The Producers
Book and music : Mel Brooks
St James Theatre, Broadway - April 19, 2001.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London - 9th November, 2004. Closed 6th January,
2007
The Story (in brief):
features an impresario and his accountant. They raise a lot of money for a theatrical production that, at all costs, must fail, so that they can make off with the surplus cash to some distant country in South America. To be certain of a box-office disaster, they write a musical with cheerful numbers about Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Instead of the disaster for which they hoped, the show is a wild success.
Outrageous, hilarious, a teeny bit offensive, off the wall, and the winner
of a record 12 Tony Awards are just a few things that THE PRODUCERS is.
But it is never boring and you will find yourself holding your sides with
laughter as Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom sing and dance their way through
the greatest show biz scam that there ever was.
THE PRODUCERS opens on Shubert Alley on the opening night of a musical
version of HAMLET called FUNNY BOY! produced by the indefatigable Max
Bialystock. “It’s
Opening Night” sing the usherettes and as the first nighters enter they
sing, “He’s done it again….It’s the worst show
in town!”
We now see the tuxedo clad Max trying to figure out what went wrong in
the self-serving song, “The King of Old Broadway.” Max vows
to be on the top again.
We now find ourselves in the once elegant and now shabby office of Max
Bialystock. He has been reduced to living in his office and his sleep
is interrupted by a knock on the door. Is it fate? No, it is a shleppy
accountant named Leo Bloom who has come to do Max’s books. Max forces Leo into the bathroom while
one of his investors, Hold Me-Touch Me, an elderly lady, enters but withholds
her check until Max plays one dirty game with her. The game is begun but Leo
comes out of the bathroom and the little old lady leaves—at least
until Thursday.
Max’s books don’t add up and Leo berated by Max pulls out his blue
blanket and curls up on the floor into a fetal position. Max wonders, “They
come here. They all come here. How do they find me?” Leo has discovered
that Max had raised a hundred thousand dollars for FUNNY BOY! but only spent
ninety-eight thousand leaving two thousand unaccounted for. Since the show was
a major flop, Max convinces Leo to move a few decimal points around which will
keep him from going to jail. After all, the I.R.S. isn’t interested in
a show that wasn’t a success.
Max takes the next step and tells Bloom they could find the worst play
and director in town, raise two million (one million for each of them)
and then with the worst actors in town produce a gigantic flop and go
to Rio with the money. Max tries to convince the reluctant Bloom to follow
his lead in “We Can Do It”
Bloom returns to Whitehall and Marks, his accounting office where he
is berated for being six minutes late. Working as an automaton on his
adding machine, Bloom realizes, with the help of fantasy gorgeous chorus
girls that “I Wanna
Be A Producer” where he can lunch at Sardi’s, sport a top hat and
cane, and sleep until half-past two—that is to say “I wanna be
a producer….’cause it’s everything I’m not.” Leo
leaves his job crying, “Stop the world, I wanna get on!”
Leo returns to Max and some time later they are discovered reading scripts
trying to find the worst play ever written. Max finally finds it: SPRINGTIME
FOR HITLER,A GAY ROMP WITH EVA AND ADOLF AT BERCHTESGADEN guaranteed “to close on page
4”.
In the West Village at 61 Jane Street, the author of the play, Franz
Liebkind, dressed in lederhosen and a German Army helmet, sings “In Old Bavaria” an
ode to his homeland and his beloved Nazis even though he had “nossing” to
do with the war. “Ve lived in the back. Right across from Svitzerland.
All ve heard vas yodeling”.
Franz won’t sign unless Max and Leo join him in the Fuhrer’s favorite
tune, “Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop”. They sing; he signs.
We now find ourselves in the elegant foyer and living room of Roger De
Bris, the noted director. Carmen Ghia, his “assistant” is fielding his
phone calls when Max and Leo enter. De Bris enters in a silvery full-length Art
Deco gown. He tells Max that Liebkind’s play is remarkable but too dark
and depressing for him to direct. He tells them to “Keep It Gay”.
With the hope of a Tony Award and the ability to make SPRINGTIME FOR
HITLER happy and gay, De Bris signs a contract.
Back in the office a gorgeous young Swedish girl named Ulla enters. She
wants to audition and does with “When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It”.
Max offers her the part, even though Leo isn’t sure there is one
for her in the play. Max offers her the job of secretary-slash-receptionist
until rehearsals begin.
Max explains to Leo that producers never put their own money into shows
and that he has hundreds of little old ladies as investors. Max takes
Leo into Little Old Lady Land with the song, “Along Came Bialy”. He explains they
were joyless and boyless, listing and sinking until he came along. Lots of little
old ladies pushing walkers which make tap sounds give checks to Max, “the
celebration of love…” The money has been raised and SPRINGTIME
FOR HITLER is ready to be mounted.
Ulla has been busy and the office has been transformed into a miracle
of Swedish “moderne” with
everything painted a high-gloss white. Max gets cash from the safe and exits
to pay the Shubert’s rent for the theatre and leaves Leo and Ulla alone
to sing, “That Face!” in which Leo and Ulla proclaim their
love for one another.
