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Arts & Entertainment
Getting Serious With Mel Brooks
As Young Frankenstein comes to the Detroit Opera House,
the JN has a chat with the man behind the musical.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
F
film and musical versions of The Producers.
Brooks, whose second marriage was to
the late actress Anne Bancroft, recently
talked about his work, family and outlook
with the Detroit Jewish News:
unnyman Mel Brooks, co-writer
and composer of the touring
musical com-
IN: What do you
edy Young Frankenstein,
like
about the tour-
sends a message to
ing version of Young
the show's prospective
Frankenstein?
audiences at the Detroit
MB: I like the great
Opera House.
cast
delivering my
"If there's a long line
songs
and ideas. Roger
at the box office when
Bart
is
incredible as Dr.
Young Frankenstein
Frankenstein.
He was
comes to town, you can
on
Broadway
doing
it
knock somebody out
for
a
year
and
a
half
of the way and get your
before taking it on the
tickets:' jokes the 2009
road. I've tried to keep
Kennedy Center honoree.
the play as sharp as the
"God will forgive you
movie and add some
because its worth it!"
fun and joy through the
The musical, running
Mel Brooks: "I' ye tried to keep
songs and dances.
Feb. 23-March 14 and
the play as sha rp as the movie
starring Brooks faves
and add some f un and joy
IN: What made
Roger Bast and Brad
through the so nqs and dances."
you
decide to do the
Oscar, is based on the
stage
version?
Academy Award-nomi-
Susan
Stroman
(who
worked on
MB:
nated 1974 film co-written by Brooks and
said,
"Give
me
another
The
Producers)
Gene Wilder, widower of Michigan-raised
show
to
direct
and
choreograph;'
and I
comedian Gilda Radner.
said,
"All
right;
let
me
think..."
I
thought
The madcap sci-fi plot, re-imagining
long and hard, and it was between Blazing
the legendary Mary Shelley tale, follows
Saddles and Young Frankenstein. I knew
Frederick Frankenstein (Bart), a New York
that Blazing Saddles could be a roaring hit
brain surgeon inheriting a Transylvania
with comic mayhem and a lot of fun, but
castle and laboratory from his deranged
I wanted to do something deeper. Maybe
grandfather. The doctor must decide
it's the Jew in me who wanted to resurrect
whether to continue his grandfather's
the
Golem and see what we could do with
experiments — reanimating the dead with
it.
I
like the black and white — the half
the help of a sexy assistant, Inga (Anne
serious
and half crazy-funny aspects — of
Horak), and loyal hunchback servant Igor
so I dove into that one.
Young
Frankenstein
(Cory English).
The
Producers team
I
wanted
to
keep
Brooks, 83, whose career reached an
together
—
Tom
Meehan
writing the book
early milestone as he wrote for Sid Caesar's
with
me,
Glen
Kelly
doing
all the dance
made
television series Your Show of Shows,
and
incidental
music
arrangements
and
Broadway history in 2001 with his script
Doug
Besterman
working
on
the
great
and score for The Producers, which went on
orchestrations.
to win an unprecedented 12 Tony Awards.
(In addition, both Bart and Oscar are
The writer-humorist, who recalls a
veterans
of The Producers on Broadway.
Michigan Jewish fundraiser appearance
Bart
—
who
on TV played George
with Carl Reiner as the two revitalized the
Williams,
the
murderous pharmacist in
,
'
says
character of the "2000 Year Old Man'
love
with
Bree
Van de Camp on Desperate
that he uses "crazy comedy" to remind peo-
created the Tony-nomi-
Housewives
—
ple of the oppression suffered by the Jews.
nated
role
of
Carmen
Ghia and went on
"That's one of my missions:' he asserts,
to
play
Leo
Bloom
three
times; and Oscar
referencing his zany depictions of the
—
Inspector
Kemp/Blind
Hermit in
Inquisition's Torquemada in the film
played
Franz
Liebkind
Frankenstein
—
and
Hitler
in
the
History of the World: Part I
before eventually replacing Nathan Lane
as Max Bialystock, playing the role for
longer than Lane did.)
JN: Are you a hard critic of your own
work?
MB: I am. Before I let the work out of
my clutches, it has to please me enor-
mously, and I'm tough. Good is not ever
good enough. It has to be great.
IN: Do you have a writing routine?
MB: I usually write after everyone goes to
sleep — no telephones, no news on TV, no
distractions. I usually write after midnight
to about 2 or 2:30 a.m. I write with a pencil
because if you write with a computer or a
typewriter, it looks official, and you accept
it. If you write with a pencil, its so easy to
cross out or erase. Writing needs a great idea
and a lot of writing and rewriting before it's
acceptable. You can't rewrite with a type-
writer as well as you can with a pencil.
JN: Is it easier to write alone or as
part of a team?
MB: It's more satisfying to work alone
because nobody argues with you or says
whether it's good or bad. It's yours. When I
wrote The Producers, my first screenplay, I
won an Academy Award, and I think it was
because nobody interfered with the simple
flow and beauty. As soon as you work with
other people, it gets complicated.
IN: What was particularly memorable
about the Kennedy Center celebration?
MB: My two grandchildren —
Samantha, 11, and Henry, 4 — met the
President and Mrs. Obama. The Obamas
are very tall, and they literally bent down to
talk to these kids. The Obamas are so car-
ing about children, and it was very heart-
warming. All the honorees brought children
or grandchildren, and the Obamas just
treated them so sweetly. It was the best.
IN: Do you think your Jewish back-
ground influences your approach to
humor?
MB: Absolutely. It's very simple. Because
Jews have suffered and been oppressed
for thousands of years, they need joy and
something to counteract all that so they
can live with some measure of happiness.
I think out of every 10 Jews who are born,
one is designed by God to be a comedian,
to keep the people from sinking into mel-
ancholy or despair. I'm the Jewish kid who
had to go out on street corners and make
everybody laugh.
IN: Has humor helped through the
sad times in your own life?
Mel Brooks on page 42
Frederick Frankenstein (Roger Bart) with his assistant Inga (Anne Horak) and loyal
servant Igor (Cory English) in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein
February 18 • 2010
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