Film & TV NewsABC to Present Young Frankenstein Live!The Mel Brooks musical heads to the network following its success with The Little Mermaid.
By
Ryan McPhee
January 08, 2020
Original Broadway cast members (L-R): Roger Bart, Sutton Foster and Christopher Fitzgerald.
Paul Kolnik
Young Frankenstein is the next musical to get the live television treatment, with ABC gearing up to bring the Mel Brooks comedy to the small screen this fall. The announcement was made at the TCA press tour, though no further details (including casting and an exact air date) have been revealed.
The musical, based on Brooks' 1974 film, opened on Broadway in 2007 with a score by the beloved comedian; he also penned the book with Thomas Meehan. Susan Stroman directed and choreographed. It earned three Tony nominations, including nods for featured performers Christopher Fitzgerald and Andrea Martin. The production also starred Roger Bart, Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley, and Megan Mullally.
Subsequent engagements have played Paris, Rome, Mexico City, London, and Madrid.
ABC is relatively new to the contemporary live TV musical trend, entering the ring in November with a live performance-film screening hybrid with The Little Mermaid. The presentation, which starred Auli'i Cravalho and Queen Latifah, pulled in roughly nine million viewers, landing it among the frontrunners of the genre (Fox's Grease and NBC's The Wiz and The Sound of Music).
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Look Back at Young Frankenstein on Broadway
Look Back at Young Frankenstein on Broadway
The show opened at the Hilton Theatre on Nov 8, 2007.
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Original Broadway cast members (L-R): Roger Bart, Sutton Foster and Christopher Fitzgerald.
Filmed in 2023, the one-night-only event featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Peter Friedman, and more from the Ahrens and Flaherty musical's original cast.
