Review: (Bialy)Stocks Rise with THE PRODUCERS at Brookfield Theatre For The Arts

Where to even begin? I normally like to start these reviews with a snappy one-liner or some broad, philosophical quote about theater, but it’s hard to know where to begin when you’ve just witnessed a Mel Brooks production. Any zinger that I come up with would pale in comparison to the quips of the great Brooks himself, so let’s just stick with the facts: Brookfield Theatre put on a production of The Producers; The audience had a phenomenal time; and now I get to rave about it on the internet. One step at a time.

As with any Mel Brooks work of art, The Producers is a show that takes itself seriously in that it shouldn’t take itself seriously. If you don’t know what that means, then go see The Producers. Brookfield Theatre brought together a stellar cast and crew, spearheaded by the delightful Craig David Rosen, who bought into the vibes and committed to the comedy that Brooks laid to paper. Obviously a satirical piece, the success of the humor in The Producers comes from the authenticity of the absurdity: The actors on stage know that what they’re doing and saying is absurd to the nth degree, but it’s their commitment to the absurd that sells it to the audience. Nobody embodied this commitment better than the two leading men, Jason Maur and Marcevan Costanzo. By all accounts, Max Bialystock (Maur) and Leo Bloom (Costanzo) are the farthest thing from two peas in a pod. Bialystock’s confident chauvinist is perfectly foiled by Bloom’s panic-stricken pushover, and Maur and Costanzo pulled out all the stops to emphasize that contrast in every possible way: From the way they wore their costumes (Huge credit for the costume design of Rebecca Pokorski-Cebellero, but more on that later), to the way they moved and talked, Maur and Costanzo set the stage for the hilarity that was to come.

This isn’t to say that the rest of the cast wasn’t committed- oh no, the leading men just set the bar high. And the rest of the ensemble pole vaulted it without a single misstep. Every actor in this production stepped up to meet the moment; from the sweetly seductive (and Swedish) Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swansson, played by the talented Bella Renee Delgado; to the preposterously proud and proper Nazi diehard Franz Liebkind, played nefariously nicely by Steven Taliaferro; to the grand and gay Roger De Bris, opulently brought to life by Roger Grace, there wasn’t a weak link in this chain. But the leading men and women can’t do it alone: You can’t perform Springtime for Hitler without a chorus, and the ensemble brought the charm from curtain up to curtain down.

Now, to bring your attention backstage, as promised. A phenomenal cast is all well and good, but to make a spectacle, you’ve got to bring the flair! And my goodness, what a flair was brought! From Rosen’s choreography to the spontaneous tap dancing that was guided by Jessica Chesbro, the entire production felt like the glitzy glamour celebration of Broadway! Bringing it back to Cebellero’s costume design, this show has a huge cast that need to be clothed and each actor wears many hats- figuratively and literally. Cebellero’s vast range of clothing, from matching old lady outfits to Nazi garb and everything in between, were a thrill to behold, as you never knew who would be walking onstage next.

I could go on forever on this production- from the lights to the pigeons to the orchestra to the set design- but this review is already over a page long and honestly, if you made it this far, you’ve probably already seen the show. But just in case you haven’t, The Producers at the Brookfield Theatre runs from June 28th - July 20th with 8pm shows on Fri/Sat and 2pm matinees on Sun. You can get tickets at brookfieldtheatre.org and you’ll want to do so: These tickets are going fast and people are being turned away at the door!

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