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Arts & Entertainment, Music, Theatre

With The Producers at Village Theatre, It’s Springtime for Hitler in Issaquah & Everett

Max Bialystock (Richard Gray, center) and company in Village Theatre's production of The Producers. Photo: Jay Koh

Let’s get to the point: I loved this show-–so much that I forgot to review it. The Producers (now through July 1 at the Gaudette Theatre in Issaquah and July 6-29 at the Everett Performing Arts Center) is well-cast with terrific performances, and may very well be the best show I’ve seen at The Village.

Normally when I review a show for The SunBreak, I’m going for you, the people, to let you know if I think you’d like it. Sweeping generalization here, but you’re a literate lot, much more likely to know what this is than this…or hopefully this. But I have to confess I was just enjoying this production too much to take notes. Sorry about that. I totally owe you one.

We all know The Producers as a 1968 film with Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel playing Leo and Max, Broadway producers who plan to get rich by bilking little old lady investors and producing a show so bad it closes after one performance, just to get the insurance money. That movie launched Mel Brooks’ career and brought us Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs. In 2001, Brooks took it back to Broadway (with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane as Leo and Max) and it sold a bazillion tickets and earned 12 Tony Awards. Second movie ensued.

Casting-wise, director Steve Tomkins got it right. Richard Gray plays Max Bialystock, the producer of such hits as Funny Boy: A New Musical Version of Hamlet. Gray’s excellent comedic timing, physical comedy skills and patter song-rapping (“The King of Broadway”) help make him a Broadway-calibre Max–just as good as any Bialystock I’ve ever seen. Nebbishy accountant Leo is played by Brian Earp with the right amount of earnestness. Like Gray, he plays the part big–in a show like this, you go big or go home–without making it too big. Watching him melt down when Max takes a little blue comfort blanket as his perpetual companion, you see just how good he is.

In a show full of scene-stealers, there were two additional standouts for me. Nick DeSantis was amazing as Roger Debris, supposedly one of the worst directors on Broadway and the man chosen by Max and Leo to direct Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden. (Wait, did someone mention GAY?) His Roger was just so perfectly played; it was stereotypically over-the-top flamboyant, rouge and all, and yet somehow wasn’t demeaning or mocking. Everything he did was dead-on funny–again, like Gray, his was a Broadway-level performance, and I would love to see his Frank-N-Furter some day. (You know what I mean.) And finally, Jessica Skerritt plays Swedish actress/secretary/receptionist Ulla. She’s a triple-threat (quad-, if you count great comedienne) who played the role with more depth than you’d expect from the character. She had a voice to belt it out, but it turned to honey in her duet with Leo (“That Face”).

While the physical production isn’t overly lavish, it still looks good, and the performances, direction, and dancing are as good as any Broadway series tour you’d see anyway. The excellent tap-dancing. The big production number with the army of old ladies and their walkers. The Nazi pigeons. The Broadway and Jewish in-jokes. I could go on.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

An Oscar-Worthy Odd Couple at The Village Theatre (Review)

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Charles Leggett (Oscar Madison) and Chris Ensweiler (Felix Unger). Photo by Jay Koh. Property of Village Theatre.

After Snowpocalypse postponed opening night, I went to see Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple at Issaquah’s Village Theatre (tickets now through February 26 at the Gaudette Theatre in Issaquah and March 2–25 at the Everett Performing Arts Center). Until now, my exposure to the Odd Couple franchise was limited to the TV show from the early ’70s, and, as someone who is sort of, um, tidy, I always identified with Felix. But at this production, I found myself surprisingly identifying with Oscar. Or at the very least I was Oscar-curious.

Directed by Seattle theatre vet Jeff Steitzer, this play is all about timing. As sportswriter Oscar Madison, Charles Leggett is masterful about delivering his lines with a dry, perfectly-timed style that showed he could be the character and at the same time get out of the character’s way.  Part of the enduring nature of this play–which premiered in 1965 and has been in production ever since–is the brilliance of the writing.  The cast as a whole trusted this and resisted the temptation to make bits bigger or jokier. They played it straight and didn’t try to overdeliver the comedy. With a play this tested, it was a wise choice.

So why did I find myself in Oscar this time?  I think because of Leggett’s decision to make Oscar more than a mere caricature.  It’s also a testament to his skill as an actor.  For example, when Felix complains that he strained his throat while humming to clear his ears, Oscar’s cutting “Why don’t you leave yourself alone?” is both mocking, and delivered by Leggett, oddly caring.  Leggett’s Oscar centered around the idea that the people we love can drive us crazy, but we still love them.  That conflict came through in his performance and resonated.  With me anyway.

Chris Ensweiler’s Felix Ungar was less about nuance and more about comedy.  Where Leggett was about subtlety–even when screaming, if that makes sense–Ensweiler went for the laughs.  It’s not a criticism; the play probably works best when someone goes big.  And when you consider the many well-known actors who have played the role (Martin Short, Art Carney, Billy Crystal, Matthew Broderick, and, oh yes, Pat Sajak), it’s easy to see that you need that kind of foil if you are going to get the humanity out of Oscar.  Ensweiler is a skilled physical comedian, and this is evident in big ways and small.  When sitting alone with the British Pigeon sisters, his body language makes you feel how desperately uncomfortable he is.

The realistic apartment set by scenic designer Martin Christoffel looked great.  The rest of the cast is uniformly strong.  Again, the Village gives us a top-notch production.