Mel Brooks Dishes On YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, His Creative Process, and More

The Boston Globe recently talked to Tony Award-winner Mel Brooks about directing, his legendary career and his unique creatives process. Brooks' musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is set to play at the Boston Opera House beginning this Tuesday for a two-week engagement.

Brooks, who is best known for his film work on The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frakenstein and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, spoke to the Globe about his old school writing process. Brooks tells the globe, "when you write, there's nobody in the room. You have a stubby pencil and a yellow legal pad and you just keep writing. It was hard at first and then it was better than anything. If I could break myself up, I knew it was funny. If you make yourself laugh, then it's gotta be funny."

Brooks also spoke to the globe about bringing his hit films to life on stage. Brooks told the Globe, "I didn't know whether it was going to be ‘Blazing Saddles' or ‘Young Frankenstein' because I could see them both onstage,' he says. "I don't know. [‘Young Frankenstein'] was more challenging. It was darker. First I wanted to do it in black and white on the stage. Then I said, that's crazy, that's hubris. A stage show should deliver everything. A stage show is a disguised circus. It's animals. It's horses. It's the works."

Director, producer, writer and actor, Mel Brooks is the recipient of three 2001 Tony Awards (Best Score, Best Book of a Musical, Best Musical) and two Grammy Awards (Best Musical Show Album and Best Long Form Music Video) for The Producers. Mr. Brooks began his distinguished career during television's Golden Age as a writer for Sid Caesar on "Your Show of Shows" in 1951. In 1955 and in 1957, Brooks received Emmy Award nominations (with others) for best comedy writing for "Caesar's Hour," and in 1956 he was nominated (with others) for best writing for a variety or situation comedy. In 1952, Brooks wrote sketches for Leonard Sillman's Broadway smash-hit revue, New Faces of 1952, and in 1957, together with Joe Darion, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Shinbone Alley, which starred Eartha Kitt. In 1962, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical All-American, starring Ray Bolger. In the 60s, Brooks teamed up with Carl Reiner to write and perform "The 2000 Year Old Man" albums, which became immediate bestsellers. In 1960 and 1961, Brooks and Reiner received Grammy Award nominations for the best spoken word comedy for "2000 Years" and for best comedy performance for "2000 and One Years," respectively. In 1997, Brooks and Reiner teamed up again for "The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000." Both a book and CD were released, the CD winning a Grammy Award in 1998 for the best spoken word album: comedy. Brooks wrote and narrated The Critic, a short satire on avant-garde art films, which received the Academy Award for best animated short subject in 1964. In 1965, he teamed up with Buck Henry and created "Get Smart," the long-running television show starring Don Adams as Agent 86. Brooks, along with others, received an Emmy Award for outstanding writing achievement in a comedy-variety in 1967 for "The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special." In 1968, he wrote and directed his first feature film, The Producers, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, which earned him an Academy Award for the best original screenplay written directly for the screen. He then went on to create a remarkable string of hit comedies: 1970, wrote, directed and acted in The Twelve Chairs; 1974, co-wrote, directed and acted in Blazing Saddles, and was nominated, along with John Morris, for best title song, "Blazing Saddles;" 1974, co-wrote and directed Young Frankenstein; 1976, co-wrote, directed and starred in Silent Movie; 1977, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in High Anxiety; 1981, wrote, directed, produced and starred in History of the World, Part I; 1983, produced and starred in To Be or Not to Be; 1987, cowrote, directed, produced and starred in the hit sci-fi spoof, Spaceballs; 1991, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Life Stinks; 1993, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Robin Hood: Men in Tights; 1995, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Dracula: Dead and Loving It; 2005, co-wrote and produced The Producers, the film version of his Tony award winning 2001 Broadway musical and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, "There's Nothing Like a Show on Broadway." For three successive seasons, Brooks won the Emmy Award for his role as Uncle Phil on the hit comedy show, "Mad About You." His visionary film company, Brooksfilms Limited, founded in 1980, has produced some of America's most distinguished films, among them: David Lynch's The Elephant Man, David Cronenberg's The Fly, Frances, Richard Benjamin'

The Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, a new musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award winning smash The Producers, comes to Boston for a limited two-week engagement at the Boston Opera House April 20 - May 2.

Tickets for Young Frankenstein go on sale Sunday, February 28 and will be available through an authorized ticket seller found only at Ticketmaster 1-800-982-2787, at all Ticketmaster outlets, by visiting www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com/Boston and directly at the box office of Boston's Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston during normal business hours Monday through Saturday 10:00am - 6:00pm. Applicable service charges may apply. Season Series Patrons interested in tickets should call Broadway Across America - Boston directly at 1-866-523-7469 and for Member tickets please call 1-866-551-7469. Groups of 15 or more please call Broadway Across America - Boston Group Sales at 1-866-633-0194 or email BostonGroups@broadwayacrossamerica.com

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski

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