The
1968 Film , '', was adapted as a critically acclaimed
Broadway Musical by
Mel Brooks in
2001 . Its first run starred
Nathan Lane (who reprised that role during the show's first run on London's
West End ) and
Matthew Broderick and won 12
Tony Award s, breaking the record held for 37 years by ''
Hello Dolly! '' which had won 10. Although the musical has many scenes and jokes taken directly from the film, there are still many differences. Ulla has a much larger role, as does ''
Springtime For Hitler '' director Roger DeBris. The character Lorenzo St. Dubois (LSD), a hippie who played Hitler in the 1968 movie, does not appear in the new version. Overall the musical is much more upbeat and ends more happily, with even the Nazi character Franz Liebkind being portrayed more sympathetically and getting a happy ending.
The humour of the show is accessible to a wide range of audiences, and draws on ridiculous accents, caricatures of homosexuality/Nazis, and many showbusiness in-jokes.
New York, 1959. It's the opening of a new Max Bialystock play called "Funny Boy", a musical version of
Hamlet . Everyone ends up hating it and the show closes on opening night (). Max, who was once called the King of Broadway, sings to a crowd of down-and-outs of his past achievements and that he will return to form ('''King of Old Broadway''').
The next day Leo Bloom, a mousy PA from the accounting firm Whitehall and Marks, arrives in Max's office to look at his books. However, a couple of seconds later, one of Max's "investors" arrives, and he tells Leo to go wait in the bathroom until she leaves. His investor, a little old lady who constantly repeats the phrase, "Hold Me, Touch Me" starts playing a sex game with Max (The virgin milkmaid and the well-hung stableboy) which he later pauses and she gives him a check for his next play (which he hasn't yet produced). Leo comes out of the bathroom and reveals his lifelong dream to Max: he's always wanted to be a Broadway Producer. After a serious panic attack when Max touches his blue blanket, Leo calms down enough to give Max the news that he has found an accounting error in his books: Max raised $12,000 for "Funny Boy", but the play only cost $10,000. There's $2,000 unaccounted for. Max begs Leo to cook the books. "Look at me," he pleads. Once the King of Broadway, now reduced to romancing little old ladies to back him and wearing cardboard belts. Leo tentivly agrees and goes back to Max's books. After some calculations, he realizes that "under the right circumstances, a producer could actually make more money with a flop than he can with a hit." BING! Max sits up, an idea forming in his unscrupolous head.
Leo explains. The IRS isn't interested in a show that flopped, so a producer could raise A million dollars, put on a $10,000 flop and keep the rest. Max proposes the ultimate scheme:
"Step 1: We find the worst play ever written. Step 2: We hire the worst director in town. Step 3: We raise two million dollars...One for me, one for you. There's a lot of little old ladies out there! Step 4: We hire the worst actors in New York and open on Broadway and before you can say Step 5, we close on Broadway, take our two million and go to
Rio ."
However, Leo refuses to help Max with his scheme and returns to work the books at Whitehall and Marks, even after much pleading (). When he gets back to work, he daydreams of becoming a Broadway producer and "driv
{Link without Title} those chorus girls insane." ('''I Wanna Be a Producer'''). He realizes that his job is terrible, quits his job, and returns to Max ('''I wanna be a Producer Reprise/We can Do it Reprise'''). Overnight, they look for the worst play ever written without much luck. Finally, Max finds the sure-fire flop: "''''s favourite tune, '''Der Guten Tag Hop Clop''' and saying the Ziegfried Oath promising never to dishonour "the spirit and the memory of Adolf Elizabeth Hitler."
Leo and Max then go down to the townhouse of Roger De Bris, the worst director in New York and a flamboyant homosexual to boot. At first, Roger and his "common law-assistant" Carmen Ghia decline the offer to direct because of the serious subject matter. Shows should be more happy, bythe, bonney...gay, Roger avers. () Finally, after much persuading (and
Tony -name dropping), Roger agrees to do it, but only if the ending is changed so the Germans end up winning
World War II . A celebratory '''Conga''' ensues.
The two finally arrive home where they meet a Swedish bombshell who wants to audition for their next play. Her name is Ulla Inga Hansen Yansen Yallen Tallen Sweden Swanson. That's her first name. Ulla for short. She auditions for them. () Bialystock and Bloom are floored, to say the least. They hire her to be their secretary/receptionist. Max then goes off to raise two million dollars for "Springtime for Hitler" by calling on all the little old ladies in New York. ('''Along Came Bialy''') Finally, after shtupping every little old lady in the greater Broadway area, Max has raised the Two million. ('''Finale''')
Leo and Ulla are left alone for a little while in Max's redecorated office (redecorated by Ulla during the intermission) and they start to fall in love. () Leo, who has always decided to stay away from any relationship, breaks his own rule and starts to go out with Ulla.
The auditions for finding a terrible Hitler go unsuccessfully. One terrible actor after another is shooed away by Roger. After Franz is outraged by one auditioner's rendition of , he performs his own jazzy version and he is given the part. Opening night for "Springtime for Hitler" arrives ('''It's Bad Luck to Say Good Luck on Opening Night''') and everyone is ready, until Franz breaks his leg. Roger is the only one who knows the part of Hitler and he rushes to dressing room to get ready.
