Matthew Crowle, Kathryn Markey & More to Star in The Playhouse's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, 6/17-28

Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Chuck Tobin today announced casting for the production of the new Mel Brooks Broadway Young Frankenstein (June 17 - 28, 2014). Young Frankenstein features a book by three-time Tony Award-winner Mel Brooks and three-time Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks.

Young Frankenstein, directed by Keith Andrews with music direction by Thomas Cleary, will feature Matthew Crowle as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Kathryn Markey as Frau Blucher, Christian Kohn as the Monster, Abby Lee as Elizabeth, Brett Figel as Igor, Ashley McKay as Inga, Bill Carmichael as Inspector Kemp/Hermit, and Zachary Pesner as Ziggy. The ensemble includes Eugenio Contenti, Shelby Davis, Danielle Diniz, Antoinette DiPietropolo, Ian Frazier, Christopher Holloway, Kate Kramitz, Kevin Metzger, Vincent Ortega, and Chelsey Whitelock.

Performances begin on the Playhouse stage on Tuesday, June 17. Single tickets start at $32.50 and are on sale beginning June 2 through the Playhouse Box Office at 802-654-2281 and online at www.saintmichaelsplayhouse.org.

Based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, Young Frankenstein is the wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks. When Frederick Frankenstein, an esteemed New York brain surgeon and professor, inherits a castle and laboratory in Transylvania from his grandfather, deranged genius Victor Von Frankenstein, he faces a dilemma. Does he continue to run from his family's tortured past or does he stay in Transylvania to carry on his grandfather's mad experiments reanimating the dead and, in the process, fall in love with his sexy lab assistant Inga? Unfolding in the forbidding Castle Frankenstein and the foggy moors of Transylvania Heights, the show's raucous score includes "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and an unforgettable treatment of Irving Berlin's "Puttin' On The Ritz."

"When I first saw the film Young Frankenstein I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen," said Tobin. "So when I heard that Mel Brooks was adapting his film into a Broadway musical I knew I had to produce it for the Playhouse. The story follows Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant Igor as they attempt to bring a corpse back to life, with hilarious complications and show stopping musical numbers. This is an ingenious theatrical version of the Academy Award-winning film performed by our company of stellar professional actors. I guarantee you'll have a monstrously good time".

Matthew Crowle (Dr. Fredrick Frankenstein) appeared on Broadway in Monty Python's Spamalot and the national tour of Doctor Dolittle with Tommy Tune. Regional credits include Singin' in the Rain, Spamalot, Hello, Dolly!, The Drowsy Chaperone. Young Frankenstein marks Matthew's Saint Michael's Playhouse debut. Kathryn Markey (Frau Blucher) appeared on Broadway in 3 From Brooklyn. Regional credits include Holidays with The Chalks, American Family in 3 Chords, Over The Tavern, God of Carnage, Dancing at Lughnasa, Beau Jest. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include, Nunsense, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Brighton Beach Trilogy, Pirates of Penzance. Christian Kohn (the Monster) appeared on Broadway in Hollywood Arms along with numerous other credits including the title role in Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, An Ideal Husband, Death of A Salesman, Phaedra directed by JoAnne Akalaitis. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Tuesdays with Morrie, Rumors, Unnecessary Farce, Over the Pub. Abby Lee (Elizabeth) originated the role of Zoe in the world premiere of Car Talk, with other New York and regional credits that include The Rubber Room, I Had Fun But Drank Way Too Much, The Intervention, Or, West Side Story, Barefoot in the Park. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Barnum, Talley's Folly, Dames at Sea, Nunsense, Unnecessary Farce. Ashley McKay (Inga) appeared in the Japan premiere of Irving Berlin's I Love A Piano directed by Ray Roderick. Other credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Nunsense, High School Musical, Kiss Me, Kate. Young Frankenstein marks Ashley's Saint Michael's Playhouse debut. Brett Figel (Igor) appeared in the National Tour of Young Frankenstein for nine months and reprised his role at Gateway Playhouse and Ogunquit Playhouse last summer. Other regional credits include The Fox on the Fairway, Spamalot, Legally Blonde, The 39 Steps, A Christmas Carol. Young Frankenstein marks Brett's Saint Michael's Playhouse debut. Bill Carmichael (Inspector Kemp/Hermit) appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia, Les Miserables, Cats, and Peter Pan. Off-Broadway Bill was in the original production of Forbidden Broadway and can be heard on the original cast recording. In Los Angeles he was in the original US premiere of Ragtime, Forever Plaid, Sweeney Todd with Kelsey Grammer. Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Pirates of Penzance, Barnum, Blithe Spirit, Drowsy Chaperone, Unnecessary Farce.

