'Frankenstein' to Play the Hilton?; Brooks Confirms Casting

According to The Strip's podcast interview with Tony Award-winner Mel Brooks, the legendary writer/comedian's new musical Young Frankenstein will most likely open at the Hilton Theatre sometime around Halloween of this year.

Brooks told interviewer Steve Friess, "It looks like (it will be) the Hilton Theater. It's a beautiful theater where I saw Ragtime and 42nd Street. We just simply need a big place...It's amazing that Young Frankenstein, with some hip references, is a very, very family-oriented show. So we're very lucky to get a 42nd Street theater. There are literally millions of people in New York City, especially in the summer and they see the big monster up on the marquee and they say, I want to see that."  Brooks also confirmed the previously rumored casting of Megan Mullally as Elizabeth, Roger Bart as Dr. Frankenstein and Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor.  He says that he's "pretty sure" Andrea Martin will play the role of Frau Blucher.

Brooks also said that he has written 18 songs for Young Frankenstein, as the film on which it was based was not a musical and only boasted the famous Irving Berlin number "Puttin' on the Ritz."   He says of the ease with which he wrote the score: "The villagers are so happy that Baron Frankenstein is dead at the beginning that they dance a tune called 'We're the Happiest Town in Town.' Then they find out the bad news, that there's a 'Young Frankenstein' still alive and he's in New York and he's teaching at a medical school. And then we segue to the doctor who wants nothing to do with … you know, my grandfather's work was crazy and he lives for the transference of intelligence from one brain to another. And he sings a song called 'There is Nothing Like The Brain.' It's a terrific song."

Although no casting has been officially announced, The New York Post's Michael Riedel previously reported that the new musical will also likely star Shuler Hensley as The Monster and Sutton Foster as Inga.

Robert F.X. Sillerman and Brooks will present 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 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 first play an out-of-town tryout at 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.

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.

Visit www.TheStripPodcast.com for more on The Strip.  A full transcript of the Brooks interview can be accessed at http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com.

Photo courtesy of Harrahs.com