The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: I haven't stopped laughing in a year...and neither will you!
Hit: 5 Stars
I will confess, I am normally fonder of Lloyd-Webber-esque pseudo-operas than old-fashioned musical comedies (although I certainly have nothing against them, "The pajama game" having been the first musical I ever heard), but I have always loved Mel Brooks's humor movies, and when my favorite among them was made into a musical, I just had to get it, didn't I?Well. I'll begin with the songs, then. "I wanna be a producer" is as bright and brilliant as my beloved "I'm not at all in love" from the Pajama Game, and in fact greatly resembling. "Keep it gay" had me in stitches, as did "Along came Bialy" and "Betrayed". "Where did we go right?" contains the greatest comic lyrics job I've ever seen, and in fact the greatest lyrics I've ever seen in a musical except for a couple of Webber productions. "We can do it" had lyrics almost as spectacular. "Springtime for Hitler" is far more interesting and elaborate in this version, "Heil Myself" is a genuine Broadway masterpiece, and "'Til him" and "Leo and Max" are extremely sweet, touching and moving. But towering above all the score is "That Face", a Cole Porter-esque ballad that is used to express the relationship between pathetic accountant Leo Bloom and Swedish receptionist Ulla (who has twenty different name compiling her first name alone). For fans of the "Producers" movie, Ulla is actually a real, sympathetic character in this version, and she actually ends up with Leo, of all people. Cady Huffman (the Ulla actress) was simultaneously sweetly demure, brightly intelligent, and devilishly sexy--and would you believe, this genius is actually the least compelling major cast-member.
The lead cast members are stunning. Matthew Broderick sings quite well, and plays a subtly different, more normal take-off on Gene Wilder's Leo in the movie...but even he does not approach the glory that is Nathan Lane's over-the-top, cynically charming Max Bialystock. Lane actually accomplished what Zero Mostel never did in the movie...he made Max likeable.
Even better than these, though, are Brad Oscar, who sings spectacularly and manages to make an insane neo-nazi seem jolly and lovable. Roger DeBris is played by Gary Beach, who, stunningly, manages to play a pompous British queer, a completely different but equally gay flamboyant dancer Hitler who sound like a male Judy Garland, and in addition, does a _very_ good comic Ethel Merman impression in "Heil Myself" (Mein Gott, I love that song). But the best actor in the cast is Roger Bart, who plays Roger's seceretary Carmen. I had the unequaled priviledge of seeing him on stage (he has a _fantastic_ stage presence), and though his lines are minimal in this production, they should be sought out just to enjoy his stunningly beautiful singing voice, one that puts even Brad Oscar's to shame.
There was only _one_ flaw. The absence of the song "Love Power" was frustrating, and I am irritated with Brooks for leaving out the character of L.S.D. I suppose, however, that Roger DeBris's part in "Heil myself" was worth it.
As a closing note, I personally do not think anyone except the truly self-righteous would take offense at this musical. The only truly cruel jokes are directed at Hitler himself, and who's going to complain about that? Even Roger DeBris, the gay director, is portrayed as more sympathetic than in the "Producers" movie, and is even given a romantic scene at the end of the play.
As a conclusion, I can only say one thing: if you like olden-day musical comedies, Mel Brooks, or simply insane, demented, alternately witty and childishly primal humor--GET. THIS. CD. Even the often gorgeous music is simply a bonus compared to the hilarity of the dialogue, lyrics, and performances.
Free Music Review: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE TONYS
Hit: 5 Stars
While waiting for tickets to THE PRODUCERS - and if you haven't already secured them you could be in for a long wait - you can savor the great moments from the score courtesy of Sony's original cast disc. This is one of the best cast albums to come from Sony since the days of Goddard Lieberson.Produced by Hugh Fordin the CD captures the fun and spirit of the award-laden musical comedy. The booklet includes a detailed synopsis and a libretto, though neither is really necessary. Play the disc and you can easily follow the story. There are welcome bits of dialogue to bridge the songs and Mel Brooks seems quite happy to give away some of the shows best jokes. For more see the color photos in the booklet: A finale shot shows the marquees of some other Bialystock & Bloom musicals: MAIM, SOUTH PASSAIC and HIGH BUTTON JEWS among others.
If you are already a fan of Mel Brooks or know the 1967 film which inspired the musical, you have an inkling the tasteless lunacy that runs merrily through the CD's 73 minutes. But there is more. Nathan Lane was impressive with his 1996 revival of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, but here he sinks his teeth into the character of Max Bialystock the self-proclaimed "king of old Broadway." Lane does not posses a huge voice but his manic, over the top delivery enlivens the proceedings from the start. Listen to his late second act madcap recap of the plot to hear comic timing at its absolute best!
