2007-06-26

It's Alive!


I learned from Mark Evanier that Young Frankenstein opens in Seattle in October. Fast on the heels of the Producers (the movie about a play that became a play about a play that was remade as a movie about a play), Mel Brooks has again dipped into his vast repetoire of cinematic history to make yet another Broadway extravaganza. Expect it to win lots of Tony awards next year and a remake to be made in the near future. Though who they could ever get to replace Peter Boyle is beyond me. Maybe the guy who played Bull on Night Court, or that tall dopey guy who played Boyle's son in That's Raymond (or whatever it was called.)

It brings to mind other Brooks movies to mine for theatrical gold. I think 12 Chairs (a rarely seen Brooks flick from 1970) was originally a Russian stage play, so how about High Anxiety? It'll be hard to duplicate the Vertigo effect of the staircase scene for the theatre and it just isn't feasible to have all those Birds pooping on our hapless psychiatrist. Blazing Saddles would be great, it already breaks the 4th wall and is ripe for picking, but the theatre itself would become ripe after the farting scene. Robin Hood, Men in Tights; History of the World, Part I; Dracula, Dead & Loving it; Spaceballs; (I can't think of any more off the top of my head)? Oh a few more...Life Stinks; To Be or Not To Be. That's a remake of a Jack Benny movie, so it may have been a stage play as well. (I'm trying to do this without resorting to Wiki.) Oh, I forgot Silent Movie, which by definition would make a pretty quiet musical!

What has Mel done in the last 2 decades? His last several movies all came out a few years after the intended target they spoofed. But that doesn't mean he can't milk them dry on stage. (I finally resorted to Wiki. Lo and behold...Spaceballs is becoming a cartoon!

But after all that being said, I'd love to see It's Alive on stage. Much of it takes place on a stage already (Putting on the Ritz), so it's a natural. I just hope the title doesn't dissuade people from seeing this play...

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