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The Guardian
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Producers review – zingy Mel Brooks comedy goes big and broad
The beauty of the Hayes theatre, Sydney's home for boutique musical theatre, is also its greatest challenge: the space is tiny. With Broadway-sized ambitions and a seating capacity of just 110, the works that flourish here are those that are adapted to a more intimate scale – keeping the razzle dazzle, but bringing the humanity of the actors to the fore. You can count every bead of sweat and read each face; you have to go deep as well as broad to really make a Hayes show sing. The Producers, directed by Julia Robertson for Joshua Robson Productions (frequent Hayes collaborators), goes broad but not deep. The zingy Mel Brooks comedy follows Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Anton Berezin, blustering and bullish) fresh off a string of flops. When accountant Leo Bloom (Des Flanagan, charming and with a distinct hint of Matthew Broderick in his voice) shows up to take on the books, he muses that it would be easy to profit off a musical failure by overselling investments. This is music to Bialystock's ears, and Bloom ends up as his partner in crime. They find what they're sure is the worst show in the world (a fair bet, given it's called Springtime for Hitler), and set out to make themselves a massive payday. Berezin and Flanagan have an easy rapport, and they hit the famous lines fans of the musical or Brooks' 1967 movie might be looking for, but there's nothing between them to chew on; their late conflict and its sweet resolution feels emptier than you'd hope. These characters – anxious, hopeful, hopeless, desperate, wanting – are the stuff of great drama. It would be nice to have seen a little more of it – sometimes more emotional heft and more investment in the stakes of the plot can help the laughs land harder. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Robertson revels in the joyousness of satire, her production rolling around in scene-stealing moments of silliness. It's all big, like the gag show marquees that dot the walls of Nick Fry's modular set, many intact from the original film (Death of a Salesman on Ice, She Stupps to Conquer) and the prolonged line deliveries designed to get a laugh. Even Osibi Akerejola's music direction leans into bombast and volume to help sell the laughs. And you really do see the cast sweat, thanks to Shannon Burns' witty, space-defying choreography. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion If there's a touch of anxiety in the audience, it's understandable: when a constellation of swastika flags fall from the ceiling, and the cast sieg heils, the image is not as far-fetched in 2025 as it should be. Leaning so hard on silliness in such a small space results in more spectacle than bite. Still, there's a lot to enjoy. Robertson's productions ensure supporting roles are given just as much time, space and lighting to make a mark as the leads. Here, it's even more essential: Bialystock and Bloom are holding down all the spectacle and it's the rest of the cast who get to show their teeth. Alexandra Cashmere takes the typical (and now painfully dated) Hot Swedish Girl role of Ulla and plays her with such a commitment to weirdness that you never doubt she's a full and complete person – it's a bright and brilliant performance. Blake Erickson is a fantastic Roger De Bris, the director who steps into the title role at the last minute, and Mikey Sakinofsky offers a new take on Carmen Ghia, De Bris's 'common-law assistant'. Together, they freshen up the now-tired queer stereotypes baked into their roles. As Franz Liebkind, the writer who wants to see Hitler's so-called good name restored, Jordan Shea – returning to the stage after a decade writing plays – gives the character's intentions the respect they deserve (none) with a well judged and lovingly stupid approach. But when the depth is in the deep bench of supporting roles – and the full ensemble are excellent – but lacking in the star duo, the end result feels less like a show for the Hayes and more like a show bent to fit within it. The Producers is on at the Hayes theatre until 27 April, then Riverside theatres, Parramatta 13-16 May.
The Guardian
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I said there was no reason to make it a musical!' Mel Brooks on The Producers' West End transfer
The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced that its acclaimed production of The Producers is to transfer to the West End this autumn. Having sold out its three-month run at the 180-seat London venue before first night, it is set to move to the Garrick theatre. But according to its original creator Mel Brooks, the musical might never have happened at all. The 98-year-old Brooks has told the Guardian he was initially reluctant to adapt his 1967 movie for the stage. Only through the persistence of a producer did he relent. 'David Geffen called me every day. I said, 'David, it's a perfectly good little movie. I won the Academy Award for my screenplay. It's been honoured and saluted enough. There's no reason to make it a musical.' Then the next day, he called me again. He never stopped calling me. And finally, I said, 'Well, he's not a dumb guy, so maybe there is something.'' Opening on Broadway in 2001, The Producers went on to win 12 Tonys. The New York Times called it a 'sublimely ridiculous spectacle' – a sentiment echoed by UK critics in 2004 and again when director Patrick Marber staged the first major London revival last year. 'Marber is a terrific director and is perfect for it,' said Brooks, who co-wrote the show with the late Thomas Meehan. Brooks also wrote the score, featuring Springtime for Hitler. 'Tom was sweet as sugar and very proper as opposed to me who was very improper. In jokes and language, I was the bad boy. I'm blamed for all that semi-dirty stuff, but that was really secretly Tom Meehan – I'm spilling the beans!' The production will transfer to the Garrick theatre, where the author's horror spoof, Young Frankenstein, picked up five-star reviews in 2017. Staying with the show are key cast members Marc Antolin, Trevor Ashley, Raj Ghatak, Andy Nyman, Harry Morrison and Joanna Woodward. 'I'm very proud of that production at the Chocolate Factory and I'm so happy we're going back to the Garrick,' said Brooks. In Marber's production, Nyman plays Max Bialystock, a failing impresario who sets out to stage a Broadway flop. He and his accountant, Leopold Bloom (Antolin), hire a neo-Nazi playwright, an incompetent director and a useless lead actor in the hope of closing the show and keeping their investors' money. They assume no audience would tolerate a sympathetic paean to Hitler and would have it shut down, clearing the way for them to make their fortune. Brooks, who was born in 1926 and served as a combat engineer in the second world war ('I mostly ducked'), has seen nearly a century's worth of authoritarian rulers come and go. 'I like the 'come and go' – especially the go,' he joked. Now he lives in a country where Nazi salutes appear to have been given at large political rallies. 'It's something we hope will pass and go its way, just like Hitler and his people did go their way.' He said he believes laughter is a powerful weapon against tyranny. 'They're gifted with a kind of flagrant rhetoric, but once you make fun of them and you drag them down with comedy, you win. When you can get people to laugh at them, you win.' It is an attitude shaped by his experience as a young man performing comedy routines at Jewish resorts in the Catskill mountains. 'We who have worked in the borscht belt know that comedy is the answer. It's magical, it pays the rent and also we learn stealing because we steal jokes from each other – recklessly, not even thinking about it.' Public booking for The Producers opens on 5 March. Previews run from 30 August and booking will run to 21 February 2026.
