By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
Max Bialystock (Dennis Tamblyn), left, and Leo Bloom (Matthew Holter) star in "The Producers."
Plowing head-on into the real and rising popularity for neo-Nazi ideology in America, doughty Arizona Onstage Productions blows away Hitler's iconography with its scrappy presentation of the Mel Brooks musical, “The Producers.”
Swastikas are flying, along with anything else that isn't nailed down, in the company's unabashed enthusiasm for taking everything way over the top at the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd.
The pretzels are bigger, the beer steins taller, the sausages beyond belief when the dancers open their “Springtime for Hitler” number, a focal point of fun co-choreographed by Karrie France and Carrie Silverman.
While Broadway productions of “The Producers” have enjoyed many kinds of success over the years, the AOP version directed by Annette Hillman will be remembered most for filling the stage with joyful dancing.
An eager ensemble of 20 selfless performers threw themselves into more than a dozen big and busy numbers filled with catchy costumes designed by Shana Nunez and Stephanie Frankenfield.
Although a recorded soundtrack provides all the musical accompaniment, and the stage sets themselves only hint at the details they provide, so much positive energy keeps pouring across the footlights that mundane details just don't matter.
As for the tent pole roles of Max Bialystock (Dennis Tamblyn) and Leo Bloom (Matthew Holter), Tamblyn's big voice leads him to that larger-than-life personality we expect from a flailing Broadway producer who gets all his financial support by romancing lonely and rich little old ladies.
Leo Bloom is a quieter sort, but even as the accountant who innocently tells Max he could make a lot of money producing a flop Broadway show, Holder holds his own in the part.
This delicate balance of show biz personalities is completely upset by the free-loving Swedish housekeeper Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson, given a super-hot melting point performance by Liz Cracchiolo.
So as boisterous Max devotes his life to creating the worst Broadway show ever directed by the worst director ever – Roger DeBris (Steve McKee) – and Leo the accountant diligently keeps two separate sets of books, Ulla encourages both men to join her daily for “sex at 11.”
Though their roles are smaller, McKee and Jacob Brown as Roger's common law assistant Carmen Ghia are having the most fun. Knowing that if it wasn't for their flamboyant lifestyle they wouldn't have any lifestyle at all, Roger and Carmen convince us they can live forever on pink air and lipstick.
Be aware “The Producers” does run a full three-hours with one regular-sized intermission. But be sure to stay for the end because Brown steps up after all the applause to firmly place the importance of this show's anti-Nazi message front and center.
"The Producers" plays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26; again at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27, in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd.
Tickets are $42.50, with discounts available. For details and reservations, 882-6574, and arizonaonstage.org
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