On the bare stage of a Broadway theatre, Carmen Ghia is teaching a stage
full of Hitlers to dance. They exit and a group of singing Hitlers take
the stage. One is more awful than the next. Liebkind shows one how to
sing “Have You
Ever Heard the German Band?” and Max proclaims, “That’s our
Hitler!!” Liebkind is to play his hero!
It is now opening night and Max wishes everyone good luck but he is called
up short because “It’s Bad Luck to Say Good Luck On Op’ning Night”.
The more he is told how much bad luck it is to say it, Max insists on wishing
everyone good luck. Ironically enough, when Liebkind is told to break a leg,
he does, and with no understudy the show may have to be called off until Max
tells De Bris he can do it. De Bris balks at this until Carmen tells him, “You’re
going out there a silly hysterical screaming queen and you’re coming
back a great big passing-for-straight Broadway star!! With his Hitler
moustache and his lucky Gloria Swanson mole De Bris exits to play the
role of Hitler.
The next thing we see is the show stopping number “Springtime for Hitler”.
Including a squad of tap dancing storm troupers and follies girls with
headdresses of giant pretzels, bratwurst, and beer steins, the number
is tasteless, offensive, and totally hysterical. At the end of the dance
section De Bris as Hitler sits at the edge of the stage a la Judy Garland
and sings to the audience. This is followed by the entrance of Stalin,
Churchill, and FDR who are defeated by our singing-tap dancing Hitler.
The number ends with the storm troopers forming a swastika that rotates
clockwise and chorus girls astride cannon.
But the show, as tasteless and over the top it was, is a smash hit. Leo
and Max (in “Where Did We Go Right?” sing, “The show was lousy and
long, We did everything wrong, Where did we go right?” Leo takes the account
books and is going to turn himself in when De Bris and Carmen enter soon followed
by Liebkind brandishing a gun, furious that they have made fun of Hitler. Pandemonium
ensues. The gun malfunctions but Max tries to convince Liebkind to kill all the
actors. This way the show will have to close. Just at that moment the police
break in and try to arrest the alleged shooter, Liebkind, who rushes offstage,
crashes, and breaks his other leg. The cops arrest him and find the two accounting
books on the couch. Max is arrested but Leo (who has been hiding all this time)
is convinced by Ulla, who has just entered in a slinky gown, that he shouldn’t
go to jail but to take the whole two million and go to Rio, of course,
with her.
BR>In a holding cell a few weeks later, Max receives a postcard from Leo and
Ulla in Brazil. Max sings he has been “Betrayed”. After summarizing
all that went before with snippet upon snippet of previous songs, he sings, “Just
like Julius Caesar was betrayed by Brutus, Who’d think an accountant
would turn out to be my Judas!”
In a courtroom, Max is about to be sentenced when Leo reappears calling
himself a rat who deserted a sinking ship. He hands over the remains
of the two million (less the cost of the hotel, airfare, and a large
jar of cocoa butter) to the judge and in “’Til Him” they
re-avow their friendship. The judge, not wishing to break up such a beautiful
friendship, sentences them both to five years in Sing Sing.
We find ourselves in Sing Sing at a rehearsal of PRISONERS OF LOVE, the
latest production of Bialystock and Bloom. As the title song is being
sung by real prisoners, a trustee enters with a pardon for Max, Leo,
and Liebkind “for having-
through song and dance- brought joy and laughter into the hearts of every
murderer, rapist, and sex maniac in Sing Sing.”
The set changes to the Broadway version of “Prisoners of Love” with
Ulla and De Bris in leading roles. The show, a Shubert Alley sign proclaims,
is now in its 4th smash year. Believe it or not, Max and Leo are now
real (and successful) Broadway producers!
Cast
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Musical Numbers:
- Overture - Orchestra
- Opening Night - Ensemble
- The King Of Broadway - Max, Ensemble
- We Can Do It - Max, Leo
- I Wanna Be A Producer - Leo, Ensemble
- In Old Bavaria - Franz Liebkind
- Der Guten Tag Hop Clop - Franz Liebkind, Max, Leo
- Keep It Gay - Roger De Bris, Carmen Ghia, Bryan, Kevin, Scott, Shirley, Max, Leo
- When You Got it, Flaunt It - Ulla, Max, Leo
- Along Came Bialy - Max, Leo, Franz Liebkind, Roger De Bris, Carmen Ghia, Ulla, Old Ladies
- That Face - Leo, Ulla
- Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band? - Franz Liebkind
- You Never Say Good Luck On Opening Night - Roger De Bris, Carmen Ghia, Franz Liebkind, Max, Leo
- Springtime For Hitler - Lead Tenor Stormtrooper, Roger De Bris, Ulla, Ensemble
- Where Did We Go Right? - Max, Leo
- Betrayed - Max
- 'Til Him - Leo, Max, Ensemble
- Prisoners Of Love - Roger De Bris, Ulla, Max, Leo, Ensemble
- Goodbye - Company
Orchestration:
Violins I, II, II, 'Celli, Woodwind, Trumpets I, II, Trombone I, II, French Horn, Drums, Percussion, Bass, Harp, Keyboard, Synthesiser.
Discography:
Original Broadway Cast Recording. Sony Classical SK 89646