Yesterday, Ideal Center d’Arts Digitals hosted the presentation of the entire artistic team of the musical The Producers, by Mel Brooks, which will premiere next September at the TÃvoli theater in Barcelona. (Tickets already on sale from €23 at EntradasdeVanguardia.com)
With Àngel Llà cer and Manu Guix at the helm, seconded respectively in the artistic and musical direction by Enric Cambray and Gerard Alonso, this musical “has the comedy of La jaula de las locas and the glamor of Singing in the Rain”, say its managers , which will feature 11 performers, 18 dancers and 9 live musicians.
Mireia Portas, Ricky Mata and Armando Pita lead the cast, in which Llà cer has reserved an important role, although not a leading one, in order to combine all the other projects in which he is involved. He is the worst theater director on Broadway, a role in which he feels happy, especially when he dresses up as a pink Hitler from head to toe. “A glitter Hitler”, says the producer Jordi Sellas.
In the plot, some failed producers, living off their old laurels, devise a plan to keep a million dollars each and escape to Rio de Janeiro. To do this, they will get the money to produce the worst musical of all time, so that it is a flop and after opening night they will take Villadiego’s. But, against all odds, the musical is a success. Between the movie and the musical, Mel Brooks got the triplet: Oscar, Tony and Grammy.
As for the music, Guix considers that it is “particularly fun, adapted to nine live musicians”, with which “a grandiloquence typical of the golden age” will be achieved. Alonso is in charge of adapting the bars to the orchestra that will perform the numbers live.
There are 18 musical numbers that follow one another in the show. “They are big numbers,” says choreographer Miryam Benedited. “They are between the technique of jazz, tap dancing and the time in which we premiered, because the viewer needs this contemporary punch. We will try to make it as similar to Broadway as possible”.
Cambray affirms that “it is the most beastly stage challenge we have ever put together. We created a new imagery of The Producers, because we went from very realistic scenes to scenes full of magic. Beyond comedy, this musical plays with the limits of humor. It’s comedy taken to the limit.”
On this occasion, Ivan Labanda is missing, absent due to other professional commitments. The producers is the most ambitious production of Nostromo Live, with a budget of 2.7 million euros.
