The Producers!

The Producers by Mel Brooks is the greatest musical ever written and performed. Here’s the scoop, it tells the tale of Cowardly accountant Leopold bloom, and down-on-his-luck producer Max Bialystock. Together, they set out to produce the worst play ever on Broadway Here’s the reason: If a Broadway show closes before the scheduled ending, the producers don’t have to pay the backers, who put stock in the show, and take their money and run. So Max and Leo have to find not only the worst play ever written, but the worst director and actors. The play they choose is "Springtime for Hitler," written by the eccentric, manic, and loveable neo-Nazi Franz Liebkind. "Its the mother load!" exclaims max as he reads the Hitler praising dialogue and music. After meeting Franz and gaining the rights to the play (after being forced to sing and dance the fuehrer’s favorite tune : Der Guttentag Hop-clop), Max and Leo need to find the worst director in town, and Max knows just the man for the job; The flamboyantly gay Roger Debris. After gaining his allegiance by promising him the Tony for the show, Max needs the money to finance the play. It’s revealed that he is a male prostitute for old ladies. After raising two million dollars ("There’s a lot of little old ladies out there!) Nothing seems to be in the way of the Doomed show. That is until Franz, who was going to play adolf Hitler in the show, ironically breaks his leg on opening night. The only person who knows his lines is Roger, so instead of the show being a serious, historically accurate homage to Hitler, it becomes a silly comedy, and the show is actually so tasteless and whacked that is HILARIOUS! This means bad news for the producers, and they go to prison for fraud. They are pardoned after their NEW musical "Prisoners of Love" Brings "the joy of music into the hearts of every rapist, murderer, and mugger at sing-sing." Leo and Max go on to produce more tasteless musicals (south Passaic, a streetcar named Marty, Cats) and Roger goes on to become a famous Broadway actor. Even Franz gets a happy ending and becomes a famous playwright. In the end, alls well that ends well, and the producers are silhouetted against a wall of light bulb signs blazing their names.

What makes "The Producers" So funny is that it basically follows the same formula as the fictional play. Its racist, raunchy, prejudice, and rude, but all these traits make it very funny; its so bad, its good. The characters are all very personable and likeable (Franz is my favorite character) and the music... geez, don’t get me started on the music. I love this musical to a ludicrous extent, and I REALLY hope they do it at the school because I already know pretty much all of the lines. Here’s a few samples:


"Ze Fuhrer vas not a mousy little mamas boy, ZE FUHRER VAS BUTCH!"
"I was scared that I was going to go to jail, but I didn’t realize that I was already... in Jail! I spend my life counting other people's money. People I’m smarter than, BETTER THAN! When am I going to get my share, when is it going to be bloomsday! I want, I want, I WANT EVERYTHING IVE EVER SEEN IN THE MOVIES!"
"Bloom, I’ve got the money, now all we gotta do is put on the biggest flop in history!"
"Not many people know zis, but ze fuehrer was a TERRIFIC dancer."
"Quick darling, back in the closet!"