Thanks to Mel Brooks- Page 2
Thanks to Mel Brooks
WishingOnlyWounds2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/25/08
#25re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:05pmAgain, Beauty and The Beast and Lion King
broadwayboy101
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#26re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:05pmDid you really just say that Mel Brooks was creative by bringing his already created material from films and merely putting it on a stage instead?
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#27re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:07pm
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1950's) was based on a novel and a film.
SWEET CHARITY was based on a Fellini movie called NIGHTS OF CABRIA. NINE was based on Fellinii's 8 1/2.
Geeze, even THE SOUND OF MUSIC was based on a film called "The Von Trapp Family Singers"
#28re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:07pm
Sorry, but I need to respond again...
You are right The Producers was a happy awaking at a "down" time on Bway... But it wasn't the Messiah of theatre. I decided to look at a list of Broadway's longest running musicals (below) and numbers 6-10 all opened in the 90's and ran through the opening of The Producers.
I love the show, but I don't think Mel Brooks did anything to make a "dent in Broadway history" except write a really smart, tight and, what I would even call, a close to flawless show. But as of today, he is nothing more than a "Broadway one-hit-wonder"
#29re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:08pmthank you Mel Brooks for pushing little old ladies to get tickets
Rose: "Of Course I know, I Watch Fox News"
-(modified)Gypsy
Broadway Schedule
December 5th- Hamilton, On Your Feet
December 19th- Noises Off, Edith Piaf Concert at Town Hall
#30re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:08pmmc1227, How many of the "popular" stage adaptations that you say Mel Brooks inspired actually made their money back.. let alone a profit?
mc1227
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/07
#31re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:08pmYes, I believe that writing songs and dialogue for a musical adapted from a film constitutes creativity.
#32re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:09pm
Sorry forgot to include the link as I mentioned above...
http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0153671.html
broadwayboy101
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#33re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:11pmThe dialogue is out of the film for the most part.
#34re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:11pm
Has HAIRSPRAY already passed the run of THE PRODUCERS?
#35re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:14pm
GOOD! because Hairspray made more of an impact on broadway than THe Producers
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#37re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:19pmI'm going to ignore mc1227 from now on. It's obvious this poor child has the IQ of a cupcake.
#38re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:19pmSo far Hairspray has had just under 100 more performances than The Producers and they have the rest of November and the month of December to go before they close.
mc1227
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/07
#39re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:20pm
I never stated it was the Messiah of theatre. I just said that I believe that it paved the way for a musical theatre comeback and because of it's success, other shows were created and funded that might not have been created otherwise. I don't know how many investors, who Stephen Schwartz got his funding from, what other shows ran concurrently with it etc. I really don't care. I'm speaking about a feeling, a memory, of a time when theatre was down, much like it is now. None of the other shows created the feeling and reaction like The Producers did. It brought many people back to theatre. for that, I thank Mel Brooks.
Hopefully, there will be another show on the horizon that will have the same effect. Until then, we will always have the memories of Footloose and Big.
#40re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:30pm
"I don't know how many investors, who Stephen Schwartz got his funding from, what other shows ran concurrently with it etc. I really don't care."
But... you also say...
"With it's achievements, it opened many purse strings that made subsequent productions (including Wicked) possible."
So please tell me... How do you back up that statement?
How do you know that WICKED wouldn't have been produced if Mel Brooks hadn't adapted THE PRODUCERS for the stage?
#41re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:33pm
"With it's achievements, it opened many purse strings that made subsequent productions (including Wicked) possible."
You do understand that the workshop for Wicked happened in the same year that The Producers opened. If The Producers never happened it would not have stopped Wicked from taking place. I enjoyed The Producers but the credit given to it, IMO, is a bit overstated.
broadwayboy101
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#42re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:34pmThis is about to turn into a discussion about the butterfly effect...brace yourselves...
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#43re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:43pmThey are going to start calling it Brooksway.
#44re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:45pmWhile I think The Producers and Young Frankenstein are enjoyable musical comedies, the inevitable fate of YF was decided once Brooks started boasting and bragging in the press. I guarantee you if Brooks kept his mouth shut, if the grosses were posted, and the absurd premium pricing never created, Young Frankenstein would have opened to positive reviews and still packing audiences in. This is Brooks' doing.
bossbear062
Understudy Joined: 9/5/08
#45re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:45pm
"I don't think Mel Brooks did anything to make a "dent in Broadway history"
umm that could be argued...i think the producers did make a dent bway history...13 tony's..matthew and nathan together..$300 tixs...Susan's choreography...a shpw that bought people back to the bway after 9-11
#46re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:55pm
Before you post something please THINK first or at least do some research. Then WE won't have to tell you that you are wrong... :)
"The Full Monty" opened on Broadway in 2000, which, last time I checked wasn't in the 1990s. Way to go on that research there, slick. 
-best12bars
"Sorry I am a Theatre major not a English Major"
-skibumb5290
#48re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/23/08 at 11:58pm
What was historic about Susan Stroman's choreography?
What was historic about Lane and Broderick on stage together?
- aside from their "return" salary.
#49re: Thanks to Mel Brooks
Posted: 11/24/08 at 12:03am
touche TheActr97J:
I was actually going to change the 90's to the "previous decade" so I wouldn't get "caught" but I decided that it was easier the other way and i didn't think anyone would catch that... good job, you're right, but we can assume that since "The Full Monty" opened June 1, 2000 that it was completely and likely about to start casting at the end of December 1999. But, yes you are right, it did open in 2000.
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