“Young Frankenstein” Rises From Dead

Variety pronounces: ‘Hoping for a warmer welcome in the West End than it received on Broadway back in 2007, the Young Frankenstein musical finally arrives in London in streamlined, revamped form. A spry 91-year-old Mel Brooks has personally supervised this relaunch, which retains the show’s original director and choreographer Susan Stroman. Brooks and Stroman had previously collaborated on the multi-award-winning 2001 stage version of The Producers, and with considerably less success

on its 2005 screen adaptation. Based on the 1974 Gene Wilder film, which Brooks directed and co-wrote, Young Frankenstein was overshadowed on Broadway by the huge success of The Producers, a record-breaking smash that ran six years. A decade on, with a little more distance, this campy spoof of vintage Hollywood horror tropes deserves to be judged on its own merits. Even so, it still feels like a lesser prospect overall, a boisterous crowd-pleaser powered by vaudevillian shtick, labored slapstick and creaky double entendres.

Leave a Comment