Pigeons, Nazis, many different herrings,
cooked books and little old ladies - all the ingredients for a wonderfully
funny & entertaining evening. Of course, it's the writing of Mel
Brooks that binds all these obscure & lets face it weird components
together in his timeless "The Producers", but it still needs an
amazing cast & stage team to really make things work. Tonight I saw Darlington Operatic Society's delivery and not only did they pull it off,
it was as good a production as any version I have been to see - and I have seen
the Nathan Lane version in the West End.
The
cast are wonderful - Ken Horsley would give the aforementioned
Mr Lane a real run for his money, blending pure charm with wily wit and a dash
of dirty and delivering it with superb, powerful vocals. His solo in the
prison jail, complete with personal intermission was perfection and his
lecherous yet timid flirting with the little old ladies had everyone laughing
till we couldn't breathe. Dan Brookes as Leo Bloom
had an accent so in tune with his character that I swear if you closed your
eyes you'd think it was a young Woody Allen - full of New York angst bordering
on neurotic and yet maintaining the innocence which Leo's character
demands. Again, his stage presence and delivery through the songs was
excellent and the two leads compliment each other perfectly both in style &
harmony - excellent casting by the Director Martyn Knight.
The
story, for anyone who still isn't aware of The Producers, is
about a failed Broadway producer whose accountant realises, quite by chance,
that you could make money with a flop than with a hit - in effect swindle
all the backers into investing into a show so bad it closes on the first night
without paying back any returns. Leo leaves his job as an accountant
(done with the best resignation song & dance) and together they forge a
partnership to produce a complete failure. Thus the plot is set to find
& stage such a show, and they hit upon 'Springtime for Hitler' as the
vehicle for their daring double cross.
Along
the way they take on a Swedish secretary slash receptionist, Ulla, who is
delightfully played by Claire Wilmer with all the sultry
allure and charms we've seen in other Swedish sex-bombs ( Britt Ekland &
Victoria Silvstedt spring to mind). She's got it and she flaunts it
perfectly. They engage the services of Roger DeBris and Carmen Chia (a
delicious Julian Cound and the campest of camp Chris
Kelly) to direct the show and arrange the unbelievable choreography
along with Roger's production team.
The
show itself is Mel Brooks at his very best; how to offend as many people as
possible and leave the rest wondering whether they should be ashamed to be laughing.
I wondered whether some of the bigger elements seen in the West End production
would have to be sacrificed but I am delighted to say nothing was missing; the
costumes, the lighting, even the over-head shot of the marching swastika were
done with great aplomb.
Huge
credit must go to the whole Operatic society; this is not an easy show to
produce & is very demanding from both scenery & timing, costume changes
& music styles, but it was as good a performance as I have ever seen on
this stage (and if you read my reviews you will see I have been quite a few
times) and probably ranks in my top 10 anywhere. The backing
cast morph from audience, usherettes, old ladies, prisoners, dancers,
accountants you name it - probably the most diverse set of characters you could
ask someone to cover in one show.
Proving
that you don't need to go to London for excellent entertainment, Darlington
Operatic Society's The Producers is on at Darlington Civic until the 5th
November - go & see it and I guarantee you'll feel like the King of all
Broadway.
No comments:
Post a Comment