EAST LANSING – The Mel Brooks musical "Young Frankenstein," a comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award-winning smash "The Producers," is making its debut at Wharton Center Feb. 2-7 as part of the MSU Federal Credit Union Broadway at Wharton Center Series.
"Young Frankenstein" was named Best Broadway Musical 2008 by the Outer Critics Circle Award and won five Broadway.com Audience Awards, including Favorite New Broadway Musical. Clive Barnes of the New York Post called "Young Frankenstein," "the Broadway musical at its dizziest, glitziest and funniest," while Pat Collins of MY-9 News declared "Young Frankenstein" "a monster hit." Jeffrey Lyons of WNBC-TV said "this riotously funny musical will knock you clear across 42nd Street," and Roger Friedman of Fox News called it "utter genius."
Based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, "Young Frankenstein" is the wickedly inspired reimagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks. When Frederick Frankenstein, an esteemed New York brain surgeon and professor, inherits a castle and laboratory in Transylvania from his grandfather, deranged genius Victor Von Frankenstein, he faces a dilemma. Does he continue to run from his family's tortured past or does he 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, also nominated for a Writer's Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. "Young Frankenstein" was also 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 No. 13 on AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time and in 2003, "Young Frankenstein" was chosen for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry.
The production team includes three Tony Award-winning designers of "The Producers": three-time Tony Award-winning set designer Robin Wagner, five-time Tony Award-winning costume designer William Ivey Long and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski.
'Young Frankenstein'
February 2-7
For showtimes, visit www.whartoncenter.com
$31.50-$67.50
1-800-WHARTON
For further information, visit http://YoungFrankensteinTheMusical.com or http://www.whartoncenter.com.