As his partner in crime, Matthew Broderick again displays a sweet-voiced innocence that masks his cut-throat ways. Broderick played a similar viper in the 1995 revival of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. Here he is given fewer opportunities to shine but he makes the most of "I Wanna Be a Producer" and the tender "'Til Him."
The rest of the cast are given their moments to shine but its Gary Beach who leads the showstopping "Springtime for Hitler" production number. Cady Huffman who impressed critics as Ziegfeld's favorite in THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES is once again cast as a blonde bombshell, this time with a German accent. "When You Got, Flaunt it" she sings ...and indeed she does.
Mel Brooks is named as composer of the score, and indeed he created the melodies by humming them into a tape recorder. The transcribing was done by Glen Kelly who remains an unsung hero for this musical. Kelly's transcriptions were orchestrated in traditional brassy Broadway style by Doug Besterman and played with great panache by a somewhat enlarged orchestra crisply conducted by Patrick S. Brady.
If Brooks had some assistance with the tunes, the lyrics are all his and there are jokes to spare: Brad Oscar as the title character in SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER declares himself "the German Ethel Merman" employing a Merman-esque twang as he sings the line; A chorus line of little old ladies do a tap dance using their walkers; A wildly inventive choreographer spins visions of "German Soldiers dancing through France played by chorus boys in very tight pants."
It is refreshing in an era of political correctness, when classic musical have to have their scores "adjusted" for modern consumption, that Mel Brooks seems so willing to risk offending every segment of the audience. We laugh at every tasteless joke and he laughs all the way to the bank!
Free Music Review: A Hilarious Work of Staggering Genius
Hit: 5 Stars
When I heard that Mel Brooks was making a Broadway musical out of his movie classic, "The Producers," I was intrigued. I always thought that this story would be perfect as a musical, since the first time I saw the movie. Of course, I was also worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations. I haven't yet seen the show, but if it is as amazing and brilliant as the music and the performances on the original cast album seem to indicate, it may be heading on its way to be a musical masterpiece. I am dying to see it. First off, let me say that there just could never be as perfect choices to play Leo and Max as Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. On this recording, they are absolutely perfect in capturing the spirit of Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel's performances but making the parts all their own. From what I have heard, they are superior to them. Their voices are extremely strong, and most importantly, show-bizzy. But since this review is really about the music, I'll get on to that. The score is absolutely brilliant. No other word to describe it. Never in my memory has a score so perfectly parodied and celebrated the scores of old Broadway. Even scores such as Sondheim's "Follies" falter, in my opinion, in that they are too self-deconstructing and intellectual for their own good. This score is not cynical like shows such as that. It is light, breezy, and fun...the proper approach, I believe to satirizing Broadway. Musical theatre enthusiasts can appreciate the allusions to Broadway scores. Examples include "The King of Old Broadway," with shades of "If I Were A Rich Man," from "Fiddler on the Roof," and even "Reviewing the Situation" from "Oliver." The beginning of "I Wanna Be A Producer" is a subtle and hilarious parody of "Old Man River" from "Showboat," and in the indescribable "Keep It Gay," a bunch of theatre queens chanting "Tony, Tony, Tony," while they are referring to the award, instantly brings to mind Maria from "West Side Story." And these are only a fraction of the myriad parodies within parodies within parodies. But the music also has great heart, making it approachable to people who are not "in-the-know" and even though it sounds like old-fashioned Broadway music, it has freshness and life all its own. And there has never been an old Broadway show with lyrics like, "We're marching to a faster pace/Look out, here comes the Master Race!" The lyrics themselves are incredibly clever, with great wordplay, rhymes, and a sophisticated sense of humor. The best dirty humor needs sophistication. That separates the crass and obscene to the type of dirty humor that is above criticism: This overall feeling of innocence that surrounds the entire score can make even a chorus line song about Adolf Hitler seem sweet...Adolf ELIZABETH Hitler, I mean, of course.Free Music Review: you've got no show, its just no go, Without The Producers
Hit: 5 Stars
