The Producers


Campbelltown Theatre Group dazzles us with a colourful and fast moving production of The Producers.

The Producers tells the story of big Broadway producer Max Bialystock who, through an idea of his his meek and mousy accountant Leo Bloom, tries to stage a flop as a way to make personal profit. In order for the scheme to work they have to find the worst show ever written (a musical called Springtime for Hitler) and use the worst director and production team ever assembled. Of course, things don’t quite work out that way. Along the way we are treated to many in-jokes about theatre and producing stage shows, done with Mel Brooks’s trademark humour.

Much of the show is a joy to behold: the costumes (coordinated by Lee Copp and made by massive group effort) are simply amazing and often upstage the cast. Miss Pretzel was my favourite: like Seinfeld, she made me thirsty. First time MD Matthew Reid does an excellent job leading the orchestra, who all sounded excellent. The choreography by Kerrie Boness and Brendan Cascarino is spot on and well-executed. Brigitte Haviland’s set is clever and complex yet the scene changes are lightning fast. Yes, we see the crew waiting in the wings ready to pounce, and they often pounce while an actor is mid-song, but that didn’t bother me, and the show is all about “life in the theatre” anyway.

This also has to be one of the best versions of Springtime for Hitler I’ve seen.

Cast wise Anna Svidron is the perfect Ulla: I thought she did a better job than Uma Thurman in the movie, and Anna has the right mix of innocence, elegance, and sex-bomb for the role. Similarly Robbie Cooper’s Carmen Ghia turns on the mega wattage and knows how to upstage without breaking character or wrecking a scene. The rest of the cast could learn something from these two.

Lee Copp as Max sang and danced his heart out with aplomb in the demanding role, however he came across to me as too good-natured and kind-hearted to convince me he was the jaded, unscrupulous type who easily bilks old women of their money. Similarly Daniel Gellel as Leo did a good job, yet seemed to me to be too cunning and knowing to be a naïve, likable shmuck. It didn’t help that at times both men strayed into copying Zero Mostel / Gene Wilder and Nathan Lane / Matthew Broderick, the actors who made the roles famous on stage and screen.

I didn’t agree with some of the directorial decisions. The juror falling asleep in the courtroom scene distracted from the main action, and the baring of male buttocks and underage teenagers dressed in bondage gear thrusting their crotches at the audience took the show where it didn’t need to go. It’s one thing to be controversial, it’s another to do it for the sake of it. However, I’m willing to put that down to the director’s youthful inexperience, and I’m sure Max Bialystock himself would appreciate that a bit of skin never hurt ticket sales.

Overall a lot of fun.


Peter Novakovich