Review: The Producers

HELSINKI CITY THEATRE HAS A STRONG START

Helsinki City Theatre’s major musical The Producers, also known as Spring Is Dawning for Hitler, is based on the 1968 film of the same name by Mel Brooks , an American multi-talented entertainer who turned 80 last year. So it’s from the time when Brooks was developing his future projects in the legendary TV series Get Smart Agent 86.

The song, which became a musical hit in the early 2000s, was also adapted to the stage by his colleague Thomas Meehan, who is three years younger than Brooks, a writer-journalist-screenwriter and an old colleague of Brooks. Familiar from e.g . Space Bolts and To Be or Not To Be projects.

The Producers, directed by the experienced Neil Hardwick in Helsinki, is a hilarious thing in a closed way. Brooks’ Jewish background (his real name is Mel Kaminsky) should be kept in mind when relating the story to our world.

The book tells the story of two producers, one of whom is an experienced fox and the other is a young accountant who wants to become a producer. The latter’s wild realization that you can actually make better money on the flop than on a hit makes the story spin.

The German-born neo-Nazi’s text glorifying Hitler is the “worst play in the world” longed for by the friends. We are looking for a director who is as clumsy as possible to carry it out, and the job should be a piece of cake.

The musical, aptly translated into Finnish by Kristiina Drews and Jukka Virtanen, is full of funny roles, and experienced star actors of different ages have been chosen to perform it. Esko Roine is the veteran producer Max Bialystock and Antti Timonen is the young Leo Bloom. Risto Kaskilahti plays neo-Nazi writer Franz Liebkind, Santeri Kinnunen director Roger de Bris, Lari Halme plays the former’s assistant Carmen Ghia. The real discovery of the performance is Anna-Maija Tuokko, who plays the Swedish bimbo Ulla, who has been made to look very much like Marilyn Monreo and spotted in the house at the Comedy Theatre Arena.

At a couple of points, they indulge in overacting, but all in all, it stays under control nicely. A top-notch theatre machine will once again produce a joyful and enjoyable entertainment blast at the Tokoinranta Theatre, which does not pale in comparison to even foreign mega-productions.