Springtime for Hitler!
We've hit the mother lode! This play is guaranteed to offend everyone, regardless of race, creed, or national origin!
The Producers, Mel Brooks' new screen adaptation of his Broadway musical adaptation of his 1968 groundbreaking black comedy movie... are you following me? Keep up, keep up, I have no patience for slackers! ...succeeds. It takes a play that managed to again break new ground, when anyone would have said that it was impossible to top Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel in the original, and it successfully translates it to the screen. The world needs more musicals, and there probably hasn't been one that hits your funny bone this way since Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye stopped working the screens. This doesn't mean that you can take your grandmother to it, though. Although it was toned down from the Broadway version, it still has enough chutzpah to offend at least half of the audience. Still, it compares favorably to Chicago and even O Brother Where Art Thou. Definitely better than seeing a second-string cast in the touring version of The Producers that hit Detroit a year or two ago, and almost as good as seeing it on Broadway. Definitely cheaper than making a trip to London's West End to see it open there with a first-string cast including Broderick and Lane!
So what makes The Producers so good? This version doesn't really break new ground, it is quite faithful to the Broadway version... it has Mel Brooks unmistakable touch of genius. The man is still on top of his game, at 79 years old. A quick, brilliant mind had to be behind such madness. Admittedly, he steals from the original movie shamelessly. Admittedly, Broderick and Lane aren't the actors that Wilder and Mostel were, and he might've gotten a better director... but it succeeds. It may even be better than the original movie. How is that possible? Well, for one thing, the casting of Uma Thurman as Ulla Inga Hansen Bensen Yonsen Tallen-Hallen Svaden-Svanson Bloom, the biggest name in show business! They'll put her name up in lights, if they can find enough lights. Seriously, she manages to rock as Ulla, better than anyone else who has ever played the part. She may not have the brazen Ethel Merman "now, Ulla belt" like the Broadway version, and nobody since the 60's could "go to work" quite the way the original did, but Ulla is pure sex on wheels, and Uma pulls it off. I wasn't a fan of hers before, but she's even part Swedish. God Bless Sweden! Dare I say it? The only woman in history who would have been better in the part was Marilyn Monroe.
When you see this movie, don't forget to stay until the end for the easter eggs. * mild spoilers * The credits run with two new songs playing, "There's Nothing Like A Show on Broadway", and Will Ferrell's horrifyingly cheesy pan flute version of "The [guten-tag] Hop-Clop Goes On", which ends with, "buy the book! Now available at Borders, and Barnes and Noble, and amazon.com!" and at the very end, they even show a great version of the closing number from Broadway, featuring Mel Brooks himself! At least one song was cut, "The King of Old Broadway (it's good to be da King!)... my lap was filled with gorgeous ass, ya couldn't call me crass", but although it was a good production number, parts really were embarassingly crass, and if you had to eliminate one number, that was the one to go for. It was probably the most offensive number in the show, so Brooks isn't really going for the shock value in this movie. My only regret is that Robert Fowler's wonderful singing line from "I wanna be a Producer" ended up on the cutting room floor. You can see Fowler, he is the black accountant sitting next to Broderick, and they obviously meant to include it because they got him from the Broadway cast, he really makes the "Unhappy, unhappy, very very very unhappy" accountants position known, by breaking into a negro spiritual: "Oh, I debits all da mornin', An' I credits all da eve'nin, Until dem ledgers be right!" It was obviously decided that it would cause riots in midwestern movie theaters, damned Political Correctness... but hopefully it will be on the extended directors cut DVD! I recognized Fowler from meeting him and talking to him after the show on Broadway (he was selling stuff for the Broadway actors AIDS drive, and I bought an original "Springtime for Hitler" ticket... he was a really nice guy, he even took a picture of me! Click here for my review of the broadway show, with possible spoilers.)
It's true, there's nothing like a show on Broadway, but if you don't want to plunk down $150 for a seat, go see this movie. The Producers opens December 25th, get your tickets soon, because even toned-down, it may offend enough Mrs Grundys to close quickly. My thanks to the Detroit Free Press and marketplacedetroit.com for inviting me to this preview.