When some producers put together the worst musical ever, with the worst director, text, music and performers, to escape after the failure of the premiere with the production money, the worst that can happen is that everything turns upside down and ends being a success These are The producers, the Mel Brooks musical that opened yesterday at the Tívoli theater in Barcelona. With Àngel Llàcer and Manu Guix at the helm, Enric Cambray’s stage direction, Gerard Alonso’s musical and Miryam Benedited’s choreography, the show by the production company Nostromo Live exceeds all expectations, including the budget, with 2.7 millions of euros.
Llàcer had already explained to La Vanguardia that they had wanted to make a musical with all the technical resources available, starting with the set changes. And indeed, the succession of sets without at any time seeing a stagehand moving a wall adds even more magic to the musical. Thus, the lobby of a theater, the office of the producers, the staircase of the vedettes, a gray accounting office, the kitsch house of the worst director, a prison… appear and disappear.
The immersive music system envelops the audience from all sides and makes the nine musicians who play live “sound like a whole orchestra”, says Guix. And here, too, music or canned backing choirs have been dispensed with: “Everything is live, with the difficulty that this poses for the singers who act and dance on stage”, adds the musical director.
On the tables, 24 actors and dancers who constantly fill the space in the most colorful ways imaginable. In the lead, the producer and the ideologue accountant who will produce the worst musical in history, played by actors who complement each other perfectly and each shine in their own style: Armando Pita and Ricky Mata. Pita shines especially in the summary number, while Mata, who when he puts on his hat reminds me of a young Frank Sinatra, dazzles from the first moment with Ser producer es mi sueño.
To complete the protagonist trio, the woman, Ulla, is missing, masterfully played by Mireia Portas, who already revealed herself as a scene-stealer in Cantando bajo la lluvia. It’s clear that you can’t put on a Mel Brooks musical today without dusting off the dandruff, especially when it comes to sexual jokes and clichés. That is why the update of the character of the secretary is another success of this show.
To perpetuate their plan, the producers need the worst director ever. And this is where the character of Roger de Bris comes in, which is the role that Àngel Llàcer has reserved. He will have to conduct the piece Flores a Hitler, another of the themes present in Brooks’ work, and will end up playing the Führer himself, dressed in pink from head to toe.
Great opening night, then, with many familiar faces in the Tívoli audience, after the controversies about the language and the entrances of theater critics. The producers raises the bar for musicals.
