The Producers

‘The Producers’ opened on Broadway in 2001, where it was an instant hit, received great reviews, and won an incredible 12 Tony Awards. The show has the aura of a timeless Broadway classic - it’s almost hard to believe the show is still a baby at only 12 years old.

The wonderfully audacious material that Mel Brooks has produced sets the shows vibe which this production exceedingly translates.

The story concerns Max Bialystock, a failing Broadway producer and his sidekick Leo Bloom. Between them they have come up with a scam that will make them millionaires by producing the worst ever musical on Broadway. They come across the perfect script to transform into a musical ‘flop’ extravaganza which has been written by ‘ex’-nazi storm trooper Franz Liebkind, which tells of the rise of Adolf Hitler in song and dance. - The most offensive musical imagined, or at least one would think!

This show has nazi pigeons, dancing storm troopers, dirty old ladies with euphemisms such as “Lick-me Bite-me” and “Hold-me, Touch-me”, a song with the refrain “Don’t be stupid, Be a smarty, Come and join the Nazi party!” And the marvellously scandalous “Springtime for Hitler”, which sees an outrageously camp Adolf take centre stage.

The star of this show, unquestionably, was Alex Bingle in the role of Max Bialystock. Knowing the show quite well, when Alex first stepped on stage I wondered how he would carry this role as he seemed too young for the character and, dare I say, too thin! But as each scene was delivered he was all the more convincing, he had the Jewish American accent spot on and sent waves of laughter throughout the auditorium. His most triumphant peak was ‘Betrayed’ which earned him a very worthy rapture of applause from the audience.

Michael Daws had great energy and his singing ability excelled throughout. I favoured him in the courthouse scene when he portrayed the character with genuine emotions rather than hiding behind his lofty Leo! The naive and easily corruptible accountant, of course, is gawky and awkward but the many displays of timid innocence (which are crucial to this character) were drowned out by the over exaggerated characterisations and irksome voice, although he was getting the laughs, the over exaggerations did make connecting with the characters gentility quite a challenge. An easy mistake to make but a more even balance would have exposed a stronger result.

Paul Yandell as the eccentric ‘ex’-storm trooper, ‘Franz ’has no gentle or timid sides and the joy of parts such as this are better the more insane you are which Paul delivered with aplomb!

Lisa McDonald was very good as the Swedish blonde bombshell ‘Ulla’ and delivered the comedy at the right tone.

I was very pleased at the attempts and the thought behind the technical aspects in this production, particularly the lighting. Good and well thought out lighting designs do contribute towards making a show look more professional so well done here!

If you’re staging this show in a theatre with a full set and without the ability to fly - it’s a nightmare!! Yes, the crew are required to do the impossible and change one full set into another in an instant!

Kevin Clark as Director / Choreographer demonstrated the advantage of taking on both of these production team roles, he’d well thought out how to hide the challenges of disguising scene changes the best he could with what he had.

The choreography was fun and enjoyable and in-keeping with the shows mood. The best way to describe this show is as Roger Debris sings “Keep it light, keep it bright, keep it gay!” and that is exactly what ‘The Producers’ does.

Highlights in this production, for me, were ‘Keep It Gay’ - which can easily be cringe worthy but the balance and tone of the humour was displayed perfectly. ‘Betrayed’ for reasons mentioned above & ‘Springtime for Hitler’ – again for the comedy value and impressive costumes!

I defy anyone not to laugh at this brilliant display of sheer foolishness. A delight!

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