Bart and Fitzgerald Cast in Bway-Bound Young Frankenstein?

According to The New York Post's Michael Riedel, Roger Bart will star as skeptical scientist Dr. Frankenstein in the highly anticipated Broadway-bound musical version of Young Frankenstein.

Riedel also reports that Christopher Fitzgerald (Wicked, Gutenberg! The Musical) has landed the role of the not-so-sinister Igor.  Bart has previously worked with Young Frankenstein creator Mel Brooks and director/choreographer Susan Stroman in The Producers, in which he originated the role of Carmen Ghia and later played Leo Bloom.  Although no offical casting has been announced, Riedel writes that the production will also likely star Shuler Hensley (The Monster), Megan Mullaly (Elizabeth), Sutton Foster (Inga) and Andrea Martin (Frau Blucher - neighh!)

Robert F.X. Sillerman and Mel Brooks present The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, a new musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award winning smash The Producers.  With music and lyrics by three-time Tony Award winner Mel Brooks, book by Brooks and three-time Tony Award winner Thomas Meehan, Young Frankenstein is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman.

Young Frankenstein will play Seattle's Paramount Theatre August 4th - September 1st.

Based on the smash hit 1974 film, Young Frankenstein is "the wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks.  When Frederick Frankenstein, an esteemed New York brain surgeon and professor, inherits a castle and laboratory in Transylvania from his grandfather, deranged genius Victor van Frankenstein, he faces a dilemma.  Does he continue to run from his family's tortured past or does he stay in Transylvania to carry on his grandfather's mad experiments reanimating the dead and, in the process, fall in love with his sexy lab assistant Inga?," according to press materials.

Released in 1974 to unanimous critical acclaim, the film received two Academy Award nominations, including one for Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder's script, also nominated for a Writer's Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Young Frankenstein was also the recipient of the two highest honors accorded films of science fiction: winning The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and The Nebula Award, given by The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, for Best Dramatic Writing. Since its release, the film has become part of the national consciousness: in 2000, it was selected as #13 on AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time and in 2003, Young Frankenstein was chosen for preservation in the Library of  Congress National Film Registry.

The design team includes three Tony Award winning veterans of The Producers: three time Tony Award winning set designer Robin Wagner, four time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long and Tony Award winning lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski.

Current season ticket holders to Fred Meyer Broadway Across America - Seattle have the first opportunity to purchase tickets to Young  Frankenstein. Ticket order forms will be sent to all Season Ticket Holder households, and can also be ordered via phone and online through the series customer service center.

Corporate and Group clients can also purchase tickets at this time. A minimum of 20 tickets is required and available by calling 888. 214.6856. Individual tickets for the shows will go on sale at a later date. For future information about the on-sale date for Young Frankenstein, sign up for the e-newsletter from Seattle Theatre Group at www.theparamount.com.

Photo of Roger Bart by Retna Ltd.