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Comparison Of Frankenstein By Mel Brooks And Gene Wilder

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YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, whose full official title is The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, is a musical with a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks. Based on the 1974 film of the same name by Brooks and Gene Wilder, it is a parody of the horror film genre, specifically the 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its 1939 sequel, Son of Frankenstein.

While the plot remains mostly the same, there are a number of changes from the film. The opening number, "The Happiest Town in Town", isn't based on any scene in the film. Elizabeth (Emily C. Niswonger) arrives in Transylvania much earlier than in the film, where she arrives after "Puttin' on The Ritz," a song performed in the film by only Frederick (Craig D. McKerley) and the Monster (Clint Cox). In the stage musical, it is sung by all the characters, except Elizabeth. The scene from the film with the little girl is not in the musical. In the film, the Monster is lured not by a French horn but a violin, and awakens in the laboratory directly after the brain transfer; in the musical, the Villagers hang Frederick before the Monster wakes and saves him, and the ensuing finale has been greatly expanded. The character of Elizabeth has also been altered to be sexy from the top which kind of spoils the fun of her later transformation. …show more content…

What was once a funny line now becomes a not particularly memorable musical number. The problem is the source material. The Producers was originally a 1968 movie about putting on a musical. In turning it into a musical for the stage, Brooks and Company were able to fill it with the sardonic self awareness of the insider. With YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, that kind of winking self deprecation isn't possible, and the end result is a rather bland spoof of horror films with

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