CLO's 'Producers' flaunts its sparkling company
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Jim Stanek, a Cranberry native and CMU alum, as Leo Bloom and John Treacy Egan as Max Bialystock in Pittsburgh CLO's "The Producers."
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To borrow from Mel Brooks:
Don't be a dummy, be a smarty,
"The Producers" is in town; time to party.
Pittsburgh CLO has turned the clock back to 2002, when the first national touring company of the Mel Brooks-Thomas Meehan Broadway hit, "The Producers," was launched from the same stage as the merry romp that opened at the Benedum Center last night. Opening night for the CLO had the polished staging and top-notch cast of just such a Broadway Series tour stop, plus it served as the best showcase of the summer for the company's talented ensemble.
To paraphrase the show's would-be producers, Max and Leo, where did this show go right?
Let's start with director/choreographer Bill Burns, making his CLO debut. He puts a talented group through its paces, and they respond with gusto.
John Treacy Egan leads the way as the deliciously conniving Max Bialystock. He's got a voice that echoes Nathan Lane's, looks like Jack Black and boasts a Broadway background that includes several roles in "The Producers," including stepping in for Lane's iconic Max.
Where: Benedum Center
When: Through July 18. 8 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; 2 and 8 p.m. Sat.; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sun.; and 2 p.m. Sun., July 18.
Tickets: $26.50-$70.50; 412-456-6666 or pittsburghclo.org.
He had already won over the crowd last night when, in the midst of the second-act showstopper "Betrayed," he paused for the "intermission" portion of the song and said, "Six dollars for a Coke. Yunz believe that?"
The audience got its money's worth from the big name in the cast, Joey Fatone, with a hilarious turn as the Hitler-loving playwright Franz Liebkind, and from his castmates in other relatively small, showy roles, including Broadway's original Hold-Me, Touch-Me little old lady, Madeline Doherty. Another name you'll be searching the program for is John Walton West. He drew howls of laughter with his every step as the limp-wristed man-in-black-tights, Carmen Ghia, adoring assistant to Stuart Marland's Roger DeBris.
First Published July 7, 2010 10:06 am
