Next Mel Brooks musical

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:07pm

If someone knows tell us.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:08pm

Blazing Saddles! He actually told us during the YF curtain call

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:10pm

Will it be toned down?

What about the bean eating scene ? Will it be set to music?

How will the horse punching scene get by Peta?

These questions need to be answered.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:24pm

*Yawn*

Just listen to either The Producers or Young Frankenstein. They both sound exactly alike so I'm preeeeetty sure anything else he does is going to be just as boring, just as unfunny and just as overhyped and overpriced as whatever came before it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:24pm

They said maybe next year, Blazing Saddles. Maybe as in "Maybe if Young Frankenstein does well I'll write Blazing Saddles." Well, you know what happened there.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:27pm

Jordan, don't you mean the songs that GLEN KELLY wrote for THE PRODUCERS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN sound exactly alike, credits notwithstanding?

Also, I was hoping you would make the inevitable horse-face-actress-as-the-actual-horse joke, if at all possible...

P

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:29pm

SJP is doing the show? She hasn't been on Broadway since '96 and I'd go see her do anything!

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:35pm

Haha! There's the Jordan I know and love so well!

P

[garyl]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 8:54pm

he should go back and work on All American from 1962 with a decent score by Charles Strouse

[sally1112]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 9:18pm

I enjoyed both the Producers and YF very much.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 9:54pm

ACTUALLY it's funny this thread has come up because I have heard that his tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors has inspired him to pick up the pen again and continue where he left off with the BLAZING SADDLES musical...

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 10:26pm

Say what you will about Mel Brooks, but his phone calls would be answered instantly by any producer. And as a producer, I'd take a chance on his material before anyone AT ALL on Broadway except Sondheim. Anyone.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 10:49pm

^ allofmylife is spot-on. Never underestimate the power of THE PRODUCERS. Plus, Mel is an incredible funny and generally nice guy. I'll never forget meeting him during previews for THE PRODUCERS and him later introducing me to his glorious wife Anne Bancroft (RIP). Talk about a class act (both of them)!

P

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 10:58pm

I really admire his confidence in his work. When he writes music/libretto, he truly looks at his piece as great. I think that it is so important for a composer to really enjoy the work they produced. I really hope Young Frankenstein was not the last of him!

[Jon]

Posted: 1/30/10 at 11:36pm

I recently did a production of his first musical, "archy and mehitabel".

He co-wrote the book, and it's quite obvious which lines he wrote.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/31/10 at 3:59am

Mel - I guess like Roger Rabbit - has spent his entire adult life making people laugh. And he has given me so many wonderful nights of laughter in the movies. The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, To Be of Not To Be, Silent Movie.....

The Producers was a huge, monster hit for one reason. It was freaking funny. Sure Nathan Lane was great and Matthew probably plays the best schlemiel since Victor Moore but without Brooks' feverish imagination, they are just two funny-looking men standing around waiting for Godot.

I give Mel a huge get-out-of-Broadwayworld.com-criticism-hell hall pass for both the movie of The Producers and Young Frankenstein due to the profound tragedy he has suffered in the last few years. I was so heartened to see the look on his face during the Kennedy Awards when he saw - perhaps for the first time in a long time - how beloved he is and if that inspired him to get back to the typewriter (that's where the writer in me sees him, poolside with a Remington portable) then thank God for the laughter he's about to generate.

Sometimes we should just take Dr. Sidney Freedman's advice, pull down our pants and slide on the ice.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/31/10 at 4:30am

I'm of that peculiar breed that prefers YF to The Producers. However, I do think it's time to mix up the formula a little. There's a big risk that Blazing Saddles could be a case of diminishing returns.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/31/10 at 4:35am

I loved The Producers. The original movie is one of my all time favortes. I didn't think I would enjoy the musical as much...but I sure did. Thought it was one of the funniest stage shows I'd ever seen.

YF? Still love the movie, but I'd give anything to get those two plus hours of my life back.

Don't know how Saddles would do on stage...but I'll be willing to give Mel another chance.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/31/10 at 4:59am

THE PRODUCERS was one of the most brilliantly twisted and hilarious shows I've ever seen. I loved every second of it.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN was fine but not nearly as good as THE PRODUCERS. YF came to New York with astronomically high expectations, for multiple reasons. It didn't meet them at all (really, how could it?), but I still enjoyed myself and had fun when I saw it, to a certain extent.

I'd still love to see YF's weekly grosses. I'm very curious...

Regardless, I'd like to see what Brooks has up his sleeve next. I know many people in the Bway community hate him (I don't at all...) but if he has something good to offer, I'd go see it. Why not? I'd like to see him prove that THE PRODUCERS wasn't a fluke, because I really, really don't think it was.
Updated On: 1/31/10 at 04:59 AM

[Will O'Donnell]

Posted: 1/31/10 at 9:38pm

I love The Producers! I personally think it's one of the best comedy-musicals in recent history. Young Frankenstein was cute, and not once during the show did I ever think "This sounds just like The Producers."

[tazber]

Posted: 1/31/10 at 10:03pm

uea, I don't think YF sounds like The Producers at all. I like both and the Producers is the better show. But I just love the YF score.

[Xman8]

Posted: 2/1/10 at 2:48am

I loved Young Frankenstein very much, but the reason why The Producers was so successful and well received is because it had a constant array of below the belt punches. It's the one musical that tried to cause a bunch of controversy, Sex sells, Nazi playwright, keeping things gay, springtime for hitler, screwing to get yourself money, etc. That alone is just things that make us say, "I can't believe he did that!" Now as much as I love Young Frankenstein, I felt it was just too safe. It had the opportunity to give us below the belt punches, stir some controversy and be all around witty, People claim that it didn't have that much memorable songs and I say balderdash, it had hummable songs. Transylvania Mania, Roll in the Hay.

The great thing about Mel Brooks is that his movies aren't difficult to translate into a musical and, yes, even Spaceballs can be made into a musical. He had this penchant for including original songs into his movies, "High Anxiety", "Jews in Space (even the familiar sounding 'Men in Tights')", the entire Spanish Inquisition number. He put so much detail into including music in his films. That the idea of a film of his made into a musical does not sound insane at all.

Blazing Saddles as a musical? OMG the material to make a self aware western musical is there. Don't doubt it, he can do it.

[ken8631]

Posted: 2/1/10 at 8:01am

Blazing Saddles is my favorite comedy!

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/1/10 at 8:29am

I know I'm in the minority, but I prefer History Of The World (Part 1), and think it's much better suited to the stage.

[Patash]

Posted: 2/1/10 at 9:22am

The Producers sounds just like Young Frankenstein? Did someone not listen to one of them, or perhaps either? Yea, both have songs with both words and notes. I guess that makes them identical?