Hilarious ‘Producers’ still not taking any prisoners
by CLARK GROOME

When pondering Mel Brooks’ The Producers, adjectives just flood to mind: intelligent, witty, satirical, tuneful, clever and irreverent are some that pop up.

When Mel Brooks’ musical adaptation of his movie of the same name opened on Broadway in April, 2001, it was accurately hailed as the best new musical to appear in years. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick as Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom led a spectacular cast that was directed perfectly by Susan Stroman. It ran for more than 2,000 performances and won a record 12 Tonys.

Thanks to the Walnut Street Theatre, The Producers is back in a very good production that, while not perfectly cast or directed, still brings most of the show’s manifold delights joyfully to life.

To briefly summarize: Bialystock and Bloom figure to make a killing on Broadway by producing the worst play ever mounted. Apparently it can be more lucrative to produce a flop than a hit. They choose Springtime for Hitler. If it’s to fail as spectacularly as they want it to, it needs a terrible director and lousy actors. They get all of that, in spades.

What they also get are great reviews. They have a hit, which rather than ending them up in some Broadway Hall of Fame, sent them to Sing Sing for fraud.

It’s a great premise that Brooks and Thomas Meehan have crafted adeptly. Not only does it take advantage of the material but also sends up musicals from The Mikado to A Chorus Line, and a huge handful of others.

The show is filled with inside jokes that even the uninitiated theatergoer will find funny. It is both satire and farce. It dashes along, taking no prisoners, insulting Jews, women, gays, theater folk and anyone else Brooks and Meehan get in their mischievous sights. It’s all very affectionate. I can’t imagine anyone being offended by it, although I gather some have been. To them I say: “lighten up” and “get a life.”

At the Walnut, where The Producers plays through July 19, the show is in very good shape. As good as the production is, there were times — too many for me — when director Marc Robin overdid some of the silliness. His directorial heavy-handedness resulted in some funny stuff being underlined rather than just being allowed to unfold.

Leading the cast are Ben Lipitz as Max and Ben Dibble as Leo. Lipitz takes a long time to capture his character and a good pace for his performance, a shortcoming that dragged the show down a bit. Dibble, on the other hand, was spot-on throughout, something we’ve come to expect from this superb actor who is truly one of the local theater’s treasures.

Supporting them is an excellent ensemble that features terrific turns from Jeffrey Coon as the Nazi author with the goose-stepping pigeons; Jeremy Webb as the swish director; Amy Bodnar as the Swedish Ulla who stars in Springtime and in Leo’s heart; and especially Robert McClure as Carmen Ghia, the director’s nimble and adorable boyfriend.

This is a very impressive production musically. Brooks’ songs are terrific, and his lyrics are as smart and witty as any of recent creation.

All in all, the Walnut’s The Producers is a wonderful way to spend three hours. While some of the show’s shtick loses a bit of its impact after a couple of viewings, it is all still a delight.

For tickets to the Walnut Street Theatre Company’s production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, playing through July 19, call 215-574-3550 or 800-982-2787 or visit www.walnutstreettheatre.org