Reviews

I was fortunate to be able to see a free preview of The Producers. I wondered if I could be open minded enough to seeing a film remake of what I thought was one of Mel Brooks best films. I was determined to try my best to do so. Nathan Lane must have loved Zero Mostel's performance so much,that he not only wore his hair in a comb over, he delivered every line exactly the same way Mr. Mostel did in the original film. Matthew Broderick actually got Gene Wilder's hysterics down pat as well. The only one who seemed to make the part his own was Will Farrell, who played Franz. On a positive note, there were some interesting new songs. There was some improvement in plot by getting rid of the dated but very funny "LSD" character played by Dick Shawn in the original, and having Roger Dupree, the drag queen director ultimately play the part of Hitler. Another problem with the movie was that it did not know when to end. Unlike ending with "Prisoner's of Love" in the prison, as they did in the original, they proceeded to bring that to Broadway as well. But the movie didn't stop there ether. It just kept going on. All that said, everyone else in the theater seemed to love it. They applauded and laughed at everything. Had they never seen the original? One could only guess.