- The Producers (Sony Classical SK 89646)
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- - tasteless, corny, crass and politically incorrect
…
the show that adds Mel Brooks' name to the hall of great Broadway
composers
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- Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. Music and lyrics by
Mel Brooks
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- Original Broadway cast: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Roger
Bart, Gary Beach, Cady Huffman, Brad Oscar, Peter Marinos, Ray
Wills, Jeffry Denman, Kathy Fitzgerald, Madeleine Doherty, Jennifer
Smith, Eric Gunhus
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- Songs: Opening Night; The King of Broadway; We Can Do It;
I Wanna Be A Producer; In Old Bavaria; Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop;
Keep It Gay; When You Got It, Flaunt It; Along Came Bialy; That
Face; Haben Sie Genurt Das Deutsche Band?; You Never Say Good
Luck On Opening Night; Springtime For Hitler; Where Did We Go
Right?; Betrayed; Til Him; Prisoners of Love
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 If you
are one of those who picked themselves off the floor after watching
the 'Springtime For Hitler' sequence in Mel Brooks' famous (maybe
cult) movie The Producers, you will need to steady yourself for
the ultimate metamorphosis of this idea in to a zonking, full-bodied
Broadway musical. The American critics have fallen over themselves
in praise, and on the evidence of this fantastic disc they can't
be challenged. Here is one of the funniest shows ever to be recorded,
with a capital cast. It is a total success, and - the most surprising
cut of all - with one stroke it establishes Mel Brooks as a composer
and lyricist of real talent. It's Broadway's loss that it hasn't
used him before.
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- The story of a scam by a disreputable and struggling Broadway
impresario, assisted by a nervous little accountant, to put a
cast-iron flop on to Broadway as a financial fiddle, works beautifully
as a musical. The show, of course, turns out to be a delightful
little musical about lovable Adolf (Elizabeth) Hitler, with high-stepping
brownshirts and Germanic chorines twisting themselves in to the
sign of the swastika. Along the way, impresario Max Bialystock
and accountant Leo Bloom, hire the worst actors and the most
hopeless director (who also happens to be a transvestite). The
first night audience is full of Jews, so there is consternation
when Max and Leo's ruse backfires, and the musical is a huge
success.
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- So here we have the musical of the film about making the
musical, and there can be no higher praise than to say that in
this new version Brooks' much-loved folly has finally found its
perfect form. Brooks takes to the genre so naturally; it comes
as no revelation to know he has spoken of this as an old-fashioned
Broadway musical. His score recalls the glory days of the Great
White Way, with its full hand of funny numbers, a charm number,
a touching affirmation of special friendship ('Til Him'), some
snorting production numbers and a showstopper tour-de-force solo
for the leading man.
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- Nobody is safe from Brooks, whose lyrics are willing to give
offence to anyone touchy enough to take it. Gays, pneumatic women,
foreigners, little old ladies who still want sex, and - very
much the focus of the evening, Germans - provide targets that
Brooks hits with relish. I suspect there will be a shortage of
coach parties from the Rhineland. Brooks is merciless when it
comes to the Germans, winning the admiration of anyone who has
arrived at the hotel swimming pool to find towels spread over
every poolside chair.
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- I have long admired Nathan Lane, a supreme comic talent,
and he is quite superb as Max. He also has something given to
very few great comic talents: the apparent quality of heart.
Through the courtesy of Brooks' terrific lyrics, with their great
throw-off one liners, he gives a performance that will stand
as one of the best of recent seasons. Recalling the quick-fire
attack of Phil Silvers, he gets an eleven o'clock number, 'Betrayed',
that must be stopping the show nightly. On this disc, it slightly
lacks that 'theatre' atmosphere that is so crucial in such recordings,
but it nevertheless hits home. As the diffident Leo, Matthew
Broderick is perfectly cast, blossoming in to a romantic lead
for his duet with the wonderful Cady Huffman, 'That Face' (one
of Brooks' most charming numbers). He and Lane make a team that
will be hard to match.
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- But it's the score that gives the old story a new, and surprisingly
effective, backbone. Brooks might have limited himself to pastiche,
at which he shows himself a dab hand, but he also manages to
make us like these characters. There may be those who don't take
kindly to Brooks brand of sometimes obvious humour (the little
old ladies doing a tap routine with their zimmer frames), but
it's pretty innocence stuff. The supporting cast includes hilarious
turns from a very camp Gary Beach as the hopeless director Roger
de Bris, and from Brad Oscar as the manic Nazi author Franz Liebkind,
heard to great effect in his first number against a chorus of
cooing pigeons. It's only one of the many wonderful moments in
this beautifully produced recording, in first class sound. Rare
enough these days to have a musical that recalls the glory days
of old Broadway, but The Producers has the style and confidence
to bring them back. What we need now is another Brooks musical.
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