Theatre and Dance Reviews

Unlike many of the audience I spoke to after the show, I know and love the original 1968 Mel Brooks film. So how would a bad taste musical based on a film about staging a bad taste musical work. The answer is particularly spectacularly.

This is a big show for a regional tour. The cast numbers in the twenties with excellent sets and lavish costumes and quality music and sound. Coming from a West End run, the show has retained a first class cast and household names such as Joe Pasquale and Russ Abbot should ensure some good houses.

The high spot of the show still has to be the songs from the original spoof show "Springtime for Hitler" from the first film. Brilliant use of dummy storm troopers create a stunning dance sequence although the wonderful Busby Berkeley pastiche cannot work as well on stage as on film.

The extra songs are strong and in the finale of the first act are brilliantly interspersed as in any quality musical.

Cory English for me steals the show as producer Max Biallystock. His character on stage looks nothing like his real life appearance, particularly his greased down thinning hair. His partner in crime Leo Bloom is played to great effect by national treasure Joe Pasquale. I've never been a real fan but his simpering voice and bumbling mannerisms make the part his own.

Russ Abbot plays the audience well as Roger De Bris.  I was impressed that he was still genuinely enjoying the show and finding something fresh to amuse him every night. This is a cast that enjoy their show.

There are more strong performances among the lesser characters. I particularly enjoyed Alex Giannini's manic nazi Franz Liebkind. Look out for the brilliant pigeons on his roof.

There is a clever juxtaposition here. This is a musical about a plot to put on a bad musical. It's a kind of disfunctional "42nd Street ". Perhaps it could be a couple of numbers too long  the Little Old Lady Land scene perhaps adds nothing to the show. Over all though "The Producers" delivers a first class night out.

It's a success and I wondered about why it is. Why does this work where others fail? There seems to be a "spin off " factor at work. Like "Acorn Antiques" this has a ring of familiarity which will invite audiences to come on board. Who could predict that  musicals about a book of cat poems or poor French peasants would succeed. Perhaps the time is right for "The Producers" with its pro-nazi show produced by a jew to enthrall audiences. The original film earned cult status eventually, but it perhaps was too close to real events to work in the sixties.