The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Practically A Love Letter To Broadway
Hit: 5 Stars
See it, touch it, kiss it. Broadway has found it's next great composer/lyricist / writer, and it's Mel Brooks!!! After all this time the inevitable has arrived and he has brought back (in my opinion) His Greatest work. The Academy Award Winning film "The Producers." In collaboration with Broadway's Best new Director Susan Stroman who gave us a Double Whammy with "contact" and "The Music Man," and starring two of Broadway's gems Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. (Coincidentally both recieved acclaim reviving characters from Frank Loesser musicals FYI) The Story goes like this. Badly impacted by the failure of his latest play "Funny Boy: A Musical version of 'Hamlet" Max Bialystock (Lane, filling the shoes of Zero Mostel for the second time. First being "Forum") is greeted by lowly, shy accountant Leo Bloom (Broderick, taking over for Gene Wilder) who unintentionally spawns a "Get-rich-quick" scheme to raise more than required money to stage a surefire flop "Springtime For Hitler." written by Neo-Nazi, pigeon loving Franz Liebkind. When glorious failure seems imminent, REAL disaster strikes when "Springtime For Hitler" is a runaway hit! What ensues next is nothing but hilarious!
Brooks and Tom Meehan managed to make the book just as fresh, witty, and all out surprising as the original 1968 film, and expand a totally original storyline and make it even MORE original. The story itself makes an excellent transition from the 60' to the late 50's making this story a fullout tribute to the Broadway of old. Brooks' score pays tribute as well to the composers of the era. like Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, and Irving Berlin, and doing them justice. and Brooks' lyrics pop with spontaneity, aggression, and wit. "King of Broadway" is a hilarious introduction to Max Bialystock, and "Keep it Gay" is utterly flambuoyant and immensly gay (meaning happy), and Brook's revamp of "Springtime For Hitler" is truly a milestone, and Max's solo "Betrayed" is the funniest synopsis I've ever heard.
All in all, the wait was well worth it and now that it's here, "The Producers" is here to stay. Broderick definitely made this role his, and Nathan Lane is truly the Zero Mostel for the new millenium. This musical joins many other great musicals in Broadway's most powerful season to date.
Free Music Review: Magnificent old-fashioned schmaltz and chutzpah.
Hit: 5 Stars
And that's just the composer/lyricist. It is entirely appropriate that the Sony Classical label released this effortlessly entertaining cast album. Both in performance and general intent, "The Producers" album recalls the classic Columbia show recordings of the era (1959) the show is set in.The fabulous orchestrations by Doug Besterman send the heart back to the days of "Gypsy" and "West Side Story," and even John Weidman's liner notes recall classic album back covers by George Dale. As the musical is, ultimately, a shameless valentine to all things show biz, it is altogether apt that sections of dialogue are included, as well as entire dance breaks (the simulation of the tap-dancing old-lady walkers which climax the first act finale is alone worth the cost).
To speak in anything but superlatives about the cast is to miss the point. Nathan Lane's performance enters him once and for all into the legendary ranks of musical performance, from his first show-stopper ("King of Broadway") to his last ("Betrayed"), and Matthew Broderick is right there alongside him, especially wonderful in his subtext-revealing "I Wanna Be A Producer," and infinitely sweet-toned in the climactic "Till Him." Brad Oscar's Nazi playwright, Gary Beach's super-swish director, Roger Bart's super-duper swish "common-law assistant," and Cady Huffman's delicious Swedish bombshell are palpable in both their energies and their vocal dexterity, to say nothing of humor. The ensemble is almost unbearably fine, with the spine-tingling choral passages reaching a perfect pitch of Kay Thompson/Roger Edens-style jazz harmonics in "Springtime for Hitler," which has the distinction of being the first CD track in some while which I have been compelled to put in auto-replay.
There's a reason this show will run forever, as well as why it will win the next Grammy for best show album and rightfully so, and both reasons are on display from the first band to the post-curtain encore. For all the hoopla about political incorrectness and hyped ticket prices, the internal sweetness, expertise, and sheer love of Broadway Mr. Brooks and company display has been captured for posterity on this CD, and with tickets up to a year in delay as of this writing, it's literally the next best thing to seeing it.
Free Music Review: Back to the Future with Uncle Mel
Hit: 5 Stars
My wife and I were lucky enough to see the show in previews on Broadway and we haven't stopped laughing yet. The CD contains music which SOUNDS like tunes you've heard before -- even a casual listening will prompt you to think of Gypsy, Bye Bye Birdie, A Funny Thing Happened . . ., How To Succeed . . ., Fiddler on the Roof and at least a half-dozen other shows. It's as if someone dug this recording out of a circa 1950 time capsule.This isn't meant to say the show is merely derivative. In fact, I consider the broadly familiar sound a strong positive factor. So is the madcap humor and pacing, both of the songs and the production as a whole.
Indeed, one of the show-stoppers on this cast recording is "The King of Old Broadway" and that's what this entire show is: a fabulous throwback to the old Broadway of classic American musical comedy of the mid-20th century. Three minutes into this CD you'll know you're NOT listening to a Disney show nor one composed by a Brit with three names.
