Another Modest Proposal: The Producers

This was the display table on the way in to the theatre. It sort of gave away the main story line though our son Peter, who had never seen this show before, was still surprised. He is young enough that the thought of making fun of Nazis would never occur to him. Maybe our educational system has a few holes in it.

I should read the Gazette more thoroughly. Then I would have realized where the idea for the above picture came from. See below. What would we do without Google? WWWDWG?

I thought this was an old movie by Mel Brooks from the late 60s. Very funny, though I don't know how it got through the thought police. Maybe they weren't so strong in the 60s as they are today. I was pleasantly surprised when one of our local little theatres, Billings Studio Theatre (BST), started off their season a few days ago with a version of The Producers. Actually, my wife had to talk me into going, so well done Carol. The show was fantastic as it featured some of the best players we have, some good singers and some good dancers. Not sure how they did the music; some of it seemed live and the playbill mentioned the orchestra, but some of it sounded like a larger recorded orchestra. I will try to find out more on this matter.

Naturally, I turned to Google and Wikipedia and found out the original was a 1968 movie with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the main parts. The music was terrific—"Springtime for Hitler" and "Prisoners of Love." A really great movie with all kinds of humor, poking fun at little old ladies, homosexuals, dancers, Broadway happenings and shows, and of course, everyone's favorite bad people on the left side of the aisle, the National Socialists. I guess we are all progressives nowadays. I was surprised how funny it really is, even when you've seen it before.

Well, then they did a play on Broadway starting in 2001, with Max and Leo played by Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and then another movie with the same guys as the leads in 2005. They also added Uma Thurman and Will Farrell. Much of the original was kept intact though there were some changes, particularly the Hitler part, decidedly queer in the original.

I'm not sure who made the changes necessary for the smaller stage that most little theatres have but it certainly worked well for BST. I suspect the magic of Sondra Baker and Jeff Boschee had something to do with the success of the production. Kelly Martin is a perfect Leo Bloom. He is, of course, aided by Pat Schindele, Dan Jurovich,Vint Lavinder, all pros who keep things moving along very well indeed.

This looks like a good season at BST. Check out their site high-lighted above. I see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "The Rabbit Hole," and "Guys On Ice" which are just the ones I know about. The others, eight in all, might be even better.