Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Springtime for...Brooks

Belated Happy New Year! On New Years Day I went to see the West End version of Mel Brooks "The Producers" (a very kind friend gave me a ticket for Christmas!)
Unfortunately, Nathan Lane (the last minute, short term replacement for Richard Dreyfuss) had to pull out due to having TWO slipped discs - having seen what the character gets up to in the show, I can quite understand how he managed it!
Cory English, his 'Stand-in' was excellent, and after a couple of minutes I forgot that I was disappointed about not seeing Mr Lane and realised I was enjoying seeing Mr English! Lee Evans was equally as good. The songs add greatly to the show, and there are enough references to both the original movie and to other Brooks movies to keep the anorak Brooks fan happy!
Of the show itself I will not write - if you are familiar with the movie, then you'll pretty much know the plot (though it IS slightly tweaked for the stage); if you're unfamiliar with the movie, but have heard that Mel Brooks could write comedy, then you're in for a treat (a tasteless one, but a treat nonetheless!)
The show is still running on Broadway and apparently the original Broadway pairing of Lane and Matthew Broderick are to make a new movie based on the musical.