The Producers is a nonstop laugh riot from the Opening Song where theatre patrons proclaim Funny Boy (a musical adaptation of Hamlet)Max Bialystock's Latest flop to the finale in which Max and Leo walk into the sunset amidst a background of their next successes (Katz, Death of a Salesman On Ice, Maim, 47th street, South Passaic) Nathan Lane steals the show as Max, a smarmy broadway producer who hasn't had a hit in years. And Matthew Broderick shines as the whiny, sexually repressed accountant Leo Bloom who joins Max in a quest to produce the worst play ever written. They reason that if they sell more than 100% of the show and it bombs they can pocket the difference, but if they succeed then they will go to jail. Therefore they need the worst play, director, and actors to guarantee their failure. They find Springtime for Hitler, a love letter to Hitler from Franz Liebkind, and hire a Roger Debris (Roger Elizabeth Debris, a gay director who invisions "german soldiers dancing through france, played by chorus boys in very tight pants" in Springtime for Hitler) Unfortunately their show is a success. This show is excellent and the supporting actors are great also. Cady Huffman steals the show in "When you Got it, flaunt it" playing the provocative, Swedish assistant of Leo and Max gand Roger Bart is hilarious as Roger Debris's "common-law assistant" Carmen Ghia. Brad Oscar is another star as the furor-adoring, pigeon-keeping, Franz. Mel Brooks is a comic genius with lines like "don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the nazi party" and "goose-steps, a new step, today." and "Kill the actors, you ever eat with one" and all his songs have a catchy beat. "I want to Be a Producer" allows Broderick to show off his talent for musical comedy. "Keep it Gay" is a light, happy tune with Roger and his entourage. The King Of Broadway, a song that resembles Fiddler on the Roof, gives Lane a chance to show off the reasons why he won the Tony. And Betrayed isn't anything short of a masterpiece with Lane spouting the plot of the show in two minutes. (He walked into my office with a cockamany scheme...step 1 find the play...step 2 hire the director...etc) And of course the show-stopping number "Springtime for Hitler" with the ensemble in Nazi uniforms forming a dancing swastika and singing lines like "Springtime for Hitler and Germany, winter for poland and france" and "we're marching to a faster pace, look out here comes the master race." The Producers has something for everyone: "The cast is great, the script is swell, but this we're telling you sir, you've got no show, its just no go, WITHOUT THE PRODUCERS." If you can get tickets, I highly recommend it, even the stars' understudies are great.Free Music Review: Mel Brooks takes Broadway by Musical Stormtroopers!
Hit: 5 Stars
I listened to this CD for the first time at work, using headphones, and as soon as I got to the line "The songs were rotten, the book was stinkin', what he did to Shakespeare, Booth did to Lincoln" I laughed out loud. Of course, nobody else knew what I was listening to and I knew nobody else knew what I was listening to and that just made it all funnier. One of the best things you can say about Mel Brook's musical version of "The Producers" is that it works either way and that you can enjoy it almost as much if you have never seen the movie version as you can if you have been putting together a restored version of "Springtime for Hitler" in your mind for several decades (What? No song about the little blue blanket?). The musical certainly brings some different elements into prominence, the most obvious of which is Brooks' love affair with Broadway, as evidenced by his ability to do songs in the style of the legendary composers. You will recognize songs that remind you of Rogers & Hammerstein ("Til Him"), Cole Porter ("That Face") and Jule Styne ("I Wanna Be a Producer"). Not since Andrew Lloyd Webber overwhelmed Broadway audiences with examples of every music form ever known (e.g., the "what if Mozart wrote a bad opera" song in "Phantom"), has a composer tried to play in every ballpark. But with Brooks it is clear a question of a heartfelt love for the art form of the musical theater rather than an intellectual exercise in compositional theory.Then there is also the budding relationship between the dethroned King of Broadway, Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane), and the mousy accountant who wants to be a Producer, Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick). Look at what happens to these two and it is clear "The Producers" is a love story, even a traditional one as such Broadway tales go. When you think of the chutzpa it takes for two actors to try to follow the legendary performances of Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, all the while singing and dancing, it is impossible not to have admiration for how Lane and Broderick have made these roles their own. Still, I cannot get away from this being Mel Brooks' show, because it is the lyrics and not the music that strikes you, over and over again, on the head, until it is ready to burst open like a ripe melon (listening to Max's maniacal rhyming at the end of "The King of Broadway" and you will completely understand). I even love the way Brooks plays with the audience when we finally get to "Springtime for Hitler" and he keeps prolonging the moment when we actually get to hear the title. At least they kept Mel's "cameo." I only had to listen to this album once to understand why "The Producers" is the current toast of Broadway. Who would have ever thought a Broadway musical comedy would be so funny?