The Curtain rises, and Max and Leo watch their failure unfold (). Unfortunately, Roger's performance is so campy and so
Garland -esque, the audience mistake the show for a comedy and it becomes the talk of the town.
Back at the office, Max and Leo are near-suicidal. () Roger and Carmen come to congratulate the Producers of the new smash, only to find them fighting over the accounting books. Just then, Franz bursts in, outraged by Roger's potrayal of his beloved Fuhrer and weilding a pistol. The police hear the commotion and arrive, taking away Franz, Max and the accounting books. However, Leo hides and Ulla finds him and convinces him to take the two million dollars and run off to Rio as Max had planned ('''That Face (reprise)''').
In prison, Max receives a postcard from Leo and feels () and, in his big
Eleven O'clock Number recounts the whole play (including intermission). At his trial Max pleads guilty, but then Leo and Ulla arrive and tell the judge that Max is a good man who would never hurt anyone. (''' 'Til Him''') The judge is touched by this and decides not to separate the two...so he sends the two to spend time in Sing Sing prison for 5 years, along with Franz. In prison, they write a new musical entitled "Prisoners of Love" which goes to Broadway (''' Prisoners of Love ''') (Starring the stars of Springtime, Roger and Ulla) when they are pardoned by the Governor. Leo and Max continue to produce Broadway musicals and, at the end, the two fully-fledged kings of Broadway walk off into the sunset.('''Leo & Max''') After the curtain call, there is one last song with the cast telling the audience to leave. ('''Goodbye''')
- Opening Night
- King of Old Broadway
- We Can Do It
- I Wanna Be a Producer
- We Can Do It (Reprise)
- In Old Bavaria
- Der Guten Tag Hop Clop
- Keep It Gay
- When You've Got It, Flaunt It
- Along Came Bialy
- That Face
- Haben Sie Gehört Das Deutsche Band?
- Opening Night (Reprise)
- It's Bad Luck to Say Good Luck on Opening Night
- Springtime for Hitler
- Where Did We Go Right?
- Betrayed
- 'Til Him
- Prisoners of Love
- Goodbye
The Producers was nominated for the following
Tony Awards in
2001 :
]]
The musical was separately cast and launched in other cities:
- Toronto , Canada , with actor Sean Cullen playing the role of Bialystock. Unfortunately, due to low ticket sales, the musical was closed only months after opening.
- London , England with Nathan Lane as Bialystock. Lane was urgently cast following the withdrawal of Richard Dreyfuss during previews.
- Melbourne , Australia with Reg Livermore playing Bialystock. Television veteran Bert Newton plays Liebkind and is a major drawcard. The show played in Melbourne for 8 months, Brisbane for 7 weeks and for 6 months in Sydney .
- Tel Aviv , Israel has a version of the musical, translated into Modern Hebrew, starring Shlomo Bar Abba as Bialystock. The Nazi references in the show have been modified to account for local sensitivities. Hitler is portrayed as morbidly obese, and whenever the actors mention his name it is followed by 'Yimach shemo vezichro' (may his name and memory be obliterated); then they spit.
- Seoul , South Korea
- Copenhagen , Denmark 's production had its Scandinavia n premier at ''Det Ny Teatre'' on January 26 , 2006 . The Danish Language production starring Preben Kristensen as Max Bialystock and Mads Knarreborg as Leo Bloom has garnered critical acclaim and plays to packed houses. The run for the musical has been extended twice. The first extension was made less than two weeks after the premier with ticket sales topping 50,000. The show is also known as ''"Forår for Hitler"'' ("Springtime for Hitler"), after the Danish-language translation of the original movie title.
- Tokyo , Japan . Japanese translated production at Aoyama Theatre in August 2005 (13th-31st August). Starring Yoshihiko Inohara as Max Bialystock and Hiroshi Nagano as Leo Bloom - both members of popular Japanese band, V6 .
In
2005 , the musical was adapted into a
Musical Film . (It was a movie based on a musical based on a movie about a musical.) The article can be found at
The Producers (2005 Film) . It was directed by
Susan Stroman and starred most of the original Broadway cast, except for
Brad Oscar and
Cady Huffman . Their roles were instead played by
Will Ferrell and
Uma Thurman , respectively. The songs "King of Broadway", "In Old Bavaria" and "Where Did We Go Right?" were cut. Instead, there were 2 original songs, "You'll Find Your Happiness In Rio" and "There's Nothing Like A Show On Broadway" that were added. It opened on December 16, 2005 in select cities, and on December 25 everywhere. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Most negative reviews cited the fact that the performances were tuned for the theatre rather than film ('selling it to the highest balcony').
The show allso got a premision form Mel Brooks himself to translate the show in Israel to Hebrew. The show was a success even in Israel.
After the success of the show, Mel Brooks reportedly is considering turning his movie
Young Frankenstein into a similar musical. No deadline has been set for the work's completion, but after it is finished Brooks will begin fundraising and production.
{Link without Title}
