live musicals

Of All Possible Musicals, ABC Has Decided to Do Young Frankenstein Live!

It lives? Photo: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

For its next live musical production, ABC has chosen a big classic that everyone definitely loves … Young Frankenstein? No, seriously, it’s doing the Young Frankenstein musical. The network that previously did the not-quite-all-live version of The Little Mermaid has announced plans for a live TV version of the stage adaptation of the Mel Brooks movie Young Frankenstein. While the film is a comedy classic, the stage musical sputtered on Broadway when it opened in 2007 to unenthusiastic reviews and much grumbling about the sky-high premium ticket prices (an upgrade from the expensive tickets to The Producers and a precursor to some of today’s even more expensive Broadway tickets). Brooks worked on the Young Frankenstein musical with Thomas Meehan, the same guy who had collaborated on The Producers, and the show was retooled for a London production that opened in 2017 with reviews that were somewhat more positive. Listen, the good news is you don’t have to pay for premium tickets if you’re watching from home.

ABC Has Decided to Do Young Frankenstein Live!