NEW YORK -- When Christopher Fitzgerald learned he'd be in one of Broadway's biggest shows, he was already deep in another role. He was trying to act from inside an enormous, marshmallowy Cabbage Patch costume, filming one of those offbeat Geico auto insurance commercials.
He was portraying a grown-up version of the children's doll, one whose sad life takes an upward turn after he saves a bunch of money on car insurance. But Fitzgerald wasn't visible in the costume and he had no dialogue.
During a break in filming, his career also took an upward turn.
"I'm sitting there, in my Cabbage Patch suit, my head next to me. I'm in a bathroom and my phone rings. I answer it. It's my agent. 'You've got an offer,' he says. 'For what?' I ask. 'Igor in "Young Frankenstein." ' "
Fitzgerald didn't have to think too hard about it. "I put that head on and I was like, 'Let's finish! I'm gonna give you some good Cabbage Patch!' " he says, cracking up.
Fitzgerald would soon be stepping into the formidable shoes of bug-eyed comedian Marty Feldman, who originated the Igor role in the 1974 film opposite Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein.
A look at Fitzgerald's Geico commercial reveals why producer-creator Mel Brooks and his team were smitten: A broad sense of humor, a vaudevillian's timing and an embrace of the absurd.
"He is extremely gifted. He has what you can't teach," says Susan Stroman, the Tony-winning director and choreographer behind both "The Producers" and Brooks' latest show. "He has a gift for comedy, for the stage."
Fitzgerald -- who joined cast mates Megan Mullally, Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley and Andrea Martin -- plays Dr. Frankenstein's endearing servant, a song-and-dance man who juggles human brains poorly and whose hump is hard to pin down.
"This calls upon every aspect of what I've been doing since I was a little tyke," Fitzgerald says. "It both flips me out and it seems to make some sort of weird cosmic sense."
It's Fitzgerald's third stint on Broadway. The 35-year-old actor from Maine originated the role of Boq in "Wicked" and was in "Amour" in 2002. Besides off-Broadway credits, he's also worked with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Huntington Theatre in Boston and spent 10 seasons with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He was on the TV show "Twins" and his film credits include "Personal Velocity," "Boiler Room," "Dedication," and "Revolutionary Road."
