Review: The Producers

HOW TO MAKE A BAD MUSICAL?

I saw the musical The Producers in London and while I was laughing myself sick, I wondered if it would be suitable for Finland. It is not for nothing that the musical, which mocks everyone, has been claimed to be the funniest in the world, but some of the jokes are language- and culture-specific.

Now we have seen it: it works in Finland as well. The local audience has internalized Americanism so well that they are able to look at things through the eyes of another culture, if necessary. Not all of the stories got through, but at least there was enough fun. And we have always been able to laugh at the Swedes and Germans fluently.

Originally known as a film, Producers tells the story of a Broadway producer’s plan to get rich: they collect a couple of million from investors, but make a lousy performance that ends in one night, leaving the money with the producers.

But how do you make a perfect flop? By taking Hitler’s conquest of the world as the subject, executing the performance as tastelessly as possible and mocking everyone equally. As those who have watched the film will remember, the concoction accidentally turns out to be so funny that the performance becomes a success and the scam is revealed.


Mel Brooks doesn’t even move on the boundaries of good taste, but well beyond them. In this musical, at least Germans, Swedes, gays, theatre people, producers, Jews and police officers are mocked, but no one can get angry at such an exaggerated rejoicing. But what will happen when the musical will soon be produced in German for the first time?

Proper staffing is the key issue of such a proposal, and it has now been successful. It is hard to imagine a more suitable character for the role of an experienced producer than Esko Roine . As her young partner, Antti Timonen is innocent in just the right way and also sings well.

Leather pants and German clichés are banging when Risto Kaskilahti plays a German screenwriter who admires Hitler. Santeri Kinnunen as the world’s worst theatre director and Lari Halme as his feminine assistant are absolutely charming. Anna-Maija Tuokko is a real find as the charming Swedish Ulla.

In this musical, all kinds of exaggeration and detachment are allowed and even desirable. This group knows how to do that.

The precision and timing of the dances can still be polished, but as a whole, the interpretation does not pale in comparison to foreign performances.