Photo by Kat Dollarhide
THREE’S COMPANY. Max Bialystock (Frank Kohel), Ulla (Jenny McMurry) and Leo Bloom (Scott Polovitch-Davis) share some laughs.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse does a fine job conveying all the bawdiness and over-the-top stereotypes in their production of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers.”
Max Bialystock (Frank Kohel) is in a bind. Once a titan among Broadway producers, a string of recent plays have flopped. The solution to his dilemma comes from Leo Bloom (Scott Polovitch-Davis), the meek accountant sent to do his books. Thinking out loud, he tosses out a theoretical accounting exercise. A producer could make more money from a flop than a hit, assuming an accountant was willing to cook the books.
Bialystock and Bloom become business partners. They need the most awful play ever written, one that will be ripped apart by the newspaper drama critics, something sure to offend nearly anyone. Stage a dud that will be cancelled within days and they skip town with the money raised by their financial backers. Or so they assume.
They find their dud in “Springtime For Hitler,” a musical written by Franz Liebkind (Chris Serface), a German and Nazi sympathizer living in New York City. Their first encounter with him shows how the set design utilizes the upper area on stage left. Liebkind is tending his pigeons, which he keeps in cages on the rooftop of his apartment building.
The most impressive performance is turned in by Polovitch-Davis. Bloom is really the only character who undergoes a transformation, whereas the other actors play characters who are essentially the same throughout. Polovitch-Davis has the facial expressions down pat, from the mild-mannered office worker cowering from an overbearing boss to the shy guy who is awkward about the advances of Swedish sexpot Ulla (Jenny McMurry) to the suave Broadway producer he becomes.
Another strong performance comes from Gregory Conn as Roger DeBris, the flamboyant gay man hired to direct the dramatic salute to Nazism.
Kudos to Joan Schlegel for the costume design, especially for how she has outfitted DeBris. We first encounter him dressed in drag, preparing for a party. Next he is at the auditions, ready for business in a colorful shirt and tie. The black and teal tuxedo ensemble he and his lover Carmen Ghia (John Huddlestun) wear on opening night are bold yet tasteful.
“The Producers” runs through May 17. For more information call (253) 565-6867 or visit http://www.tmp.org.
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