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Music & Lyrics: Mel Brooks
Book: Mel Brooks & Tom Meehan
Synopsis: A young neurosurgeon inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. In the castle he finds a funny hunchback called Igor, a pretty lab assistant named Inga and the old housekeeper, frau Blucher. Young Frankenstein does not believe in the work of his grandfather, but when he discovers the book where the mad doctor described his reanimation experiment, he suddenly changes his mind.
NYTHEATREREVIES.COM:
Really?
NEW YORK TIMES:
"No, it is not nearly as good as “The Producers,” Mr. Brooks’s previous Broadway musical. No, it is not as much fun as the 1974 Mel Brooks movie, also called “Young Frankenstein,” on which it is based.... Ms. Stroman seems to take the show one joke at a time: land this gag, milk it for as long as possible and then mark time with some standard-issue ensemble dancing until you move on to the next ....From its opening number, “Young Frankenstein” has never stopped screeching at you. This means that: (a) it has soon worn out its voice, and (b) it leaves you with a monster-size headache. "
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"Make no mistake: The show is big and entertaining. But it never matches the delirious thrills of "The Producers,... Many of Brooks' songs disappoint, though. They lack the snap and wit he's shown before and do nothing to move the story along... isn't the joyous celebration one hoped for (or one worth premiere prices)."
NEW YORK POST:
"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."
NEWSDAY:
"Is the show - you know the question - funny? Sometimes. 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. They clobber us with greatest-hits punchlines and repeat the jokes in each musical stanza until we can't always remember why we first loved them. At times, the mugging is so aggressive we feel bruised...Alas, something's wrong in Transylvania when the only thing in stitches is the creature's face." "
Read the whole review HERE.
STAR-LEDGER:
"Wondering whether "Young Frankenstein".... is worth all that dough. Nope. Not a great musical, nor even a particularly good one, "Young Frankenstein" is a reasonably funny event and several performers are mighty fine. Don't stampede to see it. Those titanic ticket prices will soon sink ...The loudly orchestrated score, however, is a disappointing batch of obvious lyrics and melodies echoing 1950s show tunes. "...A so-so show neither bad nor good."
Read the whole review HERE.
USA TODAY:
"It's alive — but just barely. If there's fun to be found in Young Frankenstein (* * ½ out of four), Mel Brooks' latest movie-to-Broadway-musical transformation, it's all the result of the giddy, goodwill-laden charms of the original. 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."
Read the whole review HERE.
TIME OUT NY:
"Bloated, robotic, astonishingly unfunny behemoth has been cobbled together from spare parts: Brooks and Gene Wilder’s 1974 comedy classic, plus tired metashowbiz winks, lame new gags and joke tunes, and millions of dollars’ worth of spectacle. Add some fake electricity (courtesy of director-choreographer Susan Stroman), and you have a monster that can barely walk, much less dance its way into our hearts. In other words: It’s not alive! Not alive!...the shapeless material offers no base on which to build a show of any resonance—comical or emotional."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
"Shrill, misbegotten, deeply cynical enterprise....So let's summarize: a character actor stuck in a lead role, a leading actress stuck in a comic role, a handful of underused scene stealers straining to leave their marks, a glut of extraneous and uninventive dance numbers, old jokes that were funnier in the movie, new jokes that wouldn't have warranted a polite grin at a 1964 Friars roast, an uninspired pastiche score, and even worse lyrics."
Read the whole review HERE.
BLOOMBERG:
"You may well guess what kind of men, machinery and monster take over the madcap plot, which treats menace, like everything else, as jest. And pretty funny it is, what with Brooks and co- librettist Thomas Meehan's antic as well as antique humor, resuscitating the film's old gags and adding condign new ones.... All of the performances are praiseworthy...The dizzily burlesque goings-on and devilishly acrobatic dances -- most famously the ``Puttin' on the Ritz'' number that serves as the Monster's debutante ball -- are the inspired work of director and choreographer Susan Stroman."
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
""Young Frankenstein" has no shortage of chuckles, a stellar cast and generous production values (full appreciation of which can be found in Variety's Seattle review of Aug. 24). But it's a far more mechanical creation, with little of the heart or liberating belly laughs of its predecessor. (The Producers)...Not helped by an assaultive but unclear sound mix, the cast works hard but gets a little lost onstage, and many of the jokes along with them....if musical-makers are going to continue to mine movies as source material for anything beyond theme-park jollies, reinvention, not just reproduction, has to figure in the formula. "
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