Mel Brooks' tunes are catchy and singable and his lyrics are Noel Coward-sharp. (Just see if you can get these ditties out of your head!) The CD comes with a nice extra: extensive liner notes which include the complete lyrics and spoken interludes of every song.
The songs on the recording are well-played by an enthusiastic orchestra -- Glen Kelly's fine arrangements and orchestrations flesh out Mel's tunes. The singing is uniformly good, an occasional flat note not withstanding, and the interpreations are inspired. When Max/Nathan Lane tells Leo/Matthew Broderick near the end of the show, "I never realized you're a good singer" it's more than a line of dialogue. It's actually true.
If you're lucky enough to see the show, the CD is the ultimate souvenir. If you haven't seen it, the CD will more than tide you over until you do. And if "The Producers" inspires a renewal of the American musical comedy genre in the next few years (let's face it, success breeds imitation), then we all have Mel Brooks and company to thank or, to parody one of his own songs from the show:
Broadway going nowhere in a hurry . . . 'til him.
Bland and spiceless, never ever curry . . . 'til him.
Mel's schtick changed the Great White Way.
It's no longer prim.
Oi vay, let's hope there's at least another one . . . like him.
Free Music Review: Mel Brooks is a god, and I love him for it!
Hit: 5 Stars
Even though I've never seen the 1969 movie (I'm still desperately combing through the video stores in town), The Producers is clearly a Mel Brooks creation from beginning to end. I've grown up on his movies, and when I heard that he created a MUSICAL, I became very excited.What is there to say that hasn't been said? To quote Where Did We Go Right, "It was shocking, outrageous, insulting...and I loved every minute of it!" Although I know I'll never see it live, having the cast album is enough for me.
I absolutely adore Matthew Broderick (even though he'll always be Ferris Bueller to me), and who knew he had such a great singing voice? Nathan Lane is an absolute genius as Max and definately earned his Tony (sorry Matthew, but Leo just isn't as juicy a role).
The supporting cast is so increadible that I wish all 3 male nominees could have won! Brad Oscar is HILLARIOUS as Franz Liebkind (Adolf Elizabeth Hitler?), Roger Bart is deliciously gay (meaning happy of course!) as Carmen Ghia, and Gary Beach steals the show durring all of his numbers as Roger DeBris with his visions of "German soldiers marching through France, played by chorus boys in very tight pants." I also have to give props to Cady Huffman's Ulla--her accent is delicious and her song is hillarious.
I adore all of the songs, but some that stand out are "The King of Broadway," "I Wanna Be a Producer," "Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop," "Keep it Gay," "Along Came Bialy," "Where Did We Go Right," "Betrayed," "Til Him," and, of course, "Springtime for Hitler." Keeping up with his tradition of having bit parts in all of his films, Mel Brooks does a delightful cameo as a stormtrooper who advises, "Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi Party!" And of course there's the flammingly gay Adolf Hitler who declares that he's the "German Ethel Merman, doncha know?!".
I'm just glad that I got this album durring the summer, because I suddenly find myself singing, "the Fuhrer is causing a furor" and "we're marching to a faster pace....look out, here comes the master race!" There's nothing more to say than The Producers is pure genius and anyone with $15 to burn HAS to buy this CD!
Free Music Review: They just got 12 Tony awards!!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
How can you go wrong with the music of The Producers? The Tony Awards ceremony just finished and the Producers went home with 12 of them, setting a record, more awards than any production in the history of the awards (Hello Dolly received 10 in 1964).I saw the show last week and I was amazed. It was worth every award that it received. The music and lyrics, written by Mel Brooks himself, are so full of energy and so melodic and so funny I dont have words to express the astonishing work that Mel Brooks did with this musical. The scenic design was jaw-dropping and the performance by Lane and Broderick was astonishing.
Now, concerning the recording of the musical, as the title says it is by the original cast. You will be surprised by Matthew Broderick. He is a first class singer and the same goes for Nathan Lane. Listening to the cd again a few days later I can reasure you that it catches the mood of the play and I would totaly recomend it to everybody, irrespective if you have seen the show or not. It is a very loyal reproduction of what I actually listened to the show. The production of the cd is excellent and the orchestra really fills the space of your room. I love every minute of it.
As a bonus, all the lyrics are reprinted on the sleeve of the cd and believe me, very shortly after you start listening to the cd you will start singing "Springtime to Hitler and Germany"!! I know, it is embarassing and my wife repeatedly told me not to sing it in public or take the cd at work because people will misunderstand me, but it is such a catchy tone that I cant help it. So, in conclusion, if you havent seen the show go on and buy the cd. It is an excellent reproduction of the original show, you wont miss a thing - musicwise I mean.
Note for people that want to buy tickets for the Broadway show: Since the show is booked for the next year or so, make sure that Mathew Broderick and Nathan Lane will still be performing when you go and see the show. I know that their contract ends in a year from now and noone knows if they will sign a new contract. Also make sure that on the given day that you will book the ticket, both Lane and Broderick will performing and not one of their substitutes.