‘Young Frankenstein’: You’ll Never Believe What They’re Calling Megan Mullally

The young woman outside the Paramount Theatre says she’s come to the Seattle preview of Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’s follow-up to his tremendous hit The Producers, because she’s a “bitch.� “And so is Megan Mullally!� she squeals. “From Will & Grace! She’s a bitch, I’m a bitch. We have a connection!� Ms. Mullally’s superfan is among an older and decidedly more guarded crowd — the middle-aged couple sitting next to us came because they got a deal when they bought tickets to Spamalot.

No critics have had a crack at Frankenstein because it’s still just a pre-Broadway production. Mullally, here playing Elizabeth, the monster’s fiancée, does get the crowd excited, as do a couple of big dance numbers. They hollered after “Join the Family Business,� where the ghosts of Dr. Frankenstein’s ancestors whirl in little cyclones of lab coats and antique beards. But the people aren’t here to see a new musical — they’ve come for a dazzling rehash of the movie. They go bonkers for their favorite old jokes while barely chuckling at the few new ones (this being Seattle, they laugh obligingly at a punch line involving a complicated espresso drink).

By the end of the three-hour spectacle, the audience begins to lose patience. Children squirm. Adults start to yawn. The curtain call is mercifully short. “Um, yeah, it’s good,� a woman in a black-sequined top says into her cell phone as the crowd surges toward the doors. “But, you know — it’s definitely pre-Broadway.� — Brendan Kiley