"Lightning Strikes" Twice, Thrice, Etc.

"But lightning hasn't struck twice." --David Rooney, Variety

"But, although there is plenty of electricity in the air at 'Young Frankenstein,' lightning doesn’t strike twice." --John Lahr, The New Yorker

"Spooky lightning may flash and rumble throughout 'Young Frankenstein,' but compared to the polished vibrancy of its predecessor, it never strikes the same place twice." --Eric Grode, The New York Sun

"Can lightning strike twice? Plenty of sparks fly in Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks' follow-up to his big hit The Producers. But this time the gags are lamer, the songs (again by Brooks) more generic, and there's no Nathan Lane--though the monster's big moment, doing 'Puttin' on the Ritz' in top hat and wails, almost saves the show. Almost." --Time

"And, true to horror-movie clichés, lightning will strike twice--and thrice--before the night is out. Just don’t take such meteorological activity as a sign that Brooks has repeated his 2001 blockbuster, The Producers." --David Cote, Time Out

"Now [Brooks] and his backers are hoping that lightning will lucratively strike twice in the same place as this eagerly awaited reworking of his 1974 Young Frankenstein picture opens on the Great White Way." --Charles Spencer, The Telegraph

"The musical...has millions of dollars' worth of pyrotechnics and other special effects with which to light up the stage, and it deploys them with abandon. Unfortunately, though, that doesn't mean that lightning strikes twice." --Louise Kennedy, Boston Globe

"Brooks has attempted to attract second-time-around lightning not just with the property, which is based on his 1974 film comedy, but also with musical theatre itself." --Matthew Murray, TalkinBroadway

The reanimation/come-to-life metaphors could take up a whole 'nother post.