Although The Producers is based on the premise that a show which flops is more profitable than a hit, Mel Brooks did not adhere to this mantra while conceiving the stage adaptation of his 1968 movie.
With its show-within-a-show style, lavish costumes, and splashy production numbers, The Producers incorporates all the ingredients necessary to become a classic Broadway musical, the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of Rodgers and Hammerstein or Frank Loesser. But The Producers, opening next week at the St. James Theatre in New York, is paradoxical in the sense that old-style production values are mixed with provocative themes in today's theatrical world - older shows didn't have characters named Lick-me, Bite-me or Jack Lepidus (say it fast and figure out the pronunciation for yourself).
Throughout the play, Brooks freely and comically pokes fun at everyone from Jews to gays to foreigners, encompassing a brand of humor that is sure to offend some but must not be taken at face value. Although there is certainly no dearth of Jewish jokes, the delivery of such chides by stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick is eloquent to the point where it is almost impossible to realize that much of what they are saying are insults.
Broderick and Lane form the backbone of the production through their use of slapstick humor and ingenious sense of comic timing. Lane especially is an endearing presence on stage, as Broadway producer Max Bialystock, especially as he delivers what is essentially a one-man summary of the entire play in a tour de force performance of a song called "Betrayed" towards the end of the second act. Broderick's role as the shy but scheming accountant Leo Bloom is slightly less demanding, yet he emphasizes the humor in a manner that is subtle yet charming.
Much of the show's brilliance is owed to Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman, the mastermind behind the exquisitely creative staging. The complicated set is prime for forming
the background to what becomes a true farce; the abundance of doors and the preciseness with which they are used by the actors adds a lot to the show's overall comic value -- an example is a scene in Leo Bloom's accounting office where dancers clad in feathers gradually appear from the file cabinets in the number "I Wanna Be a Producer." Stroman's unique choreography also includes a number featuring old ladies dancing a soft shoe with their walkers and a chorus line dancing in the shape of a swastika.
The show's biggest weakness is that, at times, the plot drags and the jokes and actions become too corny. Theatergoers have seen gays crossing the stage in a blatantly effeminate manner way too many times, and although such actions are Brooks classics, they take away from the inventiveness of the show. Another problem is a slight inconsistency in the plot - Bialystock and Bloom set out to create a show that flops, yet Stroman's choreography of their production of "Springtime for Hitler" is too good for a show meant to fail. But it is still enjoyable and humorous to watch - perhaps the many paradoxes inherent in the show's script are what make it work. After all, everything to with the show, from the book, to the lyrics, to the score, is pure Mel Brooks.
