Blazing Saddles as a musical

[gleek4114]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:36am

I just watched the movie for the first time and I seemed clear to me that it is ripe with material that could translate to the stage. Obviously they would have to remove the KKK and change some lines to be more suitible for this era but it is in my opinion that it could work very well. Does anyone know if Mel Brooks ever considered this for a musical? I don't know if it would ever happen but I think it could be quite good. Just an FYI I love The Producers and Young
Frankenstein. Also I think the name would sell very well. Thoughts?

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:40am

It's in pre-production. Mel Brooks wanted to write a few more songs (as of last summer), but it seemed that it was his intention to get Blazing Saddles on stage.

[jpbran]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:44am

Young Frankenstein ended with an announcement that "blazing saddles: the musical" was coming next...

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 4:04am

It's been in pre-production for years. Mel's talked about it and he's always "writing songs" for it but at 88, he does not appear to have any interest in dealing with the demands of opening a new Broadway show. And even if he did, want to know a sure way to ensure it would fail? Remake it with the following changes "remove the KKK and change some lines to be more suitable for this era". Besides, Mel would never allow it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 5:02am

Jerry Springer the opera had a chorus of tap dancing KKK members. I'm not saying that no one would be offended but it's certainly not an element that would have to be cut. Audiences tolerate a lot these days.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 6:27am

Remove the KKK??? WHY? This film is about racism, why remove it? Did they remove Hitler from The Producers?

Mel Brooks has always been inappropriate, which is part of his brilliance.

I have no idea if this would succeed but it would definitely fail by taking away its edge.

[wonkit]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 9:15am

The last time I watched this movie, I couldn't stop laughing. And wondering if today's super PC audiences would put up with so many of the references without getting their little feelings hurt and going to the press?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 9:25am

I wonder about that all the time with Mel Brooks films as well as All in the Family. We have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves and our frailities. It seems now we can only laugh at stupidity.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 9:33am

Totally agree

This is life in the PC world.

Brantley would crucify this if it opened.

Updated On: 7/20/14 at 09:33 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:23pm

I think the main problem with adapting Blazing Saddles into a stage show is that, like Young Frankenstein, it is directly dealing with cinematic tropes. Not the "PC" issue - Blazing Saddles is no more edgy than Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, the works of Martin McDonagh, or any other number of plays or musicals.

But how would you translate the last act of the film, in which the action destroys the fourth wall and spills out into the movie studio where the film is being shot, onto the stage?

[wonkit]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:35pm

I can see just spilling out into the audience - might be fun, changing it from film tropes to theater tropes.

I would not underestimate the power of pc - Brooks is making fun of stereotypes but the stereotypes still have to be represented in a meaningful way for his gags to work. And one of the biggest gags is the "n" word. For starters.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 1:38pm

"I would not underestimate the power of pc"

I would not underestimate the power of Mel Brooks to not give a s**t about being PC.

It's Mel Brooks. Not being PC is what he does.

[Nateben2]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 2:21pm

But how would you translate the last act of the film, in which the action destroys the fourth wall and spills out into the movie studio where the film is being shot, onto the stage?"

Can't you just see them bursting through theater walls and ending up in Phantom, Lion King and any other musical that is currently running . . . or into classical musicals -Okalahoma, Chorus Line . . . Producers?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 2:29pm

"The last time I watched this movie, I couldn't stop laughing. And wondering if today's super PC audiences would put up with so many of the references without getting their little feelings hurt and going to the press?"

Have you seen BOOK OF MORMON?

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 2:33pm

Mel Brooks has stated publicly that working creatively keeps him from depression and, he believes, wards off senility and dementia. Since he claims to not have any more original films in him, he keeps himself occupied by adapting his films into musicals. He doesn't do it for the critics or the money anymore, it is literally for his health.

If this is the case, I hope for many, many more Mel Brooks musicals! The man is a comedy treasure.

[Nateben2]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 2:35pm

I would love to see Daniel Breaker is the Bart role . . .

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 6:34pm

I like his films, but not his musicals. I'll probably skip this one.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 7:50pm

But "the western" is not a Broadway genre. And the idea of the show spilling into a neighboring theatre is a bit trickier than cutting to another soundstage.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 7:56pm

I just want Spaceballs: The Musical

[Jon]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 8:01pm

Part of the fun of the movie is the use of familiar movie Western locations, etc. Just as with Young Frankenstein, part of the fun was the use of the actual original set for the laboratory.

If can't have Mongo slug a real horse in the jaw, why bother? If you try to contain a Western on a Broadway stage, you might as well be doing "Robbin Hood", the play-within-a-play from CURTAINS.

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 8:02pm

I can't imagine this making it intact

We are in the age of the apology. Everything is up for criticism, and whether on social media or other another medium out hyper-sensitive culture will kill individualism and eventually art will be censored. It is appalling that all on our entertainers feel the need to apologize for everything and worse when they ask for others to do so. Our artists need to support each and every one of their fellow artists when every word or meaning is scrutinized and criticized

Stand up comedy is the latest venue being attacked. Theatre and books may be our last battle ground

I fear for the arts, and eventually our entire culture

[Kad]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 8:12pm

So sad we no longer live in an age in which casual racial slurs are good punchlines.

Except when they are. In multiple popular and lauded movies, plays, and television series.

Save the melodrama for the early 20th century and James Cameron films.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 8:17pm

This from the forum that panicked over a black Annie.

[haterobics]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 8:20pm

I'm not sure that color-blind casting and racially charged material are really a similar discussion, but I'll leaving the sweeping generalizations to the professionals...

[SidebySidebyLogan]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 1:15am

I think High Anxiety would make such a better musical. Mel Brooks meets City of Angels.