Photos: The Theatre Group at SBCC Presents YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

To open its 80th season, The Theatre Group at SBCC is presenting the hilarious musical, Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, running July 9-26, 2025 in the Garvin Theatre. Directed by Rick Mokler, Musical Direction by David Potter and Choreography by Michele Spears. Check out photos from the show.

From the creators of the record-breaking Broadway sensation, The Producers, comes this monster musical comedy. The comedy genius, Mel Brooks, adapts his legendarily funny film into a brilliant stage creation—Young Frankenstein!

Grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”) inherits his family’s estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick, Igor (pronounced “Eye-gore”), and a leggy lab assistant, Inga (pronounced normally), Frederick finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors. “It’s alive!” he exclaims as he brings to life a creature to rival his grandfather’s. Eventually, of course, the monster escapes and hilarity abounds.

Every bit as relevant to audience members who will remember the original as it will be to newcomers, Young Frankenstein has all the panache of the screen sensation with a little extra theatrical flair added.

The roots of Young Frankenstein reach back more than two centuries to Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The story’s inception is nearly as legendary as the tale itself. In the stormy summer of 1816, Mary Shelley, her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron, (all future icons of the Romantic Age) were confined indoors near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. To pass the time, they read ghost stories to one another. Inspired by these tales, Byron challenged each guest to write their own supernatural story. Mary Shelley’s story would eventually become Frankenstein, a literary classic and the foundation of modern science fiction.

Shelley’s novel was immensely popular and soon adapted for the stage. In the early 20th century, the story leapt to the silver screen. Frankenstein (1931), starring Boris Karloff, highlighted the gothic horror rather than the moral questions, and its sequel, Bride of Frankenstein (1935), further cemented the now-familiar elements: the crackling laboratory, the hunchbacked assistant Igor, and the stitched-together creature who lumbers through fog- drenched landscapes.

In 1974, Brooks—along with co-writer and star Gene Wilder—created Young Frankenstein, a loving parody of these classic films. Shot in black and white and even using some of the original lab equipment from the 1931 movie, Young Frankenstein mimicked the visual style of old Hollywood horror while transforming it into absurdist comedy. The film earned critical and commercial success, was nominated for an Academy Award, and became a bona fide cult classic.

After having adapted his film, The Producers, into a Broadway musical that became a runaway success, Mel Brooks hoped to strike gold again. So, in 2007, he reunited with co-writer Thomas Meehan to bring Young Frankenstein to Broadway where it ran for 484 performances. Ten years later, the musical was significantly revised and restaged for a UK audience and opened in London’s West End to enthusiastic reviews and renewed acclaim.

Young Frankenstein will feature:  Adrian Arias, Mary Bailey, Ryan Beaghler, Kate Brody-Adams, Addison Clarke, Michael D'Emidio, Kevin Doyle, Amanda Elliot, Cynthia Erickson, Odette Finn, Tyler Gilbert, Will Muse, Giavanna Oliff, Sean O'Shea, Margaret Prothero, Stella Reid, Evan Roush, CJ Smith, Logan Smoot, Chiara Stanziano, Tiffany Story, Naomi Jane Voigt, Terra Sage Wallin, and Dillon Yuhasz.

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