Based on Mel Brooks' much loved Academy Award winning movie, The Producers is a hilarious musical comedy that has taken Broadway and the West End by storm, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards and 3 Olivier Awards. Read more …
Impoverished by a string of flops, New York producer Max Bialystock recruits timid accountant Leo Bloom to help him pull off Broadway's greatest scam. Together they aim to produce the worst show ever and run away to Rio with millions, but they soon learn that showbusiness can always find a way to kick you in the teeth.
Qualms are soon steamrollered by the show’s sense of fun and some high-wattage performances.
This isn't a 'difficult' show, but sometimes you don't want something complex - you just want something funny. And this delivers that in spades.
I don’t know if anyone reading this has enough cash to invest in a show, but definitely invest in a ticket – Max and Leo would simply hate The Producers, because this production is a million miles from a flop.
While Brooks was clearly exploring some of the freedoms of the 1960s when his big-screen version of this libidinous cartoon come to rude life first appeared, the reason it works so well is that he was lovingly steeped in the showbusiness world the show so gloriously pastiches. He also recognised that sex, money and theatrical razzmatazz are a deliciously unholy trinity. This remains the case in a fantastically tasteless display of goose-stepping high camp sturm und drang.
Director Matthew White keeps all the balls in the air. The gags, the wordplay in the song lyrics, the in-jokes at the expense of Broadway come together to make this a knickerbocker-glory-with-extra-nuts show.
This production – much like ‘Springtime For Hitler’, is a certain hit. Its ability to have an audience in rapturous applause at the reveal of Adolf Hitler and a barrage of swastikas is testament to the razor sharp wit and satire that underlies the whole show. It would be, then, impossible to deny this show the glowing praise it so deserves.
As a musical it has got two memorable songs and the first half maybe goes on a bit, but the story is easy to follow if more ludicrous than most. But, hey, it’s meant to be entertainment and the audience left the theatre with smiles on faces and a buzz that you associate with a good night at the theatre.
Sharp, vivid and hilarious.
The show endures for good reason, great script, great songs and a big heart. Miss it at your peril.
The jokes are crude and rude (and hilarious) with too many one liners to mention.
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh from Monday March 23, 2015, until Saturday March 28, 2015. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/festival
Theatre Royal, Glasgow from Monday June 15, 2015, until Saturday June 20, 2015. More info: www.theambassadors.com/theatreroyalglasgow/
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