Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas
Meehan
Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks
Direction and Choreography by Susan Stroman
Starring Roger Bart, Shuler Hensley, Cory English,
Brad
Oscar, Beth Curry, Joanna Glushak
and Anne Horak
Princess of Wales Theatre
Playing through April 18th www.mirish.com
Reviewed
by Robin Breon
Well, I can't for the
life of me understand why Mel
Brooks' second foray into musical theatre, YoungFrankenstein,
received reviews
any less laudatory than his previous blockbuster smash hit The
Producers, but
apparently they were, as the reviewers say, "mixed."
I think it all comes down to whether or not
you enjoy Mel
Brooks' sense of humor. I happen to enjoy it (a lot) but then I'm a big
Mordecai Richler fan as well and of any other writer, satirist or
comedian who
just loves to go for the profane, the sexually robust, the politically
incorrect gutsy laugh kind of humor that you know you're not supposed
to laugh
at publicly until you look around the theatre and see the public
laughing their
butts off. The word is out that Mr. Brooks is now working on his third
venture
into musical theatre, adapting his film Blazing Saddles—surely the
great
American allegory of the times in which we live—to which I can only say
goody, can't wait.
Young Frankenstein is filled with old
vaudeville jokes
that have been shoplifted more times than a Hershey bar off a candy
counter
("Hello Nurse!", "Walk This Way", etc) which only adds to
its great likeability. The music and lyrics penned for the show come
straight
from Mr. Brooks' febrile imagination and, as a song list, fall nicely
within
the book itself which was also crafted by Brooks collaborating with
Thomas
Meehan.Some reviews said that the
whole enchilada has a kind of chopped up, mish mash, slap-dash quality
to it
that hangs together as low-brow fare (albeit one with plenty of spice)
which is
exactly why I love enchiladas by the way, especially with lots of
chocolate
molé sauce which this musical unfortunately lacks but that's
another story.
The only thing absent in this production is
Andrea Martin
reprising her role as Frau Blücher which would have been a real
hoot for
Toronto audiences but you can't have everything. Susan Stroman's superb
direction and choreography gives just the right electrical charge to
animate
this old gothic-framed carcass and give it new life. The cast is
amiably led by
the droll but razor sharp comic timing of Roger Bart with monstrously
strong
support from Shuler Hensley, Cory English, Brad Oscar, Beth Curry,
Joanna
Glushak and Anne Horak.