A Rave Review For Tony Danza — Page 2

WannaBeAFoster--The New York Times review, and then reviews on this board.

Last night was the first time I had seen THE PRODUCERS since January 3, 2002 with the OBC. Yes, Tony Danza was the only reason for my revisit. Though I did love the show with the OBC, I was skeptical that anyone else could play the role of Max besides Nathan Lane. In a way, I was right and I was wrong.

In five years, I had forgotten how hilarious this show was. Mel Brooks' humor really shines through in this musical and the audience (of all tourists) really seemed to enjoy themselves.

I am often hesitant to revisit these long running shows due to the fact that they may be "tired," but I still felt like the show had good energy and the cast seemed to be enjoying themselves. Bill Nolte as Franz Liebkind was fine...nothing special. The guy who played Carmen Ghia (i think i was Brad Musgrove...don't have my playbill with me though) was HILARIOUS. His gay mannerisms were extremely exaggerated and the audience totally ate it up. Lee Roy Reams was excellent as Roger De Bris. I loved his "Springtime for Hitler." It was great to see this 64-year-old veteran (who was in the original 42nd Street, Lorelei ad Applause) still on stage and loving it. Angie Schworer was good as Ulla, though I thought Cady Huffman's interpretation of the role was better.

This was my first time ever seeing Hunter Foster on stage and I was very impressed. He was so adorable as Leo Bloom and I loved his acting when he was holding his blue blanket...so cute. His singing voice was also great. He has been doing this role for so long, it is a wonder to me that he was not walking through last night. A true professional.

I went in expected to see a Tony Danza train wreck, but to my surprise, he was actually quite good. No, he doesn't even hold a candle to Nathan Lane, who has perfect comedic timing and a good singing voice, but Danza surely held his own. It was basically Tony Danza playing Tony Danza...which is what he does best I suppose. His voice isn't the greatest, but it was fine for this role, and he only lost a few of the laughs (I remember the audience couldn't stop laughing at some points when I saw the show five years ago). I'm not sure there is a way to say this without sounding negative, but I could tell that Tony was really trying. He certainly wasn't walking through, or throwing lines away, but he definitely made character choices and followed through with all of them. I even noticed him reacting to others when he wasn't the main focus (even though he probably could have just stood there and it wouldn't have mattered). I was pleasantly surprised by his performance and am glad he is having fun with this role. I particularly liked his rendition of "Betrayed," which the audience loved as well, and his acting during "Never Say Good Luck On Opening Night." The way he said "good luck" to all the people passing by was funny. He also threw in a line about "The Iceman Cometh" and I was the only one who laughed at that line (since I was probably the only person in the audience who knew that he referenced the play because he was in it eight years ago).

The stage door had about 20 people including myself. Tony was the only one who stopped to sign and he was extremely nice and chatting with each of his fans individually. It was freezing cold, but he even stopped to take pictures with all these girls who were fawning over him.

I would say this show is worth seeing if you are a fan of Danza's and if you can get a cheap ticket. And for a 55-year-old, Danza has GREAT hair.

I, too, was in attendance last night. I've learned to tolerate Danza being in my favorite show of all time. But last night was really an off night for him. Hunter Foster makes up for it, though. I adore him.

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"Cash? That's a funny title, Cash. So was The Iceman Cometh."

That's been there since the original movie.

Nobody gets it, except for when Nathan Lane delivers it.

"During his Taxi days, he was considered the 'hot' one"

Let's not kid ourselves. He was hot in Who's the Boss as well.

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Just curious--I was in a student seat when I saw the show. What does he do when he exits to find Roger and then to fetch Roger's wig? It had the most laughs of the night, and I couldn't see it.

yes, he was hilarious with that exit!