The Producers

What a good night’s entertainment was in store for us all. Lados did it their way with many different touches to this Mel Brooks musical, most good, some totally unnecessary.

From ‘It’s Opening Night’, the shows pace never slackened. The Producers is a madcap musical about rampant grannies, and tap dancing storm troopers. The difficult and exacting role of Max Bialystock, who is one of the producers, was very well played by Glen Hanmer, he played the part with an abundance of energy his acting and singing was excellent. James Shields captured the part of Leo Bloom the accountant who joins forces with Max and together they become The Producers. It was the first time that I had seen this young man, and I hope not the last. He has a natural stage presence and commanded the stage, he had my total attention, ‘I Wanna Be A Producer’ was brilliantly executed, well done.

Sarah Disberry playing the Swedish girl Ulla, was a gem, and I enjoyed her acting and her singing of ‘When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It’, she also maintained her Swedish accent well. One of the evenings highlights was the Bavarian crazed pigeon fancying Franz Liebkind played by the talented Paul Atkinson, how the audience laughed, he was in fine form. His singing of ‘In Old Bavaria’ was great.

Special mention to Neil Lawson as Roger De Bris and Ryan Butterworth playing Carmen. There were some good character parts and all the cast gave good support. Another highlight was the ‘Old Ladies’ for their zimmer frame routine with the storm troopers and the follies girls number ‘Springtime For Hitler’.

This was an enjoyable evening with some very good choreography enhanced by vibrant costumes which put the final touches to the show, as always an excellent orchestra. Thank you.

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