The Sarasota premiere of "The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein," which takes the Van Wezel stage today and Friday, has not been nearly as successful as Brooks' superb, song-and-dance adaptation of "The Producers."

But this musical should still delight fans of the classic 1974 comedy film.

Written by Brooks and Gene Wilder and directed by Brook, the movie about Dr. Frankenstein's grandson inheriting the castle and repeating the experiments is a hilarious parody of the horror films Universal Pictures made in the 1930s.

The musical, with book, lyrics and music by Brooks, ran on Broadway from November 2007 to January 2009, earning mixed reviews and a mere three Tony Award nominations.

"A wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend based on Mel Brooks' classic comedy masterpiece, the story follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that's Fronkensteen) as he attempts to complete his grandfather's masterwork and bring a corpse to life," reads the show's website.

"Together with his oddly shaped and endearing helper Igor (that's Eye-gor), his curvaceous lab assistant Inga, and in spite of his incredibly self-involved madcap fiancé Elizabeth, Frankenstein succeeds in creating a monster -- but not without scary and quite often hilarious complications."

Musical numbers include "Puttin' on the Ritz," "Transylvania Mania" and "He Vas My Boyfriend."

Details: 8 p.m. March 22-23, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail. Tickets: $30-75. Information: 941-953-3368 or www.vanwezel.org.

Wade Tatangelo, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-745-7057. Follow Twitter.com/wtatangelo.