Fans of Cloris Leachman have started a website campaigning for the actress to be featured in Young Frankenstein.
Leachman, who originated the role of Frau Blucher in
Mel Brooks' classic film
Young Frankenstein – the basis for the Broadway musical that will open at the St. James Theatre this fall – was reportedly let go from the show. She had previously performed as Frau Blucher in the musical's workshop.
Liz Smith of the
New York Post recently wrote: "The producers were so intent on having Cloris reprise her role as the hilariously sinister Frau Blucher that they flew her to New York at the end of last year for a table reading, where she brought down the house. This week the veteran Ms. Leachman, 80 years old, received a 'Dear John' letter from the future production of
Young Frankenstein saying the producers, in their wisdom, had decided to keep their two properties -
Young Frankenstein the movie, and
Young Frankenstein the stage musical - apart. So they said they would not be offering her the role after all. Cloris is disappointed, I'm told, but handling the rejection with her usual good humor. In any case she is up for the Screen Actors Guild Award for her outstanding work in HBO's 'Mrs. Harris,' which starred
Annette Bening."
This website –
www.savefraublucher.com - offers Leachman fans the chance to write in and express their wishes that Leachman play the role of Frau Blucher in the Broadway musical.
Leachman, who won an Oscar for 1971's
The Last Picture Show, has won eight Emmy Awards, with one for "Malcolm in the Middle" being her latest. She famously played Phyllis on "The
Mary Tyler Moore Show," and her many Broadway credits
include A Touch of the Poet, King of Hearts and
As You Like It. Sutton Foster,
Megan Mullally and
Shuler Hensley will star in
Young Frankenstein, as Inga, Elizabeth and the Monster, respectively. No other roles have been cast.
After beginning rehearsals in June,
Young Frankenstein will open out-of-town (in a city to be announced) this summer.
The New York Post's
Michael Riedel previously reported that
Young Frankenstein would open on Halloween of 2007, although that date has not been officially announced.
Susan Stroman, who previously collaborated with Brooks on
The Producers, will direct and choreograph.
The musical will be produced by Brooks and Robert Sillerman, with musical direction by Patrick Brady and musical supervision by Glen Kelly.
Young Frankenstein, inspired by the famed Mary Shelley novel, concerns the skeptical neurosurgeon grandson of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who returns to Frankenstein's castle to find that the legendary monster was more than just a myth. The comedy, which was directed by Brooks with a screenplay by Brooks and
Gene Wilder, starred Wilder,
Peter Boyle,
Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars and more.
Photo of Cloris Leachman by Retna Ltd.
