Young Frankenstein to play at the Hilton from 11 Oct

The New York Times reports that with the official annoucment that Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch�nberg�s The Pirate Queen is to play its final performance at the Hilton Theatre on 17 Jun 2007, it can now be confirmed that Mel Brook's musical comedy Young Frankenstein will open at the Hilton Theatre, as previously rumored.

The musical will begin previews on 11 Oct 2007, and open on 8 Nov 2007. Like Mel Brook's 12 times Tony Award winning show The Producers, Young Frankenstein will feature music & lyrics by Mel Brooks, book by Mel Brooks & Tom Meehan, and will be directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

The production also features the same creative team as The producers: Robin Wagner(Set Design), William Ivey Long (Costumes) and Peter Kaczorowski (lighting).

Young Frankenstein tells the story of Frederick Frankenstein, a young neurosurgeon who inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. In the castle he finds a funny hunchback called Igor, a pretty lab assistant named Inga and the old housekeeper, frau Blucher. Young Frankenstein does not believe in the work of his grandfather, but when he discovers the book where the mad doctor described his reanimation experiment, he suddenly changes his mind...

The production stars Roger Bart (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein), Megan Mullally(Elizabeth), Sutton Foster (Inga), Shuler Hensley (The Monster), Fred Applegate (Kemp) and Christopher Fitzgerald (Igor).

In an interview with Steve Friess on TheStripPodcast a few weeks ago Brooks said that he has written 17 new songs for the musical, and is now working on the 18th. When asked if it is difficult to go back and write, Brooks replied "No, no, they write themselves almost. I mean the villagers are so happy that Baron Frankenstein is dead at the beginning that they dance a tune called �We�re the Happiest Town in Town.� Then they find out the bad news, that there�s a �Young Frankenstein� still alive and he�s in New York and he�s teaching at a medical school. And then we segue to the doctor who wants nothing to do with � you know, my grandfather�s work was crazy and he lives for the transference of intelligence from one brain to another. And he sings a song called �There is Nothing Like The Brain.� It�s a terrific song.

Young Frankenstein is to have a pre-Broadway tryout at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, before opening on Broadway.