What Happened To The Producers ?

I can't stand Martin Short. Eeew.

If BOUNCE folds after D.C., the powers-that-be should grab Richard Kind for Max. Friends who have seen BOUNCE tell me that he's the one star who could seriously rival Nathan in the role.

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In London the current rumour is Ralph and Joe Fiennes under consideration as Max and Leo for "The Producers" there at the Drury Lane next fall. Just a rumour at this point?

Also that the NY producers have rejected the idea of Michael Crawford as Max in London company - deeming him "not funny enough" (well, I thought he was plenty funny in DOTV).

i would like to Jason Alexander as Max, i heard he was really good when he did that role LA

Agreed. Although I don't think I would ahve enjoyed it with Nathan and Matthew either. The show, to be truthful really isn't that funny, it's the actors that have to make it funny, and that didn't happen when I saw it.

The piece really nailed a lot of points. Does anyone else here agree: the show really is too full of inside jokes? I mean, does the average theatergoer from Peoria howl at a guy bilking old ladies on walkers, so he can create a theatrical bomb and make money?

And didn't anyone else react to the negative marketing -- that the TKTS booth can't be used because the show will no longer be "an event..." Yet they'd rather play to 60% capacity? Reminds me of (slightly OT, sorry:) AIDA the critical week post 9/11. When the community was rallying, trying to fill seats and tell the world broadway was still alive/kicking ... yet Disney still refused to use TKTS booth, preferring to send that company of actors out in shell-shocked NYC to play to 40% rather than lose "event" status. I'll never forget that.

Anyway, at the Producers, they seem to want the impossible -- a show in its 3rd year to fill the theater with $480 charged for a helluva lot of seats. I ain't feeling sorry for them. (And really, right now they're treating the current duo as seat-warmers until Matthew and Nathan return ... when they can charge the big bucks again.

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Updated On: 11/2/03 at 08:14 PM

The Producers has a very strong book with nary a wasted line. The score is fine, not hooky like Hairspray, but repeated listenings have not disappointed me. My feeling was that the direction was consistently inventive, with something clever and different topping the last clever thing every couple of minutes. I saw it with Brad Oscar and Andy Taylor, never saw it with Nathan or Matthew, and still I laughed my head off. It's a very funny show that does not need star power unless it is essential that it be considered an "event." And that's a tactic for marketing, not a necessity.

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I'm feeling lazy tonight (just back from my parents...oy) so I'll paste what I posted on another forum.

McKinley cites PHANTOM and FIDDLER as being able to weather major cast changes with little problem. The difference between those shows and THE PRODUCERS is they are both music-driven shows with much stronger scores that bred a few hit tunes. PRODUCERS is a comedy musical (as opposed to musical comedy), with a score that is mainly just servicable. Shows of that nature tend to have much shorter Broadway lives.

Like it or not, most of the big Broadway musical hits of recent years are family- and youth oriented. I may be wrong, but I don't see THE PRODUCERS attracting a young audience the way HAIRSPRAY, LITTLE SHOP, MOVIN' OUT and even WICKED does.

I have to agree with Dolly. For me the score just lacks 'something' - With the exception of "Till Him", which is one of the most simply tender love songs on Broadway.

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I'll take THE PRODUCERS with any cast, any day over that dreadfully dull Millie musical or the political correctness of Hairsprary.

As I said before, without star leads, the Producers is a very good show, with them, it is the best thing on bway. Here's what i see as the remedy--Lane and Broderick return for three months. during that time theyll need to advertise like crazy, as if its opening for the first time again. they cant coast this time. then, once theyre out, bring in Martin Short as either role. i really think if anyone could play either, its him. If richard kind is available (as i am predicting Bounce wil never make it past DC), call him up to play Max. He or John Lovitz I believe would be great. If they can accomplish this, they can have bonafide stars running for about 6-10 months easily. that should recoup the shows reputation. and as for the jokes being over the heads of the audience, why cant they be? im sorry, but if you've never heard of the relationship between going into showbusiness and going into the toilet, you're just an idiot. there's absolutely nothing "inside" about that joke. same with "who do you have to F*** to get a break in this town" and "theatre in the round? i invented theatre in the square!" These are basic jokes, plays on words, things any idiot from Peoria should easily pick up on. Would you rather have Max sit down on the couch and let out a huge fart?? Would that resonate with EVERYONE?, even children? Im sorry but i thought that was what the medium of blockbuster film was for. This is a musical., not children's theatre. It is in New York. Theatrical show business is in New York. A vast majority of the broadway patrons who go see show after show are in new york. so why should shows be catoring to out-of-town idiots (excuse me for the harsh term, but if one doesnt get the obvious jokes as ive mentioned you should probably avoid theatre all together)? The Producers should be bold. They should say, welcome to New York, now sit down and we'll teach you a lesson. It's a great show, and if people dont get it, i feel sorry for them. they are missing out on a truly wonderful experience.

I have not gone back to see The Producers since I saw it three days after its opening. It was pure magic. Although the 'steps' Ms. Stroman created for the piece were maybe not as complex as her work in Crazy for You, her overall vision and staging was spectacular. The score, at least in the theater, sounded like a genuine old-school musical comedy wowzer of a score. The book was astonishing and nothing...I mean NOTHING...could touch the performances given by that entire cast. Not only were Lane and Broderick the best couple I've ever seen on a stage, they were surrounded by true supporting stars (if there is such a thing). I'll never forget wiping the tears off my face from laughing so incredibly hard. It's why I won't go back and see the show. It's why I rarely go back and see any show. You can never recapture that first time.

Namo...as for the movie, I didn't have a huge problem with Carmen Ghia. I felt every character in that movie had a truly unpleasant edge to them making it, at times, difficult to watch but impossible not to. Which is why I will always love the movie just a little bit more than the musical.

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Great post, Theatreboy33.

I've seen the show twice, once in LA with Alexander/Short and once in NY with Stadlen/Stephenson. It was wonderful in LA and just good in NY. The show does not need two stars but one good Max will work fine. Stephenson makes a great Leo. I didn't care for Stadlen at all. Keep Stephenson and rotate Maxs. Lane to Lovitz to Lithgow then Short as Max. After Alexander fails at another sitcom (Seinfeld curse) he'll love to come to NY with a hit. Top it off later in the run with a stunt casting of Jack Black who I happen to think would be great as Max.

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A friend of mine recently aquired a film that I have been dying to see for a long time - a forgotten Republic musical from 1947 called THAT'S MY GAL starring the equally forgotten Pinky Lee, Judy Clark and Lynne Roberts.

The plot starts off as tantalizingly close to THE PRODUCERS: Two con-men Broadway producers (Don Barry and Frank Jenks) persuade some gullible backers to invest in a show they believe is so bad it will not play more than one day, just enough time for them to make a quick getaway when the show folds. Here's where it diverges and presumably goes downhill - One of the investors dies intestate and his interests pass to the state. The governor's secretary (Roberts) engages new talent (the Four Step Brothers, Guadalajara Trio, St. Clair & Vilvoa, Dolores and Don Graham, et al) and a new orchestra (Jan Savitt), in order to make the show successful and a profitable investment for the state. Barry (in another of the vast majority of his films in which he was not billed as Don "Red" Barry), who has fallen in love with the first-billed Roberts, reforms and buys up the surplus stock.

It'll be worth seeing, if only for the first reel or two. But I like the idea of Guadalajara Trio making a guest appearance in SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER.

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Updated On: 11/3/03 at 02:27 PM