The Producers – 9/13/08

Thank god for the female chorus. And Ulla.

Your honor, in the case of the People vs. LZP Productions, Ken Priess and Morra Miller-Priess have been charged with murder in the first degree for their killing by ennui of the Mel Brooks/Thomas Meehan musical, The Producers. The crime occurred between the hours of 8:00 and eternity on the evening of September 13, 2008 at Cutting Hall in Palatine, Illinois.

The big question for anyone playing parts in The Producers is this: Is he/she funny? The most frequent answer in this case is “no.” A lot of the songs are well done, so if you’re seeing The Producers for the music instead of the comedy, you’ll have a good time.

LZP does not hold auditions. The director and the leading man are married. And they produced the show. So it is not unfair or inaccurate to say that Ken Priess was awarded the part of Max Bialystock by way of the casting couch and because he paid for the privilege. I hope their fucking was more pleasurable than the one the audience received. Talent was not involved in the equation. Max is a part requiring an actor of enormous star power, talent and likability. In this sense, Priess is a three-time loser. He doesn’t just lack these qualities – he is a star power/talent/likability vacuum, who sucks the qualities from all those luckless enough to share the stage with him. This Max appeared to be far more interested in Leo than in Ulla. It may be a “choice”, but it’s the wrong choice for the show. I have gay friends who have no problem playing straight; Priess is a straight actor who can’t play straight. Priess has no clue how to deliver any of his lines. He’s learned them (most of them, anyway), but he has no discernable human qualities behind the words. It's performance by rote. He doesn’t have the power to put over the song Betrayed. Singing: he can hit the notes. He can’t Sing, in the sense of creating a character through song. He can go through the motions (except for the lyrics he flubs), but is he funny? Ken Priess is not funny. Not even the littlest, tiniest bit. Ken Priess can sing. He can’t act, he can’t dance and Ken Priess is not funny.

As Leo Bloom, Steven A. Peter sings far better than Matthew Broderick in the original production – which isn’t saying much, but Peter really has a fine voice. He also has a sense of character. Had he been lucky enough to work with a competent stage partner, I’m pretty sure he would have been terrific. Is he funny? Steven A. Peter is marginally funny, but we need to give him props because of the Priess handicap.

Ashley Stricker-Peter as Ulla. Stricker-Peter delivered a star performance that finally woke the show up. Had the rest of the show been up to Stricker-Peter’s level, it would have been worth seeing. Only problems: bad Swedish accent, but I’ll give her a pass on that because I have yet to hear any Ulla do a good Swedish accent. And when it came to “now Ulla belt!”, the band decided, “Oh, she’s belting! We can play as loud as we want!”, totally killing the idea that Ulla can drown out the band. They drowned her out. But she delivered the only performance that transcended the production. Terrific work. Is she funny? Ashley Stricker-Peter is very funny.

Roger deBris is a part requiring an actor larger than life, flamboyant beyond the dreams of Dame Edna. I didn’t believe Frank Roberts as a flaming gay man. Deep Tom Jones voice, mild gestures. He didn’t have the oomph for the part. And in Springtime for Hitler, he was Competent in a song requiring Uproarious. Can he sing? Yes. Is he funny? The only person in the room thinking Frank Roberts is funny was Frank Roberts. Frank Roberts is not funny.

The actor playing Carmen Giya just graduated from high school. I kept rereading that “graduated” because (A) he looks fifteen, which puts a very weird tone on his relationship with the much older Roberts; (B) he yells everything; (C) he throws in all kinds of extraneous gestures – it was a high school performance. BUT – he had great energy and enthusiasm. Had the director been interested in reigning him in, his performance could have been controlled but funny. Is he funny? In this? No.

Franz Liebkind – Peter Buckley was the best of the lead men. He had power, energy and timing. He kicked the shit out of Haben Sie Gehert. Is he funny? Peter Buckley is funny.

Mary Campbell had the Utility Woman parts – Hold Me Touch Me, Shirley Markowitz, etc – which she did an excellent job with. Is she funny? Mary Campbell is funny.

Choreography – It was announced in the papers that LZP paid Susan Stroman for use of her choreographic notes. These notes are based on the idea of getting Broadway quality dancers and the same sized space as the original show. When choreographing for community theatre, you tailor it for the talents of your cast and the size of the space. Springtime for Hitler, instead of bringing down the house, got reasonably solid applause because the production was more concerned with doing Stroman’s choreography than it was with making it outrageous.

The female half (or four-fifths, rather, since that’s how far they outnumbered the men) of the chorus saves every scene they are in. They have the energy, they’re working their titties off and they can dance. They sparkle. They are bright spots in a murky sea. Out of the four men the non-auditioning LZP was able to dig up, two couldn’t sing – including the lead singer of Springtime for Hitler. I can feel for the chorus after sweating through Springtime for Hitler and giving it their all, only to get respectful applause rather than cheers. “What do you people want?” they had to be thinking. I wanted the spirit of Mel Brooks in the number, not just competent dancing.

Directing: there is the usual issue of gags being added because the director thinks she can be as funny as Mel Brooks. She can’t.

This isn’t even a disaster that would be fun to see and tell the grandkids about – it’s just a vanity production that isn’t worth the money they are charging for it, except for Ashley Stricker-Peter and the chorus girls. This production will stand as the benchmark for the most mediocre show I have ever seen.

Information here: (The publicity-savvy LZP does not have a website. This is probably for the best.)