The Producers musical review and star rating: ★★★★
Sequinned y-fronts emblazoned with swastikas, floral designs shaped into the Nazi symbol and sing-a-longs including lines like “it’s springtime for Hitler and Germany, Deutschland is happy and gay!” It could only be The Producers, the tongue-in-cheek Nazi musical within a musical written 58 years ago that, despite its age, still feels like the most shocking show on in the West End.
It is hard to properly shake audiences these days, but Mel Brooks’ 1967 script, which has been adapted into two movies and won a record twelve Tony awards, still forces you stop to catch a breath. Viewers of the original movie would have experienced the war, so it’s hard to make the case that this satire is any less suitable today, but still, amid the inflammatory far-right discourse pervading the news cycle, I couldn’t help but find some of it uncomfortable.
We meet crooked Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his nerdy accountant Leopold Bloom, who realise that putting on a flop could actually make more money than staging a hit. The duo meet Franz Liebkind, a German playwright who has written a gay musical homage to Hitler. Believing it could be their ticket to financial success and a critical mauling, they produce his show, enlisting Franz to play the title role.
The Producers: London revival finds freshness in Mel Brooks’ script
Brooks’ script remains an absolute zinger, full of ludicrous songs, X-rated anecdotes and larger-than-life characters. Director Patrick Marber, who has never done a musical, let alone anything like this, delivers a fresh revival that feels in-keeping with Brooks’ tone. We see dozens of performers sing show tunes about Hitler, and Franz, brilliantly imagined by Harry Morrison, is just hilarious as the Hitler obsessive with a cohort of Nazi-supporting pigeons. Trevor Ashley is also hysterical and equally compelling as Roger Debris, the fabulously camp theatre director enlisted to put on the show. Physically Nyman and Antolin have good chemistry, even if Antolin’s Bloom occasionally lacks comedic bite.
Brooks’ music is equally memorable, including the titular I wanna Be a Producer, given decent gravitas by Marc Antolin and Andy Nyman, who reprise their title roles as Bialystock and Bloom from this production’s initial run at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Springtime for Hitler, the big show tune, might be the most absurd few minutes to have ever existed on a West End stage. Outfits by Paul Farnsworth freshen things up, bringing a rainbow of primary colour to the story.
It’s best when it is properly exaggerated. I found a scene in which realistic red and white Nazi banners were draped across the stage uncomfortable, and the audience’s quite response suggests they did too. A couple of the jokes around Jewish identities also fell flat.
It’s interesting to ruminate on the ethical fringes a show like The Producers inhabits, but ultimately Mel Brooks’ piece is a masterpiece. That it is still one of the most outrageous pieces of cabaret to have ever been performed is quite astonishing, really.
The Producers plays at the Garrick Theatre until 21 February
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