Association of Community Theatre

Show Reviews October 2017

THE PRODUCERS

Ulverston Amateurs

 

Director: Brenda Hindle

Musical Director: Doreen Dunlop

Dance Director: Sally McKimm

 

Mel Brook’s very clever and extremely funny musical is a feast for any performer. All the humour from the Angels for a Broadway show to the creative team is shown in a hilarious exposure.

 

Then there is the show within the show (the staple plot for the Hollywood musical of yesteryear) which is an unforeseen and devastating triumph.

 

It is a large show to stage with big sets. The stage crew had an unenviable task. But in this presentation, each scene change was slickly undertaken. On only one occasion was there a cloth and a piece of stage furniture not in the right place. The lighting and sound added to the overall drama, and once again for this society, projection graphics enhanced the creativity. Everyone in the production was well dressed and all the costumes finished off the enjoyable imagery.

 

Musically a tight grip on the score has to be maintained. All the musical content was well received. The direction allowed the magic of the story to unfold and none of the drama and humour was lost. All the choreography added to the director’s overall concept and the routines were enthusiastically delivered.

The casting was strong with the ensemble underpinning the action, whether it was for the Bialystok’s “Little Old Ladies” or for the cast of “Spring Time for Hitler”. The cast members took on a multitude of different character all to their credit.

 

Finding the worst musical ever written, and then to find a director equal to stage it makes for some of the funniest characters and scenes.

 

‘Hold Me Touch Me’, the principle show sponsor, was effortlessly portrayed by Lindsey Jackson. The musical that has to fail is written and composed by Franz Liebkind played by Andy Bond. Andy could not have got any more out of the character. He squeezed every drop of humour out of the script. Totally manic completely off the wall, his love for the Führer was outrageously funny.

 

Director, Roger De Bris (Rob O’Hara), his P.A., Carmen (Adam Atkinson) and his production team kept it light, kept it bright, kept it gay.

 

The Swedish secretary, and would-be actress, Ulla, displayed all the cliché sex appeal sending Bialstock and Bloom into a frenzy. Clare Coulston had it and flaunted it, making the most of the character.

 

Louis Simon showed an endearing naïvety as would-be producer, Leo Bloom, complete with comfort blanket. Bloom had an induction of fire into to the world of showbiz. Down on his luck producer, Max Bialystock, will do anything to make money even “shtupping every little old lady in New York”. Russ Palmer breathed the character. He extracted every aspect of the Broadway producer. Both Louis and Russ were good foils for each other - they “delivered the goods”.

 

This was a most entertaining production from everyone involved.