When producers put on the worst musical in history, with the worst director, text, music and performers, to flee after the failure of the premiere with the money from the production, the worst that can happen is that it ends up being a success. These are The producers, the musical by Mel Brooks that premiered this Thursday at the Tivoli theater in Barcelona. With Àngel Llàcer and Manu Guix at the helm, the stage direction by Enric Cambray, the musical by Gerard Alonso and the choreography by Miryam Benedited, the show by the production company Nostromo Live exceeds all expectations, including the budgetary one, with 2.7 million 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 any stagehand being seen moving a wall even adds more magic to the musical. Thus, the lobby of a theater, the producers' office, the girls' staircase, a gray accounting office, the kitsch house of the worst director, a prison... appear and disappear.
The immersive music system surrounds the audience from all sides and makes the nine musicians playing live “sound like an entire orchestra,” says Guix. And here he has also dispensed with music or canned support choirs: “Everything is live, with the difficulty that this entails for the singers who act and dance on stage,” he adds to the musical director.
On stage, 24 actors and dancers constantly fill the space in the most colorful ways imaginable. In front, the producer and the ideologue accountant who will produce the worst musical in history, performed by actors who complement each other perfectly and each one shines 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 is reminiscent of a young Frank Sinatra, dazzles from the first moment with Being a producer is my dream.
To complete the protagonist trio, the woman is missing, Ulla, who is masterfully played by Mireia Portas, who already revealed herself to be a scene-stealer in Singin' in the Rain. It is clear that today you cannot put on a Mel Brooks musical without shaking off the dandruff, especially in terms of the sexual jokes and clichés. Therefore, the update of the secretary's character is another success of this show.
To perpetuate their plan, the producers need the worst director in history. And this is where the character of Roger de Bris comes in, which is the role that Àngel Llàcer has reserved for himself. He will have to direct the piece Flowers to Hitler, another of the themes present in Brooks' work, and will end up playing the Führer himself, dressed in pink from head to toe.
In short, a brilliant opening night with many familiar faces in the Tivoli audience, after the controversies over language and the contributions of theater critics. The producers raise the bar for musicals.
