Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical [Cast Recording, Explicit Lyrics]

Mel Brooks (Composer), Thomas Meehan (Composer), Patrick S. Brady (Conductor), Roger Bart (Performer), Megan Mullally (Performer), Sutton Foster (Performer), Christopher Fitzgerald (Performer), Andrea Martin (Performer), Shuler Hensley (Performer), Fred Applegate (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 26, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording, Explicit Lyrics
• Label: Decca Broadway
• ASIN: B000XH7GHU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,484 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #31 in Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy > Comedic Music > General
  • #54 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > Contemporary Musicals

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. The Happiest Town

3. The Brain

4. Please Don't Touch Me

5. Together Again

6. Roll In The Hay

7. Join The Family Business

8. He Vas My Boyfriend

9. The Law

10. Life, Life

11. Welcome To Transylvania

12. Transylvania Mania

13. He's Loose

14. Listen to Your Heart

15. Surprise

16. Please Send Me Someone

17. Man About Town

18. Puttin' On The Ritz (Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin)

19. Deep Love

20. Frederick's Soliloquy

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Unlike The Producers, the musical version of Young Frankenstein was not met with critical adoration when it opened on Broadway in November, 2007. Mel Brooks had followed the same formula, transferring all of his own source movie’s famous lines and plot points to the stage, but oddly, the cast album works better than the stage production, which is indeed often lumbering. Brooks’ songs are still fairly derivative but here, undistracted by director Susan Stroman’s flat staging, you can focus more on Doug Besterman’s excellent orchestrations and on the adept cast itself. As Dr. "Fronkensteen," Roger Bart is much less grating than on stage, for instance. As Inga, Sutton Foster exhibits some mad yodeling skills in "Roll in the Hay" and sounds like a classic Broadway babe on "Listen to Your Heart." Megan Mullally (Elizabeth) sells "Please Don’t Touch Me," "Deep Love," and "Alone" (a bonus track cut from the show), while Andrea Martin (Frau Blucher) kills with the Brecht-Weill pastiche "He Vas My Boyfriend." And yes, Irving Berlin’s "Puttin' on the Ritz" is included, complete with monster grunts and a long tap passage in this extended version. The show may not be worth the hype, but the recording is a pleasant surprise. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Product Description

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN MUSIC AND LYRICS BY MEL BROOKS -- IT'S ALIVE!

From the creators of the record-breaking Broadway sensation The Producers comes this monster new musical comedy, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, based on the Oscar-nominated smash-hit 1974 film. A wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend based on Mel Brooks' classic comedy masterpiece, the story follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that's Fronkensteen) as he attempts to complete his grandfather's masterwork and bring a corpse to life. Together with his oddly shaped and endearing helper Igor (that's Eye-gor), his curvaceous lab assistant Inga, and in spite of his incredibly self-involved madcap fiance, Elizabeth, Frankenstein succeeds in creating a monster - but not without scary and quite often hilarious complications.

With such memorable tunes as "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and "Puttin' On The Ritz," The New MEL BROOKS Musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is scientifically-proven, monstrously good entertainment...and the only place you'll witness a singing and dancing laboratory experiment in the largest tuxedo ever made. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN features music and lyrics by the three-time Tony Award® winner Mel Brooks, book by Brooks and three-time Tony Award® winner Thomas Meehan, and is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award® winner Susan Stroman. The show stars Roger Bart ("Desperate Housewives"), Megan Mullally ("Will and Grace"),Tony-Award winner Sutton Foster ("Drowsy Chaperone"), SCTV's Andrea Martin and Christopher Fitzgerald ("Wicked").

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN opens at Broadway's Hilton Theater - Friday, November 9th!

Young Frankenstein Photos

More from Mel Brooks

The Producers (Musical Highlights)	The Producers (2005 Movie Soundtrack)	The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast)
The Mel Brooks Collection	The History of the World, Part I	High Anxiety
Spaceballs	Blazing Saddles (30th Anniversary Special Edition)	Twelve Chairs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Follow-up to "The Producers", January 8, 2008

By 

AJK (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical (Audio CD)

Critical reviews of Mel Brook's new musical, "Young Frankenstein", have so far been mixed, but this seems to be somewhat of an expected backlash against Mr. Brooks. His first effort, 2001's "The Producers", was a runaway smash - winning a record number of Tonys and making any follow-up somewhat doomed. While I have yet to see the production (my tickets are for May), I find the score thoroughly enjoyable & a solid sophomore effort.

The amazing cast, led by Roger Bart, Megan Mullally, Sutton Foster, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Andrea Martin, sounds great. The score has a few weak links, but there are several terrific songs. Best tracks:

Please Don't Touch Me
Together Again
Roll In The Hay
Transylvania Mania
Listen To Your Heart
Puttin' On The Ritz (Irving Berlin's standard used in the 1974 film for which the musical is based)
Deep Love

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slightly underwhelming, May 8, 2008

By 

Michael P. Nolan (Sarasota, Fl) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical (Audio CD)

So how do you follow up "The Producers"? From the start, no matter how well the play is performed, it will always be compared to Mel Brooks's last play. "The Producers" was a critical and commercial smash, and it's hard to give a favorable comparison.

That being said, I felt the songs were underwhelming, lacking the punch of Brooks' earlier works on stage and in film. The lyrics range from the corny to the predictable, but that is not to say the score is without highlights.

Obviously "Puttin' on the Ritz" is by far the most enjoyable song. It's not a song by Brooks, but rather Berlin, and it succeeds in this context primarily to the monster's famous attempt to sing the title line. Other catchy songs are Sutton Foster gamily yodeling "Roll in the Hay," Andrea Martin's "He Vas my Boyfriend," and Megan Mullally's "Please Don't Touch Me," putting a fun twist on the we're-not-in-love song.

The lyrics are filled with double entendres that feel old, as if we've heard them several times before, most noticeably in "Deep Love." It has a very Borscht Belt style to it.

It's not a bad score, just not a very good one. They must hope that the love audiences have for the original film will carry over to the play.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, May 17, 2008

By 

Julio Lopez "soundtrack fan" (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical (Audio CD)

I guess Mr. Brooks wanted to repeat his previous hit (THE PRODUCERS)and emulate the successful parody achieved with SPAMALOT. These intentions have poor results in this musical which makes no honor to the classical movie directed by the same Mel Brooks.The songs are quite dull, the music sounds so old-fashioned and conventional that it seems you've heard all this - and better - before. I had great expectations with this album and I was convinced that the musical would be a sure candidate in the Tony race but, after hearing the album, I understand its absence from the nominees.