Review of the new West End production of Mel Brooks' musical

There’s only one way to go when performing Mel Brooks’ The Producers, and that’s big. 

And in this new production, under the assured direction of Patrick Marber, the performances sizzle with euphorically outrageous vim, doing fine service to the 99-year-old’s tribute to the razzle-dazzle of Broadway as well as the colourful, shady characters behind it.

Although The Producers was only a cult film when it was released in 1967, the plot now seems embedded in the global consciousness. Reeling from the fallout from another stage turkey, washed-up impresario Max Bialystock learns from the naive, if stage-struck, beancounter Leo Bloom that with a certain amount of creative accounting, a flop could be way more lucrative than a hit.

Thus they team up to produce the sure-to-fail Springtime for Hitler, a ‘love letter’ to the Fuhrer written by deranged pigeon-fancying Nazi Franz Liebkind and subtitled A Gay Romp With Adolf And Eva At Berchtesgaden. It’s certainly nice to go back to a time when the Nazis were a Laughing Stock rather than a viable electoral prospect.

Andy Nyman’s delightful portrayal of Bialystock is both silly and rich. Yes, he’s the seedy producer doing anything for a buck – including sleeping with New York’s little old ladies who back his projects. But he’s a battler, and still, after all these setbacks, a dreamer. The character’s Jewishness is also exaggerated – isn't everything in this show – most notably in his opening song recapping his career, given a vibrant Fiddler On The Roof twist.

Nyman’s already a known force in the West End, both on stage and off, having co-created Ghost Stories and collaborating with Derren Brown on his stage shows. His co-star Marc Antolin is a lesser-known quantity – though surely not for long given his career-defining performance as the giddy Bloom.

As well as the quickfire wit, this production is bursting with physical comedy moments, requiring lithe, perfectly timed performances from all the cast. Nor is it all machine-gun gags: a dance sequence with Antolin and Joanna Woodward as Ulla, the ambitious, vowel-mangling Swedish starlet and love interest, evokes the golden age of Fred and Ginger.

Further outlandish caricatures come in the way of Liebkind (a suitably demented Harry Morrison) who performs his introductory number to a chorus of coos from his pet pigeons, rendered as puppets with swastikas on their wings.

And because once Brooks has gone over the top he then finds even more levels of outrageousness to summit, we also meet uber-camp theatrical director Roger DeBris (a gleefully unrestrained performance from cabaret star Trevor Ashley) and his sparkly acolytes. His choreographer gets one of the biggest of the night’s many laughs  just from walking on. Then together the lively chorus sing DeBris's mantra ‘Keep it gay!’

That’s applied in spades to the Springtime For Hitler title song, the money shot for any performance of The Producers. Goose-stepping stormtroopers in swastika formation has been done on screen and on stage, both in the 2001 Broadway version and the 2004 West End version with Lee Evans as Bloom. So here, with DeBris taking the role of a queer-presenting Hitler, they lean fully into the fabulously glittery camp that might have a drag queen going ‘bit much’ – to glorious effect.

After such exuberance, the third act that ties up the story is inevitably of lower impact, a little more functional. But you’ll have had so much fun by then, it hardly matters.

Much can be made of the politically incorrect basis of the show, but it isn’t actually offensive, thanks to the clear-sighted aim of taking the piss out of everything, and as stupidly as possible. The lack of taste is the very point, but also not the be-all-and-end-all, as we’re also drawn in by the characters’ motives, whether it’s to escape a humdrum life or to prove that you can still be the creative force you once were. But it’s the knockabout extravagance you’ll remember.

Modest staging is the only acknowledgment of this production’s roots in London’s intimate Menier Chocolate Factory – but you don’t need much set when there’s so much spectacle in performance, costume, choreography and writing. Fun is the name of the game, delivered with elan.

• The Producers is booking at the Garrick Theatre, London, until February 20. Tickets

Review date: 16 Sep 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Garrick Theatre