The creative team is lead by director Keith Andrews whose Saint Michael's Playhouse credits include Big River, Barnum, Pirates of Penzance, The Drowsy Chaperone, Suds, The Marvelous Wonderettes, and Always, Patsy Cline. Creative team includes Thomas Cleary (music director), Tim Case (scenic design), Tracey A. Sullivan (costume design), Mark Wilson (lighting design), Zachary Williamson (sound design), Theresa Pierce (property design).

The Playhouse's 67th subscription season includes first-time Playhouse productions of the new Mel Brooks Broadway musical Young Frankenstein, Ken Ludwig's new farce The Fox on the Fairway, a revival of the beloved Broadway comedy classic Arsenic and Old Lace, and Ring of Fire, the musical tribute to Johnny Cash. Subscription tickets to the entire season are on sale now until June 28 at a twenty percent savings.

The season opens with the new Mel Brooks Broadway Young Frankenstein (June 17 - 28, 2014). Young Frankenstein features a book by three-time Tony Award-winner Mel Brooks and three-time Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks. Young Frankenstein is directed by Keith Andrews with music direction by Thomas Cleary. Based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, Young Frankenstein is the wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks. When Frederick Frankenstein, an esteemed New York brain surgeon and professor, inherits a castle and laboratory in Transylvania from his grandfather, deranged genius Victor Von Frankenstein, he faces a dilemma. Does he continue to run from his family's tortured past or does he stay in Transylvania to carry on his grandfather's mad experiments reanimating the dead and, in the process, fall in love with his sexy lab assistant Inga? Unfolding in the forbidding Castle Frankenstein and the foggy moors of Transylvania Heights, the show's raucous score includes "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and an unforgettable treatment of Irving Berlin's "Puttin' On The Ritz."

Next on the Playhouse stage is Ken Ludwig's new mad-cap comedy The Fox on the Fairway (July 2 - 12, 2014), directed by Kathryn Markey. Playwright Ken Ludwig is an internationally acclaimed playwright who has had six shows on Broadway and six in the West End. His first play on Broadway, Lend Me A Tenor, which the New York Times called "one of the two great farces by a living writer," won three Tony Awards and was nominated for nine. A tribute to the great farces of the 1930s and 1940s, The Fox on the Fairway takes audiences on a riotous romp which pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy members of a private country club during their annual golf tournament. Filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors, and over-the-top-shenanigans, it's a furiously fast paced comedy that recalls the Marx Brothers' classics.

The Playhouse season continues with Joseph Kesselring's Broadway comedy classic Arsenic and Old Lace (July 16 - 26, 2014), directed by Mark Alan Gordon. Originally written in 1939 by American playwright Joseph Kesselring and later adapted into film by Frank Capra starring Cary Grant, Arsenic and Old Lace opened on Broadway in 1941 and became an immediate success, running for nearly 1,500 performances. In 1941, Americans were looking for some entertainment to take their minds off of the war in Europe and the growing fear that America would be pulled into it. Broadway gave them exactly what they were looking for with Arsenic and Old Lace. The play centers on spinster sisters Abby and Martha Brewster who are famous in their Brooklyn neighborhood for their generosity and kindness. But they have recently taken on a new charity project - relieving older gentlemen of loneliness by poisoning them with home-made elderberry wine laced with "just a pinch" of arsenic. The Playhouse presents this comedy classic for the first time since 1962.

The Playhouse will then present the final show of the subscription season Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash (July 30 - August 9, 2014), directed by Chris Blisset. From the iconic songbook of Johnny Cash comes this unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and home and family. Creator Richard Maltby, Jr. describes Ring of Fire as "almost a mythic American tale of growing up in simple, dirt-poor surroundings in the heartland of America, leaving home, traveling on wings of music, finding love, misadventure, success, faith, redemption and eventually returning home. It's about the journey of a man in search of his own soul." More than two dozen classic hits including "I Walk The Line," "A Boy Named Sue," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "Ring Of Fire" - all performed by a multi-talented cast of five actor/musicians - paint a musical portrait of The Man in Black that promises to be a foot-stomping, crowd-pleasing salute to a uniquely American legend. Though he is never impersonated, Johnny Cash's remarkable life story is told through his music, climaxing in a concert that will both move and exhilarate.

The four mainstage plays of the 2014 subscription season are available as part of the subscription series - Young Frankenstein, The Fox on the Fairway, Arsenic and Old Lace, and Ring of Fire. Season subscriptions range in price from $113 to $132. Single ticket prices for the mainstage productions range from $32.50 to $43.50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.saintmichaelsplayhouse.org or by calling the Playhouse Box Office at 802-654-2281.

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