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: Fails to Put on the Ritz
Hit: 3 Stars
With the hugely successful adaptation of THE PRODUCERS turned into one of the biggest (and most profitable), most popular, and critically praised Broadway musicals of all time, it was a given that Mel Brooks would attempt to dive back into the well and turn some of his other movies into stage musicals. YOUNG FRANKENTEIN was the movie next chosen for adaptation. Unfortunately, though the show has comical musical numbers that allude and sometimes outright copy from famous composers, musicians, and performers of the past (Irving Berlin, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Danny Kaye, etc.), the show fails to be capture the imagination and wit that made THE PRODUCERS such a huge hit.
THE PRODUCERS was originally a story that Mel Brooks turned into a play which was so long that he made it into a film. The original movie, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, wasn't exactly a box office smash, but was big enough to usher Brooks onto the Hollywood scene and would lead him to becoming one of the biggest comic powers of the 1970s. Still, until the late 1990s, THE PRODUCERS was an unknown film, except by Brooks' fans and movie buffs. It also had started out as a stage play and already contained two musical numbers. Therefore, that movie was a perfect pick for adapting into a stage musical. On the other hand, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is one of Brooks' best-known movies, has remained hugely popular since its initial release, and is a parody of the classic black and white horror films of the 1930s. The movie also contain one of the best comedy musical song and dance numbers of film ("Putting on the Ritz"), but that's an Irving Berlin song, not a Mel Brooks song.
Despite all of these challenges, I still thought that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN would be great. I was wrong. The musical isn't terrible, but I was terribly disappointed. Instead of being unique and original, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN ends up sounding like a poorly made copy. There really aren't any standout numbers on the soundtrack, but there are a few worth recommending and a few others that are half-way good.
2. "The Happiest Town in Town"--the big opening number. If all of the songs were as well done as this, then the show would have been as big a success as THE PRODUCERS.
3. "The Brain"--another early number. Full of words and witty humor. Once again, if most of the songs from the album were done along this vein, then the show would have been huge.
5. "Together Again"--a duet between Igor and Frederick. I don't think it's been acknowledged, but the song was definitely inspired by the Muppets "Together Again".
9. "Life, Life"--one of the few serious songs on the album. It's one of the best all around musical numbers in the whole album. I know Brooks is a comedy man, but from this song alone I would be interested in seeing him trying something a bit more serious.
11. "Transylvania Mania"--another big dance number that's just all around fun.
15. "Please Send Me Someone"--this song is kind of mixed. There is a beauty to it, that gets interrupted by bits of comedy. Once again, if the show had been serious, this could have been a very powerful ballad. Instead, it's ruined by its own comedy.
18. "Deep Love"--sex can make people want to sing.
I was really looking forward to "Puttin' On the Ritz", but the expansion of the song and dance number from what was done in the movie actually detracts from the scene rather than make it better.
Overall, though YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN isn't a terrible musical, it is a disappointment. There are glimpses of the Mel Brooks genius, but in trying to top the biggest Broadway musical success ever, he has given us a show that starts out strong, but ends up falling on its feet.
Free Music Review: Slightly underwhelming
Hit: 3 Stars
So how do you follow up "The Producers"? From the start, no matter how well the play is performed, it will always be compared to Mel Brooks's last play. "The Producers" was a critical and commercial smash, and it's hard to give a favorable comparison.
That being said, I felt the songs were underwhelming, lacking the punch of Brooks' earlier works on stage and in film. The lyrics range from the corny to the predictable, but that is not to say the score is without highlights.
Obviously "Puttin' on the Ritz" is by far the most enjoyable song. It's not a song by Brooks, but rather Berlin, and it succeeds in this context primarily to the monster's famous attempt to sing the title line. Other catchy songs are Sutton Foster gamily yodeling "Roll in the Hay," Andrea Martin's "He Vas my Boyfriend," and Megan Mullally's "Please Don't Touch Me," putting a fun twist on the we're-not-in-love song.
The lyrics are filled with double entendres that feel old, as if we've heard them several times before, most noticeably in "Deep Love." It has a very Borscht Belt style to it.
It's not a bad score, just not a very good one. They must hope that the love audiences have for the original film will carry over to the play.
