Theater Dept. of Schadenfreude
posted by on June 6 at 16:33 PM
From time to time, some of our dear commentors crawl up my nose for hating on Young Frankenstein.
Like you, Mr. Poe, and you, adam_on_alki, who once wrote:
OK, Brendan, seriously, you are a major cunt. I usually like you and your writing and opinions, but you never gave “Young Frankenstein” a chance and you are now totally shitting all over it. Fuck you douche-bag. That was one of if not THE greatest performances I have ever seen live.
It is in a spirit of unfettered gloating and nastiness that I post about Young Frankenstein’s serious financial difficulty.
From the NY Post:
LIKE CEOs in the troubled airline industry, “Young Frankenstein” creator Mel Brooks and producer Robert F. X. Sillerman have embarked on a cost-cutting rampage in a desperate effort to keep their Spruce Goose of a show aloft.
Sutton Foster (Inga) and Megan Mullally (Elizabeth) are both leaving the show in July. They’ll likely be replaced by nonentities who, if they’re lucky, will get paid slightly more than the kid who mans the infrared hearing stand at the Hilton. Producers not involved in “Young Frankenstein” call the drastic salary cuts unprecedented.
“I’ve never heard of trying to get your stars to renew their contract by offering them half their salary,” one says. “It’s innovative. But everything they’ve done on this show is innovative.”
Yeah. Like the $450 ticket.
How could it possible be good when it's based on such a terrible movie?
I didn't much care for the musical version of Young Frankenstein either, so I support you in your unfettered gloating and nastiness.
I saw YF when it was at the Paramount. It had NOTHING going for it, it was a total and absolute piece of shit. (and I DO like the movie).
This was a mindless, effortless attempt to cash in on the deserved success of 'The Producers' [one rare case where the movie remake is almost as good as the original]. YF needs to die. And not get dug up again.
YF's failure should in no way discourage future investors from backing my plans for an expanded musical version of "Blazing Saddles" though...
The BF and I were in NYC in April. Mel Brooks had an insane amount of YF signage in Times Square and the surrounding streets. At the time I thought, he has to be spending some serious cash on those.
Okay, YF wasn't a yowza blockbuster, but it wasn't the WORST piece of musical theatre I've seen in this town recently *cough!*Princesses*cough!*
And in my book Andrea Martin was totally worth the price of admission. But otherwise, it was okay, not brilliant, not horribly sucky, but certainly not a comic masterpiece, despite being based on one of the funniest movies ever.
On the other hand, I guess this means Mr. Brooks is putting on hold his plans for a musical version of "Dracula: Dead And Loving It", which can only be a GOOD thing.
"A Terrible Movie"
WTF!?!?!?!?
It's a great movie! And really, the only consistently funny movie he made...Blazing Saddles is VERY uneven.
Well, I thought it was fantastic. Loved every minute of it. I'm sorry it's not doing well financially, but what does that have to do with whether it's any good or not?
Teehee!
@8: Exactly. How long was Cats running again?
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