“Young Frankenstein" at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre -- June 15 through 25.
Thursday, June 15, through Sunday, June 25
Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, 311 Riverview Drive, Clinton IA
An Outer Critics Circle Award winner for Best Musical that also earned a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite New Broadway Musical, the stage adaptation of Mel Brooks' film classic Young Frankenstein takes over the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre from June 15 through 25, this Tony-nominated riot lauded by the New York Post for its "bright and witty" lyrics and the book's "great job ... in transferring the original script to the stage."
In Brooks’ madcap comedy that collides with Mary Shelley’s classic monster tale, Victor Frankenstein, the mad scientist of legend, has died and left everything to his grandson Frederick, who wants nothing to do with the family’s notorious legacy. To settle his inheritance, he travels to his grandfather’s castle in Transylvania, meeting the grandson of Victor’s loyal henchman, Igor; the beautiful lab assistant, Inga; and the mysterious Frau Blücher. Before long, Frederick is sucked into his grandfather’s experiments and succeeds in creating human life. But by the time they realize that the monster has been accidentally given an abnormal brain, Frederick's creation has already escaped, seemingly set to terrorize the countryside like the Frankenstein-ian monsters before him. Will Frederick repeat the mistakes of his grandfather, or will he succeed where the others have not and turn his monster into a dapper, intelligent man about town? Young Frankenstein is a hilarious take on the classic horror story, combining zany antics, a witty script, and high-energy comedic performances for one unforgettable, hilarious adventure in Transylvania.
With its book by composer/lyricist Brooks and Thomas Meehan, Young Frankenstein is based on the 1974 screen comedy written by Gene Wilder and director Brooks, has subsequently deemed it his best film. After tryouts in Seattle and four weeks of previews, the musical opened on Broadway in November of 2007 and eventually closed in January of 2009 after 30 previews and 484 performances. At the 2008 Tony Awards, the Broadway presentation was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor), Featured Actress in a Musical (Andrea Martin as Frau Blücher), and Scenic Design of a Musical, and te show's West End production in London, which opened in 2017, received four- to five star ratings from WhatsOnStage.com, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and the London Evening Standard. The timeless movie version, meanwhile, was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States National Film Preservation Board, and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2003.
The Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's Young Frankenstein runs June 15 through 25, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays and Wednesday at 3 p.m. Admission is $21-28, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)242-6760 and visiting ClintonShowboat.org.
