Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Corey English, Jason Manford, Ross Noble, David Bedalla, Tiffany Graves, Stephane Anelli, Abigail Brodie, Jaye Elster, Rebecca Fennelly, Olivia Fines, Andrew Gordon-Watkins, Aimee Hoonett, Paul Hutton, Nia Jermin, Marjorie McAvoy, Joel Montague, Genevieve Nicole, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Jay Webb, Russell Wilcox, Aron Wild.
Satire isn’t dead, despite the stamp of modern life and politics trying its upmost to make it the saintly reserve of those who don’t get the joke, it lives hard and fast, it just takes the right mix of intelligent crowd and knowing performer in which to bring it out fully so that it can breathe and stir more than laughter out of the brain.
Mel Brooks is still the master when it comes to this, the comedian with a golden touch so appealing that Midas once found himself in his company taking notes and when it comes to the big four, Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein and The Producers, the genius of comic delivery, sarcastic intervention and satirist dream is everywhere, especially in the irreverent and holy beauty that is The Producers.
The audience of the Empire Theatre haven’t had the privilege of such a night in quite some time and what was there not to love, a main cast that shone so brightly it was possible to believe that the original 1968 film was out in the wings, every sinew in its body straining and gasping for breath, was so impressed that it may as well have also given the standing ovation that Director Matthew White and the company fully deserved.
The show business flop is as entertaining to watch as the star studded success story, for all the wrong reasons it nestles in the memory banks and makes even the worst night out possible with a group of people who talk about nothing but house prices and their ego, seem a fairly plausible night out. To capture this and turn it into something absolutely first rate takes not just comedy intuition but perseverance of soul and with the element of surprise in casting always the high mark of theatrical genius, to have both Ross Noble and Jason Manford play bitter and insane Nazi Franz Liebkind and Jewish accountant Leo Bloom respectively is that class personified.
It was though in the welcome return of David Bedella to the Empire Theatre that this masterpiece hung its wings upon. The outrageous and the beguiling always seem to be larger than life and in Mr. Bedella that life is exuberant and energetic to the point of wonderful exhaustion. In The Rocky Horror Show he is captivating, as failed director Roger De Bris he is magnificent and his portrayal in the ultimate parody and fantastic caricature of a regime ripe for lampooning is nothing short of divine.
One of the shows to come to Liverpool in 2015, The Producers is hysterical and brutally brilliant, Ross Noble and Jason Manford are a revelation and the music is to die for, a true legendary smash hit.
Ian D. Hall