Arts & Culture

Oxford New Theatre June 29 to July 4 By Jamie Hill

I grew up on Mel Brooks. I loved everything he did. History of the World, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs and obviously The Producers. Brooks is a man who is able to see the ridiculous in every situation and in my mind he is a peurile genius.

So with that in mind, when I heard that the latest West End run of The Producers would be touring nationwide and coming to Oxford I got goosepimples. And then when I heard that it would be starring the brilliant Jason Manford and Ross Noble I even got goosepimples on my goosepimples.

It is a musical adaptation of the film about a musical adaptation that then was adapted into a film again. Basically, it tells the story of two hapless producers who through creative accounting realise they would rake in more money by having a flop that closed on opening night than a hit.

They then go about making the worst possible show that they can by putting on the bad taste musical Springtime for Hitler. And it’s good. I mentioned my goosepimples earlier. Well by the end of the show I had a whole gaggle of goosepimples on my goosepimples. It was that fantastic.

Jason Manford plays Leo Bloom - a part made famous by Gene Wilder in the original Brooks’ movie. An innocent accountant who always dreamt of being a Broadway producer, who gets sucked into the rather dodgy world of producer Max Bialystock played by Cory English. Together the two embark on their Broadway quest encountering Ross Noble’s Franz Liebkin, the playwright behind the aforementioned musical Springtime for Hitler. Noble, in the role of Liebkin, is a triumph. You can’t take your eyes off him.

You just want him to just be permanently on staring at you with his unblinking eyes as he completely lives the role of the mad Nazi playwright.

Every nuance and every line is perfect and makes you want to roar with laughter. And he was very good at interacting with dead pigeons.

The heart of the show is Manford’s Leo Bloom and the comedian and former One Show presenter is fantastic in the role. He’s got a good voice that Manford bloke. His Bloom is brilliant. Sympathetic and at all times very funny. It’s a far cry from his stand-up work and shows that he really does have some serious acting chops.

If Manford was the heart, then Cory English’s Max Bialystock was the sleaze of the show. English delivers every line of sexual innuendo with relish. He comes across as someone who would sell their own grandmother, or at least sleep with someone else’s grandmother, but at the same time manages to keep you rooting for him no matter how awful and immoral some of his behaviour is. He has some of the best lines and you can tell that he is loving every minute of it.

If you get the chance, I would definitely recommend that you head to Oxford and catch this show before the end of the week. At times the entire audience was in hysterics as we go from gag to gag to gag. It’s rude. It’s peurile. But it’s brilliant. And the songs are pretty damn good as well. If you like Brooks - you’ll love it. If you like laughing - you’ll love it. If you like life - you’ll love it. I think that covers mostly everybody.