Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical
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Free Music Notes for Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical
Free Music Review: It's a "shocker" its that good, IT'S ALIVE!
Hit: 5 Stars
Even though I did not see the musical yet? But on a second thought. I will now, that I took a chance and bought this cd. I know it might be a bit different from the original film. But it was worth it. Well, what do you know it was a total "shocker" It had my neck bolts all fired up! The songs went great with the story. I know I am going to love it even more when I see it live on stage. I was just watching Mel Brook's Dracula Dead an Loving the other day. In this one scene were Dracula is dancing with Mina at the ball and in his castle and the song was played during the end cridics. I thought the music took off really good, it had a musical mood to it, and a broadway touch to it. I thought, what would that movie look like if it were to be turned into a live musical version of it on stage? I know the last Dracula on broadway in NYC was not a great success. But I would like to see Mel Brook's "DRACULA DEAD AND LOVING IT" hit the broadway stage. I think if Young Frankenstein goes well and the critics love it, I think Mel, should maybe do Dracula? But I know some of his movies are not cut out to be musicals and some of them are Space Balls, History of the World ,Robin Hood men in tights? Those would not be the best for a live performance? I think he should be picky on which one's he choices to be on stage infront of a live audiences. I think Mel should go Monster Mania and go ahead and make Dracula the next big hit. That's just an idea I had in mind? I think this show is going to go all the way TRANSYLVANIA MANIA BABY! Go for it an buy it, it was a trill ride of a Musical Haunted Hayride. Deffently add this to your Bloody Broadway Collection. That also includes. Phantom of the Opera, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweeney Todd, Jekyll and Hyde. Dance of the Vampires, and now Young Frankenstein...Free Music Review: Moments of Brilliance, Covered in Mediocrity
Hit: 4 Stars
There aren't many bigger Mel Brooks fans than I am. Honestly, if I'm ranking my 20 favorite movies, in my mind, Mr. Brooks has 3-4 of those spots. I loved The Producers, so I've been anxiously following the lead-up to Young Frankenstein on Broadway, and now the soundtrack. This isn't as good as The Producers was, but its not bad.
For those who haven't seen the movie (Shame on you!), the story revolves around the last Frankenstein (played by Roger Bart), who is distancing himself from his family name by using a different pronunciation of the name as he is teaching in New York. When he learns of his grandfather's death, he goes back to Transylvania to settle the estate. While there, he meets Igor (Christopher Fitzgerald, whose performance is demanding of a Tony), Inga (Sutton Foster) and Frau Blucher (Andrea Martin). He realizes that is supposed to live up to his family name and goes about making a new Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley). Just as he's beginning to establish himself with Inga and in the town, his fiance' (Megan Mullally) arrives.
This is an A+ cast, with good material, but it almost seems like they are hesitant to take the show over at times. Each deferring to the other. No more is this present than in the performance of Sutton Foster. Foster is one of the greatest stars on Broadway in the recent years and is almost criminally underused in this production. Roger Bart does a good job, if slightly tame, in his performance. Mullally brings much of her television persona back with her and is good in small doses, but even in the small role can get a little over-the-top. One song, "Please Don't Touch Me", has really good potential but it ruined at the end by the screaming of a word describing a female body part over and over again.
There are good songs here. "Together Again" has a great feel and is very listenable and humorous. "He Vas My Boyfriend" is perhaps the funniest song in the show, with so many innuendos you need to listen a couple of times to pick them all up. "Life, Life" has a very good melody and advances the story exceptionally well. "Transylvania Mania" is a fun song to listen to, and the staging of this number is amazing if you get a chance to see the show. "Listen To Your Heart" is a very funny number, and really Sutton Foster's chance to shine in the musical. Much like the movie, there is a humorous rendition of "Puttin' on the Ritz", only this one much more melodic than in the movie.
I like this show, I really enjoyed it. However, the moments of brilliance that it has can get lost in some of the mediocrity that surrounds it. This should be a must-own for a musical or a Mel Brooks fan. For the rest, its without doubt worth a listen, but it isn't the highest brow of humor or the sharpest of lyrics. I give it 4/5, but its on the low end of that range.
Free Music Review: They Nailed It!
Hit: 5 Stars
We saw the show in NYC on 12/21/07 and LOVED it! If you are a fan of the original movie you will truely enjoy the Broadway rendition of this classic. They capture all of the scenes we love to see over and over again (Bookcase, need I say more) and add up to date spins every now and then.
The movie, although not a musical, transforms magically on stage. The new songs are hilarious and the original ones are just as you remember. This is a must for any long-time Young Frankenstein fan!
