It’s all subjective, of course, but for my money, Mel Brooks’ 1968 show biz comedy The Producers is one of the top five funny films ever made. And the manic stage version which arrived in 2001 is one of a handful of truly funny musical comedies.
Released for production by regional theaters in the last few years, the show is difficult to get right. Calibrating the brazenly politically incorrect tone is tricky, as is carrying off the many major high-stepping (and occasionally goose-stepping) production numbers. The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, which never shrank from a challenge, gets an awful lot very right in its giddy romp that continues only through Jan. 29.
What is doesn’t have, unfortunately, is a larger-than-life performance in the central role of larcenous impresario, Max Bialystock. Broadway veteran Lenny Wolpe (Drowsy Chaperone, Wicked) takes a decidedly understated attack on the down-and-out producer who stumbles onto a scheme to make a fortune if he can only find a guaranteed flop play. Even if the past performances of Zero Mostel and Nathan Lane did not hover over the proceedings, one could sense the imbalance as the show’s various second bananas overshadow Bialystock.
But ah, what second bananas they are. As Leo Bloom, the sweaty, hair-trigger hysterical accountant with big dreams of his name up in lights, a remarkable physical comic named Mark Price more than makes up for the minimal Max. Better yet, he is an unexpectedly accomplished dancer, which comes in handy in Leo’s several fantasy sequences.
Together he and Max pore over piles of scripts, eventually discovering Springtime for Hitler, both a send-up and putdown of Der Führer and the Third Reich. The frequent Maltz team of director Mark Martino and choreographer Shea Sullivan are hilariously inventive throughout the evening, but particularly with the title number of the show-within-the-show, a celebration of bad taste (and a spoof of the original “Money” song from Cabaret).
Other delicious supporting performers include Elyse Collier as pneumatic Ulla, the Swedish Amazon who becomes smitten with Leo, and Roland Rusinek as Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind, so insistent in his admiration for Adolf. Michael Brian Dunn is drily amusing as befrocked director Roger Debris, who fills in at the last minute as Hitler, rolling about the stage and confiding in the audience while perched at the footlights. Even better is Seth Tucker as his very personal assistant Carmen Ghia, who unapologetically sashays through many gay stereotypes.
The show must bounce between many locations with cinematic zip, which is probably why the Maltz called in the resourceful Paul Tate Depoo III, who outdoes himself. Gail Baldoni also has great fun with the costumes, particularly those walking icons of Germany for the “Springtime for Hitler” chorus girls. And giving them all a glitzy sheen is the lighting by Paul Black.
Be forewarned, The Producers is an equal opportunity comic shin-kicker, with such frequent targets as women, seniors, Jews and, of course, Nazis. If you can see beyond such rudeness, there is plenty of entertainment at the Maltz this month. I wish the production had a stronger Max Bialystock, but that is no reason not to try and acquire one of the few remaining tickets.
THE PRODUCERS, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter.
Through Sunday, Jan. 29. $56 and up. 561-575-2223.