On Saturday, Her Campus was lucky enough to attend a press preview of Footlight’s latest musical, The Producers, two and a half hours of sensational musical theatre which is as funny as it is visually dazzling.
The musical pays homage the golden age of Broadway with punchy tunes delivered with gusto by a live big band, and equally over-the-top dance numbers. The sheer magnitude of the show is staggering, with a huge cast, only made more impressive by the incredible talent in song and dance displayed by the entire ensemble. Amy Lotherington, the choreographer, said that it was a welcome challenge to work with such a big cast, “it created a spectacle that the show really commands”.
The musical is as funny as it is dazzling, filled with risqué, tongue in cheek satire. ‘The Producers’ leads, Ashley Gillard (Max Bialystock) and Lucas Bailey (Leopold Bloom) steal the show, a buzzing dynamic duo who will have you laughing and cringing in equal measure with their bawdy yet endearing humour. Producer Ben Philipp said ‘The Producers’, with all its Broadway kookiness and absurdity, was a refreshing change of pace for ‘Footlights’, in contrast to the more melancholic musicals of previous years, such as ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Evita’.
While on the surface ‘The Producers’ is a silly comedy about two schmucks trying to get rich quick, with all the eccentric musical stereotypes that we know and love, the show has hidden depths, a biting, poignant satire beneath the surface. In Max and Leo’s efforts to put on the musical ‘Springtime for Hitler’ there is, as Ben Philipp puts it, “unexpected contemporary relevance”. As Hitler is transformed and satirised on the Broadway stage, Mel Brooks shows the enduring power of laughter to help make sense of the world and act as “a corrective to vice and folly”. Philipp believes this is relevant not only in Brook’s post-war context, but also in the framework of current events, in which “we watch bigotry become legitimised on a public platform”. Yes, we are talking to you, Donald Trump.
‘The Producers’ is an amazing comedic and satirical tour-de-force which will leave the audience with a skip in their step and a stomach aching from laughter. Trust me, you will struggle to not to hum along to ‘Springtime for Hitler’ for days afterwards.
Running at Exeter Northcott Theatre from Wednesday 25th – Saturday 28th January 2017, The Producers is an explosion of irreverent absurdity not to be missed.
The Facebook event can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1148335481928271/
and tickets can be bought online from the Northcott website: https://exeternorthcott.co.uk/calendar/the-producers/
But be quick as tickets for the Saturday performance have already sold out!