His timing and singing were first-rate, the character coming into his own in the glorious ‘I Wanna Be a Producer’ and ‘That Face’. Mark Hill was a marvellous Leo, his naivety and lack of worldliness beautifully portrayed at the opening, with his addiction to his childhood blanket and awkwardness with women. He ran out of steam a little in the cleverly written prison song ‘Betrayed’, but was gloriously funny with perfect timing when dealing with his bunch of little old ladies in ‘Along Came Bialy’, that included a delicious performance by Chloe Taylor as the naughty Hold Me Touch Me. His was a well-rounded and dramatically strong performance, having a powerful voice in delivering some of the best songs of the night, including the ‘The King of Broadway’ and ‘We Can Do It’. Photo: Supplied.Īs Max, Matt Young gave us a down-at-heel, opportunistic and manipulative character, determined to survive against all odds.
Mel Brooks’ The Producers at Brisbane Powerhouse. They were both excellent in their respective roles. Read: Theatre Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2Ĭrucial to the farce working well is the relationship between the two principal characters, Max and Leo, both in their timing as well as an ability to keep the action moving and the laughs coming. It is also in many ways as highly relevant a piece of theatre today as it was 20 years ago. ‘Brooks’ acidic, tongue-in-cheek work … is a witty and clever musical farce so absurd that it is designed to encourage laughter rather than cause offence.’īrooks’ acidic, tongue-in-cheek work, with its caricatures of the female sex, gay people and Nazis, as well as depicting characters with shockingly inappropriate behaviours, is a witty and clever musical farce so absurd that it is designed to encourage laughter rather than cause offence. They discover the worst possible show, Springtime for Hitler, a gay musical romp about Hitler written by a Nazi-loving German, with an equally appalling director, appearing to be a perfect vehicle for failure. Once the king of Broadway but now an old hack, sleazy producer Max Bialystock, and his gauche accountant sidekick, Leo Bloom, come up with a fraudulent way of tax avoidance by staging a flop rather than a hit.
The musical version of The Producers, adapted by Mel Brooks from Brooks’ irreverent 1967 film, is regarded as one of Broadway’s major successes, garnering 12 Tony Awards.
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