daisy_knotwise and I went to see the London production of The Producers today. It was really laugh-out-loud, hurt-yourself-laughing funny. You do have to like humor that not only goes over the top, but which plummets down the roller coaster and vanishes beneath the earth (one couple sitting next to us left at intermission, apparently having come to the wrong show).The performances were excellent (Ulla's understudy was in place, but she was just fine), the set pieces were very well done, the production numbers were just absurdly good, and we had a wonderful time.
I do understand why the movie didn't get any Oscar nominations for the music -- really the only memorable number in the show is the original Springtime for Hitler which I suspect wouldn't qualify for a nomination, having been in the non-musical movie version of The Producers. But the songs all move the plot along nicely and are fun to listen to, which is their primary function.
It's nice to know that there are parts for old, fat actors who can sing and maybe dance a little bit. Now if I can just convince Steve Salaba that he should play the Leo Bloom part for SpaceTime Theater...
