By Rachel Achs, 12th grade, Saint Anne’s School
The Producers is your dream come true if, like me, you have always harbored a secret desire to see your grandmother high-kicking off her walker and belting about the sorry state of her sex life. Or, if that idea doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy, maybe
your wildest fantasies will be fulfilled by bedazzled chorus girls popping out of filing cabinets, a parade of flamboyant homosexuals that makes the West Village look like 17th-Century Salem, or homing pigeons that “heil” Hitler. This play is about pushing the envelope until the paper is so worn that it’s crumbling off on your fingers and little rips are visible at the seams.
"Incredibly funny...a fine line between inappropriate and hilarious."
The story (which really serves as a vehicle to feature the most elaborate, borderline-offensive situations writer Mel Brooks could fathom) is about Max Bialystock and Leopold Bloom. Max is a Broadway producer, notorious for opening and closing shows in a single night. Leopold is a nerdy accountant, never without his blue blankie. The show takes off when Max and Leopold pair up to act on Leo’s theory that a Broadway producer can earn more with a flop than a hit. Max convinces old ladies to invest, promising over one hundred percent of his profits and sexual favors, too. If the play flops, Max and Leo pocket the investments. If it succeeds, they’re bait for whoever catches them first—the IRS or a pack of octogenarians in heat. The twosome sets out to produce the worst Broadway show possible. Their product: a play entitled Springtime for Hitler that features a chorus line of Third Reich soldiers sporting boots and helmets.
For all of The Producers’ imagination, it’s surprisingly formulaic. Practically every line comes with a punch line, sometimes easily anticipated. However, the play is incredibly funny. So many jokes are flung at you that it’s a relief they’re not all hilarious or the entire audience would have sore cheeks for a week. The humor is mostly bawdy one-liners that stem from “Catskills shtick,” Jewish vaudeville. This Semitism spices up and is appropriate amidst the overwhelming
presence of Hitler.
The Producers isn’t just one-liners. The real brilliance is the overall absurdity, as well as moments created by acting, not dialogue. Tears stream down cheeks when awkward silences last a good thirty seconds or an actor milks his exit for all it’s worth.
The Producers is a Broadway extravaganza, and it makes you happy in a way that only fantastic dance numbers, brilliant costumes and killer songs can. It’s also, at heart, about taking something terrible and laughing at it. As an audience member, you are inducted into a club where it’s OK to laugh at not only stereotypes, but even Hitler.
It’s certainly worth seeing: because it treads that fine line between inappropriate and hilarious; because it’s fun; because it goes
a bit too far.
The Phantom of the Opera
HAUNTING THEATRES FOR 18 YEARS!
By Julia Keimach,
10th grade, LaGuardia High School
The Phantom of the Opera, one of the most popular shows on Broadway, will claim the title for the longest-running musical in Broadway history on January 9, 2006, having run for 18 years. After having seen the movie and thinking that the best part about it was the cinematography, I was unsure whether the stage production would seem any good.
I went to the production with one question in mind: why has this show been so popular? If I had to answer in one word, it would be “spectacle.” As a technical theatre major, I was blown away by the extravagance of the production. It has one of the most complex series of flying set pieces and trap doors ever to grace a Broadway stage.
As a technical theatre major,
I was blown away by the
extravagance of the production.
The story is based on a novel by Gaston Leroux and set in the Paris Opera House in the late 1800s.
It is about a young woman named Christine who is a chorus girl at the opera. She has received singing lessons from a mysterious “angel,” whose voice she claims is inside her head. In actuality, the angel is the Phantom, a man who has been rejected from society because of his deformed face, and who has fallen in love with her. Unfortunately for him, she falls in love with the handsome young Raoul, a childhood friend of hers. But things get dangerous for everyone in the opera house when the Phantom stops at nothing to win her back.
The show in my opinion is a mixed bag. There were times when I found the music, singing, acting and effects all fantastic and times when I felt bored.
There are two moments in the show that made a big impression, when I thought, “This is why this show has run for eighteen years.” The first comes during the
overture. Years after the events of the show, the crumbling, old Paris Opera House is auctioning off some items, now covered in dusty and moldy fabrics. The broken, old chandelier is revealed from under its own dusty sheet, the lights in the chandelier flicker back to life, the music starts and the chandelier slowly rises to the ceiling. As it rises, the stage transforms into a glittering new opera house with golden carvings and a full opera set. This transition, from a technical standpoint, is exhilarating and mind-blowing. The second moment comes during the title song. The Phantom and Christine descend on moving set pieces into the depths of the opera house, toward the Phantom’s lair. They re-enter in a boat, floating through a sea of mist, with flickering candles rising from the depths of the stage.
Having seen many musicals, I would not suggest it to someone who has never seen a musical before, but if you are interested in tons of special effects and an amazing series of sets, this would definitely be the show for you. Though it has repetitive music, weak lyrics and a thin plot line, there is something special about The Phantom of the Opera that has been enchanting audiences for a long time. There were plenty of empty seats near me, and you can get $20 tickets in the balcony most Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Since it has become a classic, if you have a free evening and 20 bucks, this is an experience you won’t want to miss.
