| The Producers Came to Town | | Print | |
| Written by David Springstead | |
| Monday, 01 January 2007 | |
 Once more the area has been graced with a production that's out on the road in one of those infamous truck and bus tours. These road shows can be everything from outstanding to just plain bad. Life on the road as an actor isn't all glamour. The number of performances is usually pretty demanding, and depending on the tour venues (A, B, or C types) your backstage area can be quite... interesting. And living out of a suitcase is never easy.
Opening night crowd for The Producers was surprisingly small for this Broadway at Chrysler Hall show. Even for the fact that the show opened it's week-long run the day after Christmas. But the roughly 50% capacity audience more than made up for their lack of members with loud laughter and hearty applause for this version of the Tony Award winning show still playing on Broadway. Interestingly enough, this production was mounted and rehearsed at Centre in the Square, Ontario, Canada. I've played that theatre, a nice place to perform. But the show isn't a NYC "Broadway" production if it came to us from the Great North. The show we see on the road has been "recreated" from the original by Nigel West (Director) and Leigh Constantine (Choreography) with scenery by Robin Wagner.
The cast for this show seems to be comprised of (mostly) very young actors, fresh from school, and happy to be on the road in their first national tour. Not a bad thing, everybody has to have a first of some kind. And to watch the company handle the many demands of the show was grace under pressure itself. There are multiple costume and character changes throughout, and the cast of 25 handles each one flawlessly. Not too bad for mounting a show right after Christmas Day. 
The lead roles
for this show were made famous by the two men who created them on
Broadway (Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick), who were trying to fill
the shoes of the two men that created the roles in the original 1968
movie (Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder). Without two strong men to drive this
show, the wheels would come off, no matter how talented the company
supporting them. This tour company has been blessed with a couple of
great performers that can handle the reputation of these roles. In the lead of Max Bialystock there is Jason Simon.
The role created by Zero, and later done by Nathan, requires a man of
physical stature and presence who can command the stage each time he
enters. He must not only "take the stage," he must demand your
attention by his very appearance into the scene. Mr. Simon more than
fills this requirement, and has a great time doing it. We feel every
little moment he does, whether it's total defeat at being a failure, or
complete elation when he's able to con Leo into the scheme which is the
show.For every great comic there's an even better straight man. In this show that's the role of Leo Bloom, wonderfully played by Austin Owen. A complete milquetoast of a man, he is brought out of his shell by his association with Max, with often hilarious results. The teaming of these two actors was a master stroke by the director and Dave Clemmons Casting. To watch them onstage together is nirvana itself, and for those actors/theatre people in the audience to see such chemistry was a real treat. For every great duo there's usually a woman that comes between them. For this show that person's name is Ulla (Elizabeth Pawlowski). A role that was little more than eye candy in the original movie, Mel Brooks has opened it up a bit for her in the musical. Eye candy to be sure, but she also sings and dances much to the delight of Max and Leo. Enough so that they put her into the show they are casting. "Springtime for Hitler" isn't just a sure fire flop, it's a disaster, which is why the boys have chosen it. But to tell more than that would ruin it for those that may not have seen the show or either of the movies. I pulled up the tour web site (www.producersontour.com) to try to get a little more information about this particular road tour, but about all I could get was a listing of their remaining shows. These kids are gonna be pretty whipped by the end of the run. Most of what I came across looked to be mostly one nighters, or short 2-3 show runs at what appeared to be mostly B and C venues. That's truly a pity, for this cast deserves better.
|
If this is what the show looks like on the Great White Way, I can see
why it's the Tony Award winner it is. 