BLAZING SADDLES, SPACEBALLS Musicals Up Next from Mel Brooks?

Screenjunkies.com reports today that despite Mel Brook's last struggle on Broadway with Young Frankenstein (the production has fared well locally but opened to harsh criticism on Broadway), the funnyman has every intention of continuing to expand his brand on Broadway.  

Jokes Brooks to Screenjunkies on a possible new project: "If they change the critic of the Times, I might consider it. I don't think he's in my corner...I feel responsible for breaking open musical comedy. Until The Producers, a lot of musicals on Broadway, very little comedy. There was the great Stephen Sondheim and there was Leonard Bernstein but there were very few Guys and Dolls. It was 25 years before we came along with a truly funny musical comedy."

As for what could be the next famous film to hit the stage, Brooks is open to considering his whole catalog - Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs etc.  He says of the future, "...it's wonderful when you have hip audiences and bright people who know what you're doing and what you're saying and they appreciate it and they dig it. It makes you gloriously happy. The money ain't bad either."

Last represented on Broadway by Young Frankenstein, the musical opened on Broadway on November 8, 2007 to mixed reviews. The Broadway production closed on January 4, 2009 after 30 previews and 484 performances.  Prior to that, Brooks scored big with The Producers, which opened on Broadway on April 19, 2001, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and ran for 2,502 performances, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards.