Young Frankenstein plays final performance on Broadway

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein plays its final performance on Broadway on 4 Jan 2009. When the show closes it will have played 30 previews and 484 regular performances.

Young Frankenstein opened at the Hilton Theatre on 8 Nov 2007, following previews from 11 Oct and was selling tickets through to 21 Jun 2009.

Young Frankenstein was the cause of some controversy, when the show broke with tradition and announced that it would not reveal its box office grosses.

The producers also announced that they would sell premiere seats in the orchestra at $450, the highest price tickets for a Broadway show. The anticipated high demand for the show, which would see premiere seats sell at $450, never emerged. Though the musical's producers have not said how many tickets were sold at $450, the number must have been low, as the show was offering half price tickets at TKTS Discount Booth shortly after opening.

It is not known how much the show grossed in total, but it may not have recovered its initial investment as there has been no announcement of the show recoupment.

The show opened to mixed, but mostly poor reviews: "If "YF" screams anything, it's shtick!" (NY Theatre Guide); "Leaves you with a monster-size headache." (NY Times); "Isn't the joyous celebration one hoped for." (NY Daily News); "The Broadway musical at its dizziest, glitziest and funniest." (NY Post); "The only thing in stitches is the creature's face." (NewsDay); "Not a great musical, nor even a particularly good one." (Star-Ledger); "It's alive � but just barely." (USA Today); "Bloated, robotic, astonishingly unfunny behemoth has been cobbled together from spare parts" (Time Out NY); "Shrill, misbegotten, deeply cynical enterprise." (NY Sun)

Based on the Oscar-nominated 1974 film, 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...

Unfolding in the forbidding Castle Frankenstein and the foggy moors of Transylvania Heights, the show's score includes �We�re the Happiest Town in Town,� "There is Nothing Like The Brain," "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and the unforgettable treatment of Irving Berlin's "Puttin' On the Ritz."

The musical features Roger Bart (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein), Michele Ragusa (Elizabeth), Kelly Sullivan (Inga), Shuler Hensley (The Monster), Fred Applegate (Kemp), Beth Leavel (Frau Blucher) and Cory English (Igor).

Like Mel Brook's 12 times Tony Award winning show 'The Producers,' Young Frankenstein features music & lyrics by Mel Brooks, book by Mel Brooks & Tom Meehan, and is 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).