springtime for hitler

"Based on Mel Brooks' Academy Award-winning 1968 film comedy, THE PRODUCERS, the new MEL BROOKS musical, tells the satirical tale of down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock and his mousy accountant, Leo Bloom. Together, they scheme to raise more money than they will need to produce a sure-fire Broadway disaster, and pocket the left-over cash when the show flops. Their guaranteed-to-fail fiasco? None other than the worst, most tasteless musical ever written, Springtime for Hitler."

this afternoon, i got the chance to go down to the canon theatre to watch "the producers". ken was able to get some tickets for a group of us which also included geewhy & ebrian. they came at a decent price and the seats were actually pretty good--2nd row centre in the balcony.

anyway, the show was pretty good, BUT not outstanding. some catchy tunes and lots of jokes about gays, Jews and Nazis--if that's your cup of tea. Seán Cullen as Max Bialystock was OK, but he didn't make me go 'wow'. Michael Therriault as Leo Bloom was more lovable and believable. the rest of the supporting cast did a good job as well. i especially loved Ulla, the Swedish secretary. actually, i think we were all just struck by how tall she was. the super-leggy blonde was about a head taller than the lead characters, which played to great comedic effect--where do you think max and leo's eyes would line up with when they would talk to her? ;) i would give it about 3 out 5 stars. i think the crowd is reflective of my rating too 'cause only about half of theatre actually gave the company a standing ovation. anyhow, i'm not much of a theatre critic, so there's my two cents... :)

still, i have to say there was some uneasiness in my laughter this afternoon. it felt a little odd for me to chuckle (and see the rest of the audience laugh) at all the jewish and nazi jokes considering there has been "a spree of hate-related crimes where swastikas were painted on Jewish buildings and head-stones toppled at a cemetery" in toronto over the past few weeks. but i guess since the jokes were so unbelievably politically incorrect and offensive, it made it OK to laugh. :P

in any case, although it's not the most memorable musical i've seen, i would still recommend going to check it out. (my fave is definitely still "Les Misérables") it's a good way to spend a sunday afternoon and get a bunch of laughs.

fyi, here are some other reviews of the toronto production of "the producers":
toronto star
toronto sun
TorontoStage.com