As for the cool, sometimes borderline hostile reviews “Young Frankenstein” has gotten, Brooks agreed some of that was inevitable based on the success of his previous musical and how much people love the 1974 movie.

“You’re absolutely right. Some of it is predictable. I said, ‘There’s gonna be a backlash.’ I knew it when they savaged both Matthew and Nathan Lane – Matthew Broderick – when they did ‘Doc’ Simon’s play, ‘The Odd Couple.’ I said, ‘Okay, bad reviews, but why this?’ This must be the backlash.”

Another thing that has colored people’s perceptions of the show’s success is the lack of box-office reports. Brooks said that was a mistake.

“I asked this producer of mine, Bob Sillerman, I said, ‘Why did you do that?’ He said, ‘Well, when the times are really good, they hate you for making so much money and you’re bragging. And then later on in a couple of years, when things drop off, they read the paper and say, ‘I don’t want to see that. It’s a flop.’ That’s why they don’t do it in England.’ In London, this is never done. Numbers are never given out.

“I don’t think it was a good idea, but he’s a very good producer and that’s the way – it wasn’t a good idea. I think it’s a better idea to cave in and play ball with what’s going on. But he’s a maverick. He’s not that kind of guy and I like his style, so I went along with it.”

Brooks thinks not disclosing box-office, coupled with confusion about ticket prices, has misled people about the show.

“That and the $450 ticket. The world thinks the tickets cost $450. I mean, there are maybe 12 of them. Out of 1,800 tickets, there are maybe 12 or 15 tickets that cost that kind of money. Ninety-five percent of the tickets are just at whatever the regular Broadway – $116 or whatever Broadway is paying for a ticket – that’s exactly it.

“Recently in The Post, somebody said, ‘The show’s in trouble.’ But we’re not! We’re probably doing better than anybody on Broadway. We’re not at all.

“I really think it’s a good thing they do, that TKTS booth on Times Square, where you can get – for almost every single show on Broadway, almost every night – you can get two tickets for the price of one if you’re patient and you wait on line long enough. But we’re not there. We’re not there. So if you’re not there, the perception should be, if you’re not there you’re not in any kind of trouble at all. You’re selling most – 90 percent – of your tickets.

“The only time we don’t sell – the only time we don’t sell almost every single seat is Wednesday matinees. There are always 30 or 40, maybe sometimes 80 tickets available. And Wednesday matinees, it makes sense to have that. People are working. Those Wednesday matinees seem to go away in the summer and you’re filled up again.”

One thing Brooks thinks will help fill seats is the recently released cast album, which was recorded the old-fashioned way with all the participants – including Brooks – in the studio.

“Even though the stores – the physical venues – have kind of closed for music, for CDs, there’s still a few around. At all the bookstores, Borders and Barnes & Noble, they sell like crazy. And even in Starbucks, they sell. I think we’re going to be there. But what really sells is online. That’s where albums go like crazy. They buy it online.

“I think they’re gonna wanna see – they can smell the fun, they can smell the joy, they can even smell some of the fear and the frightening and the drama of it. Tom was right, it’s kind of like a gothic opera.”

While he continues to work out further plans for “Young Frankenstein,” Brooks won’t be doing another musical anytime soon. And there are no movies in the works either. Right now the only thing he’s working on is recording the voices of President Skroob and Yoghurt for an animated version of “Spaceballs” for G4TV. – Jim Otey