The Producers - Community Theatre

[??]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 12:50am

Hi folks,

I've been seeing a lot of Community Theatres putting on "The Producers" (I couldn't bring myself to say "producing 'The Producers'). I'm curious as to how it works, it has, at a bare minimum 4 huge sets, and I'm wondering how most community theatres pull this off. Has anyone seen a production or been in a production and made it work?

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 12:54am

I would think that the only set you need with doors and wall units is the office set. Everything else can be done with curtains, drops or furniture, right?

[??]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 1:38am

I figured it this way

Max's Office
Roger's apartment
Max's Office - painted white
the Springtime for Hitler set

and then there's the jail "Prisoners of Love" Sequence

[jagfkb]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 8:42am

I know when our community theatre did it, the way they transformed the office was that the walls in the first act, which during the first act were barely visible behind piles of books, were all drops which covered the white walls, and the moldings were changed during intermission. The doors/ windows were all reversible, and the other props and furniture(Besides the couch, desk, and coat rack) were reversed to be white. In the end, it looked amazing!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 9:22am

Use a lot of double-sided wood panel flats that you paint on.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:12am

The North Shore Music Theatre did this at the beginning of it's current season in May, and being it is a theatre in the round they only had so much they could do.
This video shows most of the sets -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GvBPrkUyqg
Mostly just a couch, and then desks coming up and down the aisles when necessary.
For me they made it work, but I had never seen it anywhere else. I'm used to the bare minimum when it comes to sets being an employee of NSMT, but know others on here hate the theatre because of its lack of sets.

[Weez]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:30am

Weirdos. I hate it when a production gets bogged down with sets. Give me the black boxes of 'Equus' or the iron tower of 'Henry V' any day. If the scene change kills the action for more than ten seconds, it's too much. The naturalism of kitchen-sink dramas upsets me. The only naturalistic set I've ever enjoyed is the recent West End revival of 'Glengarry Glen Ross', because they SOMEHOW managed to make it quite impactful. If people want big sets, they can go watch a damn movie. Or go to Vegas. I'd MUCH rather watch a fascinating character piece played out on two wooden chairs than some boring people blaring on in a beautifully furnished drawing room.

Updated On: 9/28/08 at 11:30 AM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 11:50am

so do most productions of The Producers actually try to clean up the language and references? thats my only concern with community theaters doing this show... it's like why do it if you're only going to sanitize the end product... and most community theater productions i have seen just clean up a lot of shows for audiences...

[Broadwaynerd101]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 12:38pm

I saw a production at Cutting Hall, Illinois that turned out AMAZING when it came to sets.

It had different sets for the following

Broadway theatre
Max's office (first version)
Whitehall And Marxs
Leo's Dream (full with lights from the ceiling)
Franz's Roof
Living Room Of Renowed Theatreicle Director Roger Debris (Done complete with a whole new huge set)
Little Old Lady Land
Max's Office (Painted White, somthing the NET tour didn't even do)
Auditon Stage
Springtime For Hitler (Nicely done)
Betaryed (Not one jailcell, but 4)
Till Him
Prisoners Of Love
Leo And Max (All the signs came down from the ceiling)

I was amazed at all they did for this production!!

[Jon]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 1:54pm

Many "community theatres" do productions as elaborate as Broadway. They just don't pay actors, musicians or stagehands.

The Omaha Community Playhouse has a 900 seat theatre with a fully equipped stage (flies, traps, hydraulic orchestra pit, etc.) They spend a couiple hundred thousand dollars on sets and costumes for a major musical. Their technical director is paid $70,000 a year. They run each production a full month - 6 shows a week. They have over 10,000 subscribers.

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/28/08 at 2:01pm

I saw the NETworks tour of The Producers & the reason the White office wasn't included is because they didn't have room for it in their trucks. It seems a little excessive for 1 joke.