“The Producers”

***** Congratulations to Music Theater Works! 150 productions! Amazing as it sounds, I think I have attended all but 5. Now that they have found a home in Skokie ( the Village seems happy too) and are becoming more adjusted to the larger of the theaters for their LARGE MUSICALS, they are back on track with what they used to do back in the Light Opera Works days. Their 150th production is Mel Brooks zany comedy, “The Producers” and what a wonderful evening of theater it is!

We all know the movie version where Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel made us laugh hysterically. Mel Brooks has always been zany and funny working with what appears to be a twisted angle, but funny! He then decided to redo this masterpiece but as a musical. If you listen very closely to the lyrics, you know that they are the work of a pure comic ( Thomas Meehan worked on the book with him, but the music and lyrics are definitely Mel Brooks). They also searched for a director who understood the zaniness of Brooks and found the best right in Chicago, just a few miles south at The Mercury Theatre, L. Walter Stearns  and musical director Eugene Dizon. These gentlemen had previously done a truly wonderful production years ago and truly understand the man known as Mel Brooks.

They have put together an amazing cast to make this production sparkle. It is hard to find just the right people to take on the roles as Mostel and Wilder, let alone the Broadway stars, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, but somehow, they managed to put two men on the stage that brought these characters to life with some little changes that each brought to their roles. One doesn’t want an imitator. One wants to see an interpretation of the characters as agreed upon by the director and the actor. They got that!

I have seen the work of Thomas M. Shea ( Max Bialystock) and was very impressed by his development. When I interviewed him on radio last week, I did not know if he had the “chops” to do the role. He truly does! His counterpart, Leo Bloom is handled to perfection by David Geinosky. The two of them work well together and made me forget about the duos I have seen do these roles before ( and I have seen a great number of them). The handling of songs like “We Can Do It”, “Betrayed” ( a very special number from Max), “I Want To Be A Producer” and of course “Max and Leo” to end the show.

The characters in this play are satirical and while they are designed to criticize, the humor allows us to see the other side of life without feeling hate. Let’s face it, doing a play called “Springtime For Hitler” a musical, is funny. The author of this musical, Franz Liebkind is played to the hilt by Sam Nachison, who has a flair for comedy and the director they hire ( to “keep it Gay”) is Steve McDonagh as the very funny Roger de Bris. The section where he sits and speaks to the audience is adorable and brings the musical Director/conductor, Eugene Dizon into the action. His assistant, Carmen Ghia is played by Eustace J. Williams.

Ulla, the blonde bombshell that joins the two men in their quest to produce a flop and make lots of money is a great character and they have an amazing talent playing the role. Kelsey MacDonald is terrific. She sings, she dances and she is very sexy. When she does “When You Got It Flaunt It) every eye in the theater is glued to her every move. I have a feeling this young lady will be seen on many stages in the years to come.

The ensemble is powerful and what they lack in number, they have in talent. Many of them play many roles, male and female changing costumes and characters for the two hours and twenty five minutes of the play. Bravo to : Jack Bowes, Karylin Veres, David Blakeman, Justin Payton Nelson, Andrew John Baker, Anna Brown, Alexander Christie, Renee Dwyer, Lacey Jack, Nick Johnson, Katie Kotila, Rachel Livingston, Kelly Lohrenz, Ethan Lupp, Caitlyn Porakyo, Palash Ranjit, Erol Ibrahimovic, Melody Rowland, Alex Villasenor, Jenny Couch, Alex Iacobucci and Timothy Wolf.

The sets (Jonathan Berg-Einhorn) are terrific and the lighting (Andrew Meyers) and sound (Matthew R, Chase) are terrific. The amazing costumes by Rachel M. Sypniewski are absolutely perfect. I was quite impressed by the choreography (Darryl K. Clark) as it appeared to be fresh and unlike what you see in many productions, not the same as the original Broadway show. It showed some personality. Fight Choregraphy is something that has become more and more and when there is fight, expect to see the name Nick Sandys because he is the best.

Music Theater Works has come a long way and although they have had some downs to go along with their ups, they have brought us 150 productions and based on what we saw tonight, I am sure that they will double that in the years to come.

“The Producers” schedule is as follows: 

Sunday, Aug. 13 at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 1 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 18 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 19 at 2 and 8 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m.

Tickets: $39 to $106, tickets for guests 25 years old and younger are available for half-price.

Music Theater Works Box Office: (847) 673-6300

Website: MusicTheaterWorks.com

Run Time (currently): 2 hours and 30 minutes including the 15-minute intermission

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “The Producers”