The Producers
Book by Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan
Music & Lyrics by Mel Brooks
Directed by Brandon Mason
Music Direction by Bruce Greer
Produced by Lyric Stage
Reviewed by Jenny Wood
The last and only other time I saw Mel Brooks' The Producers was in Fall of 2001, my senior year of high school. I was in New York visiting colleges and seeing shows, just old enough to declare myself the kind of theatre person who’s “not that into” musicals and just barely a generation too young to recognize "Ferris Beuler."
But I absolutely knew who Nathan Lane was. And I had seen the 2001 Tony’s so I knew The Producers was supposed to be a wild, mildly controversial ride on the subject of show business. And if there’s one thing a 17 year old theatre kid loves, it’s the chance to see a “controversial” Tony Award winner on Broadway.
Perhaps best known for it's record setting 12 Tony Awards (even Hamilton only won 11), The Producers is the story of two Broadway producers who attempt to intentionally produce a Broadway flop as a sort of get rich quick scheme. The “mildly controversial” aspects involve a “guaranteed flop” titled “Springtime for Hitler” and humor that relies heavily on show business in-jokes, exaggerated accents, and caricatures of gay people, the elderly, Swedes, Nazis and Jewish Accountants. It is made clear in the writing, however, that the show knows exactly what it is and what it is doing, and these “controversial” elements are clearly intended as humor celebrating love, not hate.
So with a little bit of luck (and after a lot of begging the parents), my cousin and I managed to get terrible seats to what the Guardian called at the time “not just a hit; it's a fully-fledged event…a love letter from Broadway to itself, told with the sort of theatrical nous and panache that doesn't exist any more.”
On the rare occasion I’ve told this story, I’ve never remembered the details of the show so much as how I felt during and after. I didn’t have the words back as a seventeen year old, but the New York Times succinctly summed it up at the time: “Everybody who sees The Producers… is going to be hard-pressed to choose one favourite bit from the sublimely ridiculous spectacle.”
I realize I’m writing an awful lot about a version of this show that is not the version we’re here to review. But Lyric Stage’s stated mission is “Developing and Preserving the Musical, a Uniquely American Art Form,” and The Producers has been lauded as a uniquely American musical that revived Broadway at a time when all the big musical hits were British imports.
And just like the last time I saw The Producers, when I left the Moody Performance Hall on Saturday night, all I could really remember about Lyric’s production was how it made me feel. On an icy winter night in North Texas, it felt the way the perfectly warmed and balanced spiced rum eggnog latte smells, tastes, feels going down.
It has been a very, very long time since I've had such a purely fun, enjoyable evening at the theatre.
But my absolute favorite aspect of Lyric’s production was the way that the entire cast, but particularly B.J. Cleveland (Max Bialystock) and Brandon Wilhelm (Leo Bloom), managed to preserve elements of their characters which were distinctly written to the personalities of the originating actors while also bringing their own fresh touches. In fact, I started adding other cast members to the list of exceptionally on point performances, and realized I was just listing everyone in the playbill. This is not hyperbole or exaggeration - I encourage you to review the digital playbill LyricStage.org for the details of this outstanding cast.
A lot has happened in the world since Fall 2001. A lot in the last five years, even the last 4 months.
If you are ready to step away from it all for a couple of hours and sink into an absurd fever dream celebrating the best and worst of the American Theatre, go see The Producers at Lyric Stage.
Just, like, go.
AND WHO DOESN’T LOVE A SHOW TUNE ABOUT ACCOUNTING??!!!
The Producers continues through January 20, LyricStage.org for Tickets and Digital Playbill.
Audience Rating: PG13 - Historical Subject Matter, Sexual Innuendo, Dark Humor
Run Time: 2 hours 40 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Available
Sensory Friendly Performance: Not Available
ASL Performance: Not Available
Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises or Visuals to Prepare For: None of note
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