Roger Bart And Shuler Hensley Set To Reprise Their Original Broadway Roles In The First National Tour Of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, Opens At PPAC 9/21-10/4

The Frankel Baruch Viertel Routh Group and NETworks Presentations LLC are pleased to announce that Tony Award winners and original stars of the Broadway production of The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, Roger Bart  and  Shuler Hensley  will reprise the roles of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein and The Monster respectively in the eponymous national tour, opening at PPAC, September 29 - October 4, 2009.

Bart and  Hensley will be joined on tour by  Cory English  (Igor), Tony Award nominee  Brad Oscar  (Inspector Kemp/ Blind Hermit),  Beth Curry  (Elizabeth), Joanna Glushak  (Frau Blucher), and  Anne Horak   (Inga).

The company includes  Preston Truman Boyd,  Stephen Carrasco,  Jennifer Lee Crowl,  James Gray,  Shauna Hoskin,  Matthew Brandon Hutchens,  Kristin Marie Johnson,  Sara Lin Johnson,  Melina Kalomas,  Amanda Kloots-Larsen,  Brittany Marcin,  Christopher Ryan,  Lara Seibert,  Geo Serry,  Jennifer Smith,  Matthew Vargo, and  Eric Walck.

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein features a book by three-time Tony Award winner  Mel  Brooks and three-time Tony Award winner  Thomas Meehan, with music and lyrics by  Mel Brooks. The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner  Susan Stroman, with musical supervision provided by  Glen Kelly .

PPAC President J.L. "Lynn" Singleton said, "PPAC successfully launched three national tours last year and we welcome and eagerly anticipate this outstanding national tour of The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein as our Broadway Season opener."

Tickets for The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.ppacri.org, by phone at (401) 421-ARTS (2787), or in person at the PPAC Box Office, located at 220 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence. Summer Box Office Hours are Monday-Thursday, 10A-3P and are in effect until Thursday, September 3. Regular Box Office Hours resume Tuesday, September 8 and are Monday-Friday, 10A-5P; Saturday 10A-2P and through curtain time(s) on show days. PPAC offers military discounts in person, by phone, and online for all performances; for further details, call (401) 421-ARTS. Discounted admission is available for groups of 20 or more. For more information, contact Paul Hiatt at phiatt@ppacri.org or call (401) 574-3162.

The national tour of The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein launches at PPAC on Tuesday, September 29 at 7P; additional performance dates include Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30P; Thursday, October 1 at 7:30P; Friday, October 2 at 8P; Saturday, October 3 at 2P and 8P; and Sunday, October 4 at 1P and 6:30P. Ticket prices for The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein range from $78 to $48; all ticket prices include a $3 per ticket restoration fee.

Based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein is a re-imagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of  Mel Brooks . The musical tells the story of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, who has desperately tried to distance himself from his mad scientist family, going so far as to insist that he be called Dr. Fron-ken-steen. When he inherits a Transylvanian laboratory and castle from his deranged grandfather, Victor Von Frankenstein, Frederick must decide if he will continue running from his family's tortured past or 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.

Unfolding in the forbidding Castle Frankenstein and the foggy moors of Transylvania Heights, the show's raucous score includes "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend," and the unforgettable treatment of Irving Berlin's "Puttin' On the Ritz."

Released in 1974 to unanimous critical acclaim, the film received two Academy Award nominations, including one for  Mel  Brooks and  Gene Wilder's script.  Brooks  and  Wilder  were also nominated for a Writer's Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. /Young Frankenstein/ was 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 the American Film Institute (AFI)'s 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time and in 2003, /Young Frankenstein/ was added to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress.

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein's production team includes three Tony Award winning designers from 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. The production team also features  Jonathan Deans as sound designer.

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein is produced by  The Frankel Baruch Viertel Routh Group and  NETworks Presentations LLC.

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