Frankenstein: the Operetta

Young Frankenstein was a recent hit on Broadway, but there could have been a much earlier comic musical about Mary Shelley's doctor and his creation, penned by none other than that dynamic operaetic duo Gilbert and Sullivan. As described by Michael Feingold on Theatre Mania's website,

... Gilbert broached [it] to Sullivan as a possible follow-up to the runaway success of The Mikado.... It never happened. Sullivan apparently found its musical prospects unpromising. Instead, the team wrote Ruddigore, a spoof melodrama in which ghostly portraits come to life. That work's comparative failure planted the seeds of distrust between writer and composer, which would flower, in 1890, into their famous quarrel. So we will never hear the duets Gilbert might have conceived for monster and scientist, or the wild orchestral filigrees with which Sullivan might have decorated their lab.

I take comfort in the belief that somewhere in the multiverse there is an alternate reality where such a piece of comic brilliance exists. But why should our cosmic neighbors have all the fun? Posthumous works are all the rage now: finishing Dicken's Edward Drood, updating Austen's works. Someone should create the Gilbert & Sullivan version of Frankenstein, now!

Personally, I nominate Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, the team behind A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. This musical took home the top prize at this year's Tony Awards, where the cast performed "I've Been Wanting to Marry You." It's exactly the sort of thing Gilbert or Sullivan might have been proud to call his own.

Here are some songs suggestions to get the ball rolling:

• "The Slave of Science," an opening prologue song wherein Dr. Frankenstein sings about his his troubling obsession with obscure science.
• "A Most Supernatural Paradox," a duet between Dr. Frankenstein and the requisite love interest expressing their frustration with the scientist's single-minded focus on bringing the dead to life.
• "The Monster Maker's Funeral," a big number sung by the chorus when the law comes to arrest Dr. Frankenstein for the destruction caused by his creation.

Any lyricst wishing to add on may kindly comment below. Thanks to Howard Sherman for the tweet alerting me to this near miss of a show.