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Mel Brooks’ Broadway musical The Producers has been on here in Helsinki for a while now, and I went to see it on Thursday. Apart from the ads I’d seen on the High Street, I really didn’t have a clue about what the musical was about; other than Hitler (the show’s subtitled ‘Springtime for Hitler’). The musical is an adaptation of Brooks’ 1968 movie of the same name. In the States, the Broadway musical has won nearly every single award imaginable (Count ‘em) and even the one that’s playing here, translated into Finnish, has also won over the critics. I did read a few reviews before accepting the invitation so I had the impression it wouldn’t be a complete waste of time. I arrived at the theatre around half past six for drinks and then sat down for the show.

The musical is about a has-been theatre producer called Max Bialystock who once was the King of Broadway. After his newest show turns out to be an epic failure, he sings to a crowd of down-and-outs of his past achievements and that he will return to form. The next day Max Bialystock is woken up by Leo Bloom, an accountant from Whitehall & Marks. He arrives to check Max’s accounts and discovers some irregularity in the books; an unaccounted $2000. After some calculations, Bloom realizes that “under the right circumstances, a producer could actually make more money with a flop than he can with a hit.” Bloom explains; the IRS isn’t interested in a show that flopped, so a producer could raise a million dollars, put on a $100,000 flop and keep the rest. Max proposes the ultimate scheme:

Step 1: We find the worst play ever written. Step 2: We hire the worst director in town. Step 3: We raise two million dollars…One for me, one for you. There’s a lot of little old ladies out there! Step 4: We hire the worst actors in New York and open on Broadway and before you can say Step 5, we close on Broadway, take our two million and go to Rio.

What I thought
Crazy. Absolutely. Fucking. Crazy. And I loved it, sort of. I have to admit that the show did start off a little slowly, and during the first part of the show I did look at my watch a few times; there’s a scene right in the beginning when Bloom and Bialystock meet, when Bloom has a panic attack. That was stretched on a little too long. Also, I wasn’t expecting the musical to have quite as many gay characters as it did (not that I have anything against gay people, it’s just I that I like my gayness in small doses). But as director pair’s producer-of-choice was a gay couple, I guess I haven’t got much to say :)

I have to say that I’ve never really sat through a three hour gay Neo-Nazi musical with tapdancing SS-girls but I did enjoy it. It was so insane and silly that it was good. I mean, have you ever been to a musical with an entire stage filled with Swastikas and women dressed as German emblems? Me neither.

I watched both 1968 and the 2005 movies, and have say that the original language does take the cake (how surprising). The 2005 version was better than the original, and it didn’t deviate from the musical as much as the ‘68 version. Also, it had Uma Thurman <3

Memorable quotes:

Franz Liebkind: You know, not many people know zis, but der Führer was a terrific dancer.
Max Bialystock: Really? Gee, we didn’t know that, did we, Leo?
Leo Bloom: No, we sure didn’t.
Franz Liebkind: That’s because you were taken in by The BBC! Filthy British lies! But did they ever say a bad word about Winston Churchill? CHURCHILL!
Franz Liebkind: With his cigars, and his brandy, and his Rotten paintings! Rotten! Hitler, there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon! Two coats!

If you don’t have the chance to see it at the theatre, rent the 2005 movie and watch it. It’s hilarious.