My first exposure to the Broadway debut of the new Mel Brooks musical, Young Frankenstein, was a brief teaser of performance snippets during the Macy’s Day parade in 2007. At the time, I couldn’t help wondering how it would do stacked up against some of the masterpieces of musical comedy I wished would return to touring the U.S. A fan of the movie starring Gene Wilder, I also wasn’t sure how the screenplay humor would translate to the stage performance.

Following the show’s opening at Playhouse Square’s Palace Theatre in downtown Cleveland last Tuesday, I attended the first Saturday night performance yesterday. Turnout was greater than I had expected with the balcony near full by the time the orchestra was warmed up and the houselights had dimmed. The stage was blanketed in a blue screen featuring a glowing moon and spooky, mist-wrapped mountain with a winding path leading up to a great castle overlooking a small town. With a burst of lighting and thunder, the show was quickly underway.

The audience was quickly introduced to the young Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Franc-en-steen) played by Roger Bart, who originated the role in the Broadway production. Setting himself apart from the horrific tales of his late grandfather’s misguided and disastrous attempts to bring the dead back to life, young Frankenstein is studying neurology in New York City. During a humorous, tongue-twisting rendition of “The Brain,” it’s clear the young doctor wants nothing to do with his family tree and everything to do with entertaining the audience.

The laughter continued with the entrance of the doctor’s fiancée Elizabeth, played by Beth Curry, singing “Please Don’t Touch Me” as she bids farewell to Frankenstein who is heading off to Transylvania to wrap up some family affairs following the death of his grandfather. Upon arriving in Transylvania, Frankenstein is met by Igor (pronounced Ee-gor), played by Cory English, who also held this role on Broadway. Igor is more than ready to get the Frankenstein family business back up and running with the help of the beautiful and busty Inga, played by Anne Horak, who arouses the doctor as she yodels her way through the innuendo laden “Roll in the Hay” as the three-some approaches the castle.

Fans of the movie can appreciate the hilarity of the constant mispronunciation of Frankenstein’s name, along with the constantly location-changing hump on Igor’s back and the horses rearing and neighing at the mention of the housekeeper, Frau Blucher. As the plot thickens, the doctor dreams of his family to the tune of “Join the Family Business,” featuring exceptional choreography and a fantastic piece of stage work with different puppetry pieces, managed by the chorus, flying up to create a huge version of the monster who joins in the song and dance. The scenery and set in the castle were fantastic with a full-blown laboratory equipped with glowing machinery and a large operating table that quickly rose up out of site during several scenes.

Frau Blucher, played by Joanna Glushak, gave one of the funniest performances during her admission that the original Dr. Victor Frankenstein, “He Vas My Boyfriend,” where she shares a little too much information about her intimate relationship with the deceased. While the townspeople begin to rally behind their suspicion that the new doctor is picking up where his grandfather left off, the doctor and his team do indeed put together a new monster and successfully bring him to life. Keeping the townspeople from discovering the misbehaving and uncontrollable monster, Igor leads the crowd in learning the latest dance craze in the “Transylvania Mania.” The choreography, featuring some standard monster moves in quick, difficult sequences, was amazing and left the audience laughing until the monster came storming out of the castle, throwing aside anyone in his path as he lumbering across the stage, down the stairs and into the audience as the curtain fell on Act one.

Act two flew by, beginning with an ongoing chase scene to find the monster, now on the loose. Elizabeth shows up unannounced to surprise Frankenstein, who is indecently indisposed with Inga. Almost as a side story, the monster stumbles in on a poor, blind hermit looking for a friend. After a series of mishaps with the hermit burning, scalding and setting ablaze his guest, the monster tears out of the hermit’s home and is apprehended by Frankenstein, Inga and Igor who set about showing the monster he is not evil. After two laughter-invoking performances featuring the monster’s new-found ability to dance and, to some degree, sing in “Man About Town” and “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” the monster loses control and kidnaps the stubborn Elizabeth, taking her to a cave in the forest to show her some “Deep Love” in what is possibly the funniest scene of the show.

The storyline wraps up with one final laboratory experiment meant to transfer knowledge to the monster while saving Frankenstein and his friends from the townspeople, who intend to hang the monster and master for their experiment. But all ends well when missing characters reappear safe and sound, and several of the chief characters discover they are in love.

With entertaining, while not terribly compelling, musical numbers, excellent set design and amazing choreography, Young Frankenstein is lighthearted and comical. I wouldn’t dub the show hilarious, but it has a great cast that ensures audience members find themselves laughing throughout the performance.