WBFO Theater Critic Jim Santella previews The Producers at the Shea's Performing Arts Center, Murder in Green Meadows at the Studio Arena Theatre and You Never Can Tell at the Irish Classical Theatre.By Jim Santella
When I saw the original production of The Producers on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, the hype was as high as an elephant?s eye and the actual show surpassed the lofty reviews. "Mel Brooks has put the comedy back into musical comedy. The Producers is the funniest, most fearlessly irreverent thing ever seen on stage!" (USA Today).
Adapted from Brook?s 1068 Academy Award winning film of the same name, the musical seems to have surpassed the movie.
The July night I saw the production, it was 94 degrees outside the theatre, inside the atmosphere seemed equally volatile. The stage was a playground for Lane?s Max Bialystock character (performed in the film by Zero Mostel). Lane?s inventive ad-libs peppered two acts of non-stop buffoonery punctuated by Broderick?s sweet portrayal of Leo Bloom, the hyper tax accountant.
After the performance, I had the opportunity to go back stage and speak with Buffalo singer/dancer Jeff Denman who confirmed the fact that Lane didn?t feel the least bit constrained by the script.
The comedy that night was broad, the music tunefully old fashioned and Susan Strohman?s choreography inventive. It was pure entertainment.
At one point, the stage was filled with a chorus of granny types doing a spry dance routine complete with walkers. Such funny irreverence characterized the show. The Producers is the story of a down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, a mousy accountant. Together they hatch the ultimate scam: raise more money than needed for a sure-fire Broadway flop and pocket the difference. Their "sure-fire" theatrical fiasco? None other than the musical Springtime for Hitler.
When Lane and Brodrick left the show, it was thought by some, that the long running production might lose its appeal and popularity. It doesn?t seem to have happened. Now the biggest Tony Award winner in Broadway history is coming to Buffalo, January 4 through 9, for eight performances at the Shea's Performing Arts Center. Tickets, which went on sale October 19th, promise to be a hot item in what otherwise might be a cold winter. Can lightning strike twice? I don?t know but I?m going to see for myself.
Murder in Green Meadows by Douglas Post is a psychological murder mystery, playing Oct. 22 thru Nov. 14th. at the Studio Arena Theatre.
Murder in Green Meadows tells the story of Thomas Devereaux, an architect and contractor who has just finished a development in Green Meadows, Illinois.
He and his wife Joan have just moved into the original model home. They become fast friend with their neighbors, Carolyn and Jeff Symons as playwright Douglas Post carefully sets about revealing the personality quirks of his four characters. Underneath the perfect middle-American exterior, some troubling questions remain.
Murder in Green Meadows began life as a television collaboration between Chicago?s WMAQ-TV and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This production received six Emmy Award nominations and was then expanded into a full-length theatre piece. The Chicago Sun Times describe it as "...a tense, complex, thriller full of twists and turns...from beginning to end."
You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw appears on stage at the Irish Classical Theatre Oct. 29 through Nov. 28th.
Rock and Roll musician Chuck Berry wrote a song, "You Never Can Tell," which shares its title with Shaw?s comedy of the same name. The play and song also share a cynical attitude toward relationships.
Shaw?s "spongy farce" follows Mrs. Lanfrey Clandon, a Victorian clinging to the last days of the 19th century, as she attempts to shield her three children from "that horrid man" -- their father.
While on a seaside holiday, a chance meeting between her daughter, Gloria, and a love-struck dentist named Valentine brings the estranged family together with farcical results.
Shaw, a crusader for both art and reform, was a proponent of socialism as well as a supporter of women's rights. He advocated equality of income, the abolition of private property and radical change in the British voting system. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. He displayed his loyalty to socialism by accepting the prize but refusing the money.
You Never Can Tell is among Shaw?s most charming confections.