Josephine Núñez

Women and Theatre

Play Response #2

11/25/19

Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan

The musical Young Frankenstein is an adaptation of the 1974 film directed by Mel

Brooks. It tells the story of a town in Transylvania that has been terrorized by the Frankenstien

family and their creation of monsters. ​Victor Frankenstein died and left everything to his

grandson, Frederick, who wants nothing to do with the family’s notorious legacy. ​He must return

to his grandfather’s castle in Transylvania to settle his inheritance and the estate. Here he meets

his grandfather’s loyal henchman, Igor; his new lab assistant, Inga; and the mysterious Frau

Blücher. It doesn’t take long before Frederick is sucked into his grandfather’s lifestyle,

eventually creating human life, and dealing with the consequences that unfold with it. This

musical is a comedic parody of the horror genre. To me, the doesn’t have much depth other than

it being based off the 1974 film and being in rooted high-brow humor, non-topical sex jokes, and

misogyny.

Upon reading the original script, it baffeled me how much of the show is sexist and

involves violence against women. It is a wonderfully comedic show, but only if you can

acknowledge and identity the blatant sexism. Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan did not write real
women into this script. They are over sexualized, “pretty but stupid”, self-centered, hard, and the

brunt of the joke. The men in this show are linked to brains and intelligence, while all women are

only legs and frill. ​Elizabeth and Inga exist in this space solely in relation to Frederick, and even

Frau was initially for Victor and now is a for his grandson. ​There is an overwhelming amount of

misogyny at the center of this script and while people laugh, it all contributes to how the real

world treats the female sex. Elizabeth literally sings a song about consent and not wanting

anything from Frederick, yet is still sexually violated in the second act. Frau sings about loving

her boyfriend despite being abused by him. While both of these instances get copious amounts of

laughter, it would be ignorant of us to overlook why it gets laughs. I am not saying that we need

to slam funny, fluffy musicals and rid them from the stage forever, but what needs to happen is

having open conversations about why these shows are problematic. Staying silent about the

issues in this show, especially in the era of #metoo, only perpetuates their aftermath.

Being part of the cast, I have never actually gotten to watch the show. When I heard that

this was going to be our musical, I was interested in seeing how we would be breaking it a part to

portray women in a more positive light. I wish throughout the process we had a conversation

about the original script, and what we were going to change to make it more empowering for

women. Maybe those conversations were had with principal characters at seperate rehearsals, but

I think as ensemble, many of them actually hadn’t watched the movie, or read the full script, so

they didn’t understand the context of the show they were jumping into. That being said, I think

what was done with the show really gave women some agency back to their own bodies.

Particularly with Elizabeth’s rape scene, I was very pleased to find out in rehearsals that Donna

had changed it to having Elizabeth keep her bodily autonomy, and make a choice to want to be
with the monster, rather than the monster taking that from her. In fact, looking at the other main

female characters in this show, it was apparent how much thought and consideration was put into

making sure they were seen as more than legs and frill on the stage. Inga was given more

attributes to play with other than just being a sex object for Frederick. The absurdity and over the

topness of Frau created a character that was complex and almost too comedic for us to believe as

someone who lived in the same world as the others.

This show is by far anything that I would’ve picked after having come off the season of

shows we did last year, but I was honored to have gotten to work with someone who had a vision

to create a show that was more empowering for women. Having a female identifying individual

direct this show was the best thing that could’ve happened. Having lived experience as being a

women and dealing with the misogyny and violence that the original script held allowed Donna

to bend and mold a show into something that wasn’t focused so negatively towards women. The

show obviously still has many aspects that haven’t aged well and I don’t think they should’ve

been written in there to begin with, but I think this production was a start at creating a space for

this show to live in a world where “women’s issues” are finally being talked about. I had an

amazing time working on this show, and while its content is not my first choice, the rehearsal

process was. I always felt safe, valued, and appreciated every time I stepped foot into that

theatre. That hasn’t always been the case in the past, so it was a refreshing feeling. We need

more women activist artists to come to Concordia to show students that a different point of view

and spin on something so outright problematic, can create a space for different interpretation that

is healthy and inclusive for all involved.