Bart, Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein (The SOB Preview) - The Paramount, Seattle, WA
***1/2 (out of ****)Is
Young Frankenstein any good? That would be "The $450 Question."
Or perhaps more incisively, is it worth $450 per ticket? That, my friends depends entirely upon your point of view.
Personally, I could never bring myself to spend that kind of money on a theatre ticket as
I think I've already made abundantly clear. But if all things are truly relative, I can tell you that I enjoyed this nearly Broadway-ready
Young Frankenstein much,
much more than
Jersey Boys, where the top seats fetch a farfetched $351.50.
Over this past weekend, I flew to Seattle to take in the out-of-town tryout of
Mel Brooks'
Young Frankenstein,
and I can tell you it has monster hit written all over it. Yes, plenty of tinkering remains to be completed (can somebody
please give a hand to sound designer
Jonathan Deans -- the entire first couple tunes were so muffled that I could barely understand what was being sung), and yes, it currently runs about a half hour
too long (vooof!), but overall, Brooks' latest film-cum-stage musical is funny, funny, funny.
And in answer to the original question, yes, it's pretty darned good, too.
Given that I saw the show only days into its first previews, what's remarkable is the nearly excellent shape in which
Young Frankenstein already is for a show that will be further fine-tuned in the weeks ahead.
Credit Brooks and
Thomas Meehan for embracing all of the signature lines and hysterical bits from the
film and running with them. They're not only all here, but the rapt audience clearly anticipates each one, cheering enthusiastically as each is delivered with relish (now I
finally know how all those Monty Python fans felt during
Spamalot).
Yet, Brooks and Meehan expand on the story by offering up a more fully-realized Elizabeth thanks to a wickedly funny
Megan Mullally, and Igor via an absolutely hilarious
Christopher Fitzgerald --
Wicked's original Boq -- in an uproarious breakthrough performance that makes you all but forget
Marty Feldman.
Fortunately, they're not alone. For my first-time
ever,
I finally saw Sutton Foster perform and got to see what the fuss is about; not only can she sing and dance with the best of them, she's a voluptuous laugh riot to boot as Inga. Her "Roll In The Hay" had me rolling in the aisle. As much as I hoped to see
Cloris Leachman recreate the role of Frau Blucher, there's no better substitute than the pricelessly droll
Andrea Martin, who delights with nodding approval from neighing horses; her "He Vas My Boyfriend" underscores her comedic versatility. And while a monster of few words,
Shuler Hensley makes for about the most lovable bogeyman ever -- just ask Mullally, who sings down the house with her risible "Deep Love."
The toughest role certainly falls on former second-stringer and Tony-winner
Roger Bart, who finally graduates to a leading role with plenty of comic pizzazz. While it takes a while for his Dr. Frederick Frankenstein to rise to the heights of
Gene Wilder from the silver screen version, his winning madness and heart ultimately win the audience over.
Despite sprinklings of vampires and werewolves, surprisingly few of the tunes by Mel Brooks capture the lunacy of
The Producers, but as noted above, this
is still a work in progress. Although I still recall the strains of the aforementioned "Deep Love," along with "Together Again For The First Time" when Frederick and Igor forge their bond, if I were to guess which tunes would go away to speed along the narrative, I'd suggest the throwaway "Welcome To Transylvania" or the needless "Please Send Me Someone" by the one-scene Hermit.
Perhaps it's for these reasons that the
real showstopping tune turns out not to be a newly written Brooks piece, but instead,
Irving Berlin's borrowed "Puttin' On The Ritz." Like a
Busby Berkeley extravaganza, this signature tune catapults
Young Frankenstein to the highest heights of hilarity.
Thanks to the unique vision of director/choreographer
Susan Stroman, these Transylvanian hills come alive, not only with the sound of music, but also with enchanting stagecraft.
Robin Wagner has outdone himself with Frankenstein's laboratory alone, but when you add everything from a ocean-going ship to Frankenstein Castle's grand hall, add a dose of
Marc Brickman's enchanting projection designs and throw in
Peter Kaczorowski's brilliant lighting design, suddenly there's more magic than you can shake a beaker at. Then, of course, there's
William Ivey Long's wide-ranging costume design that bridges New York chic with Transylvania geek.
I fully trust that the final product that bows on Broadway will be precision perfect, but this is as abby-normally terrific as you can get this early.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Young Frankenstein tickets (Seattle).Click here for Young Frankenstein tickets (Broadway).Related Stories: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, Film, Megan Mullally, Mel Brooks, Musical, Roger Bart, Seattle, Shuler Hensley, Sutton Foster, The SOB Preview, The SOB Review, Young Frankenstein
End Of Plank For Pirate Queen?
Just to get you caught up on the musical theatre version of musical chairs, the highly popular
Grinch played last season at the
Hilton Theatre, current home to
The Pirate Queen. A move to another theatre may on the surface appear to assure that
The Pirate Queen plans to be around for a while, right? Wrong.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for The Pirate Queen $55 tickets. Related Stories:
Labels: Film, Hilton Theatre, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Megan Mullally, Mel Brooks, Pure Conjecture, Roger Bart, Shuler Hensley, Sutton Foster, The Pirate Queen, The Producers, Young Frankenstein
It's Official: Mullally Cast In Young Frankenstein
I had been told earlier this week that Mullally signed for the show. I've also heard that the producers have decided against casting the venerable
Cloris Leachman, who created the Frau Blücher role on the silver screen. The rumblings I've heard not only deem her too old (Leachman is, in my opinion, a remarkably young 80), but also indicate that
Young Frankenstein can really only begin anew if it's completely recast. Somehow, those neighing horses will never be the same.
Having said that, another of my fave actresses, the redoubtable
Andrea Martin, has supposedly been in the running to assume the role of Frau Blücher. But like Chenoweth, she's reportedly mulling over her own potential television deal. Same goes for
Roger Bart, who played Igor in the much-ballyhooed reading of
Young Frankenstein last October.
One thing that does seem certain is that the out of town tryout will be in Seattle this summer. Personally, I'm already planning a trek to America's Emerald City to see whether this Broadway bound tuner measures up, regardless of who's cast (although
it sure would be nice to finally see Sutton Foster...).
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:
Labels: Andrea Martin, Broadway, Cloris Leachman, Kristin Chenoweth, Megan Mullally, Musical, Roger Bart, Rumor, Seattle, Shuler Hensley, Sutton Foster, Tryout, Young Frankenstein
