'The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein' comes to life at Purdue in April
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - "Young Frankenstein" the new Mel Brooks musical, is coming to Purdue University's Elliott Hall of Music on Apr. 19.
The 7:30 p.m. performance is presented by Purdue Convocations.
"The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein," a musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award winning smash "The Producers," opened on Broadway November 8, 2007 at the Hilton Theatre and began the national tour in September 2009.
"Young Frankenstein" features a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, both three-time Tony Award winners, and music and lyrics by Brooks. "Young Frankenstein" is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. Musical supervision is by Glen Kelly.
"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."
Based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, "Young Frankenstein" is the wickedly inspired re-imagining 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, and also was 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 - 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 winning set designer Robin Wagner, five-time winning costume designer William Ivey Long, and winning lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski. Jonathan Deans is the sound designer. Two other "Producers" alumni complete the music department: Tony-award winning orchestrator Doug Besterman and musical director Patrick Brady.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are $20-$48 for the general public and $20-$35 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more can be ordered at 765-496-1977.
Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 20 to 30 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theatre, dance, children's theatre, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.
Contact: Abby Eddy, (765) 494-5045, aeeddy@purdue.edu
Related Web sites:
Purdue Convocations: https://www.purdue.edu/convocations/
Young Frankenstein : YoungFrankensteinTheMusical.com
Publication-quality photos are available at: https://www.youngfrankensteinthemusical.com/photo-galleries