Free Music Review: Old, Old...OLD Frankenstein
Hit: 1 Stars
Wow! The dated dreck currently substituting for a score in the new Broadway non-musical "Young Frankenstein" hits a new low for the theater. This is easily one of the worst scores ever to disgrace a Broadway stage and it's hard to fathom how anyone thought this drivel deserved to see the light of Frankenstein's laboratory. Where to begin? Oh yeah, Mel Brooks. His score for "The Producers" was that show's weakest link but with clever staging and two serious star turns, it was rendered amusing if unmemorable. Still, that juggernaut could not sustain the loss of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and was exposed for what it was soon after...light and airy as cotton candy and just as insubstantial. Even that can't be said about this clunker. These trashy and unfunny songs don't produce one memorable moment. Instead, what you get is banal music accompanying some of the most relentlessly offensive lyrics ever to be heard in a professional production. That is, unless you think that Megan Mulally belting out the same crass word about the female anatomy twenty-five times is the height of sophisticated hilarity. The so-called humor would have been DOA forty years ago and sounds like the ramblings of an aging comic like, well, like Brooks. Dated, dated, dated. Most of that "humor", in fact, is lifted en masse from the 1974 movie. It was funny then but lost it's novelty a generation ago. What qualifies as "new" humor (i.e., jokes) on this recording was retro before pen hit paper and you can hear every joke coming a Transylvanian mile away. And just look at the song titles! Many are just the same tired old lines set to music: "Please Don't Touch Me", "Roll in the Hay", "He Vas My Boyfriend"....come on! Not exactly an indication of the creative muse at its peak. How some of Broadway's biggest players got involved with this garbage is unimaginable. Oh, and unlistenable.
The cast might even suffer more than the listener does after being subjected to these humdingers. Sutton Foster, who is becoming a genuine Broadway baby and has been a joy on other recordings, is utterly lost here as Inga and she sounds about as swedish as Julie Andrews. The personality-free Roger Bart is a smarmy and sniveling Frederick, and the very talented Andrea Martin has nothing to play off of. The worst of it goes to Ms. Mulally, who inexplicably interprets Elizabeth like she's a 75 year-old virgin. She also has, uniformly, the worst and slimiest songs in the show. Try getting through "Deep Love" just once and you won't think you can make it. Sorry, you'll have to....it's reprised in the finale (lucky us). Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor only has it better than the rest because the rest have it so bad. Still, these aren't really characters; they're cardboard "types" whose job it is to punch the "punch" lines into the back wall of the Hilton Theatre. Be warned: Duck and Cover.
The show is currently staggering across the Hilton in New York eight times a week. Walk, don't run....to your nearest video store and rent the movie instead. It costs less and is more filling.
Free Music Review: Mel Brooks has done it again!
Hit: 5 Stars
Anyone familiar with Mel Brooks' work on the 1974 movie of the same name will adore this musical! I saw it three times during previews in Seattle, and was astounded by the detail put into the show. I believe that this meticulosity is audible on the CD as well. The entire show is filled with wit and jokes relating directly to the movie, that any fan will appreciate. I must say, there is one note in 'The Brain' sung by the amazing Roger Bart (George the pharmacist on Desperate Housewives, won a Tony for role of Snoopy in YAGMCB Revival of 1999), that...irks...me, he sings 'the breeeiiin' (brain), and I wish that he could change that to be...in tone, but otherwise, the CD is a true portrayal of the show.
Best songs include
The Brain
Please Don't Touch Me (Megan Mullally is genuis! What a strong voice!)
Roll In Ze Hay (Sutton's yodeling is astounding!)
Together Again (I realize now that Christopher Fitzgerald (IGOR) didn't have a good oppertunity to show off his amazing voice in Wicked)
He Vas My Boyfriend
Trannsylvenia Mania
Listen To Your Heart
Puttin' on the Ritz (AMAZING. Go see it just for this song. The tap dance bit with the strobe lights, anyone? It made the show. Sealed the deal. Whatever you want to call it!)
Deep Love (What a creative song! The entire thing will make you die laughing!)
Alone (Although it was taken out halfway through previews in Seattle, this song is fantastic. Mullally (ELIZABETH) calls Frankenstein as he is about to bring the Creature to life, complaining that she is alone. Reviews said that it seemed as though they wanted Mullally in every scene, and the song seemed forced. Still amazing.)
Really, it would be easier to list the 'okay' songs. Really, they are a true testament to Brooks' wit and wisdom. It is a smart musical, the songs 'The Brain' and 'Together Again' are piled down with obscure referances that bring a smile to my lips.
I highly reccomend this to fans of the cast, Brooks, the movie, really, of witty musical theatre! It has not been dummed down for a general audience!
Enjoy!