Free Music Review: This Monster Needs to Be Revived
Hit: 3 Stars
Mel Brooks has devoted much time and attention to his lyrics and music to make sure that we have the best possible time that we can, and this is clear on the CD. What is not clear, however, is a sense of time and place. As impressive as this score sounds, at no point does it offer the listener the comedic gloom that as the set-up.
The first big and surprising disappointment is Roger Bart as Dr. Frankenstein who never establishes a cohesive character. Sutton Foster, known for blowing the ceiling off a theatre with a whisper, barely musters much of anything as Inga. She is shockingly subdued and bland.
Faring better are Megan Mulally & Andrea Martin who both have created interesting characters and maintain humorous vocal qualities throughout. Shuler Hensley is surprisingly unfunny as he mumbles his way through Act Two's "Puttin' On The Ritz," but by the sounds of it, Susan Stroman has just secured another nomination for choreography.
Perhaps this show is better seen than heard. Well, that remains to be seen.
Free Music Review: Together Again for the First Time
Hit: 3 Stars
While far from the fiasco the NY critics claimed it to be, Young Frankenstein is a musical comedy bereft of big laughs. It is however, an entertaining old-fashioned show, albeit one with crude humor. Mel Brooks' score is an affectionaet homage to MGM musicals, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin and Doug Besterman's orchestrations are appropriately sumptuous and "old school". If you enjoy old fashioned scores, you will find a lot here to enjoy.Free Music Review: Falls Monstrously Short
Hit: 2 Stars
I have to admit that I had a bias against Young Frankenstein. So much of what I had heard about the actions and attitudes of the personnel involved had left a bad taste in my mouth. To wit:
- The obscenely high top ticket price of $450
- The fact that the producers won't make their weekly numbers public
- That Mel Brooks and director/choreographer Susan Stroman toured the house of the Hilton Theater (a la circling vultures) while the poor cast of the late and unlamented show The Pirate Queen were rehearsing on the stage
- That Mel Brooks refuses to join the Writers Guild
- That despite lukewarm out-of-town reviews, the show underwent only cosmetic changes after its Seattle tryout.
The whole thing just smacks of arrogance. The creators are simply assuming that the show will be a smash. They probably figure that after the huge success of The Producers, that they have an automatic hit on their hands with Young Frankenstein. The show is at its best when it veers from slavishly aping the movie. This isn't very often. The creators seem content merely to paste uninspired numbers into what they consider an already-winning formula. It seems to have taken very little effort, and by that I don't so much mean "effortless" as "lazy."
Act 1 is a series of joyless, obligatory production numbers, and comic bits that fall flat. Overall, the score is one step above terrible, redeemed only by the occasional semi-effective number, such as "Deep Love," the Elizabeth character's big second-act showpiece. Most of the lyrics are at best forgettable, at worst awkward and amateurish. Most of the songs are generic placeholders: places where there should be a song, but Brooks hasn't really gone through the effort of thinking through what the song should say, or more important how to make it funny.
The Young Frankenstein score is very similar to that of Spamalot: it doesn't even try to be good. But then, just as with Spamalot, people aren't coming to hear a quality score, and they certainly don't get one. They just want to see one of their favorite movies on stage. Just validate my expectations; don't try to stretch the form or create genuine quality.
The marvelously talented Sutton Foster is simply wasted as the pulchritudinous lab assistant Inga. She doesn't have a single second of stage time that was worthy of her considerable gifts. Christopher Fitzgerald hams it up shamelessly as Igor, often quite effectively, but just as often to silence from the house. Andrea Martin makes the best of the cardboard role of Frau Blucher. Her "He Vas My Boyfriend" was the only number in Act 1 that I found worth applauding.
The biggest disappointment was Megan Mullaley, who seemed with her every breath to be trying to avoid being Karen Walker. The material Brooks has provided her is especially weak, but Mullaley did retain a small remnant of the spark I recall from when she was Rosemary to Matthew Broderick's J. Pierpont Finch in the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.
Young Frankenstein will very likely be a hit, but certainly not because of its characterless score. Will it run for six years, like Mel Brooks' last Broadway effort? I've sort of given up trying to make those kind of predictions. All I can say is that, as far as quality musical theater goes, Young Frankenstein falls monstrously short.