ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC delivered a knockout performance of “The Producers” on Aug. 2, 3 and 4.
The famous Mel Brooks/Thomas Meehan comedy, the PAS’s ninth summer production, was brought to the stage by close to 60 students of the illustrious school. They ranged in age 15 to 20, but had the skills and delivery of seasoned professionals.
The production was directed by Alexander Diaz and choreographed by Rebecca Sonia with Glenn Gordon directing the music.
From the opening act to the final scene, the audience was treated to a non-stop cavalcade of entertainment, including 25 song and dance numbers.
Sonia explained why this production was both exciting and challenging.
“When you do comedy, the timing has to be perfect and you have to hit the perfect balance of what people think is funny,” she said. “This cast did that masterfully and I loved working with these kids. They come back every year, so we are like a family.”
When “The Producers” originally opened on Broadway in 2001, it made box office history and won a record 12 Tony Awards.
The madcap play remains a favorite of audiences everywhere. As it opens, we see that Max Bialystock, once the toast of Broadway, has now been reduced to a washed-up, aging, fraudulent and greedy Broadway producer who barely ekes out a hand-to-mouth existence. He is seen romancing and tricking amorous wealthy elderly women to procure money for his next play.
Bialystock’s foil is a reluctant accountant, Leo Bloom, a nervous young man prone to hysterics, who discovers that his client has been cooking the books. Bialystock persuades Bloom to hide a relatively minor fraud and convinces him that a producer can make a lot more money with a flop than a hit by overselling shares in a production that fails. The two soon become accomplices.
In the 1967 movie, these starring roles were played by Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. At The Performing Arts School, the characters were resurrected brilliantly by Emanuel Singletary as Bialystock, and Aidan Winn as Bloom. Among many other standout performances, Bialystock’s sexy Swedish secretary, Ulla, was played by Haley Karlich.
“The Producers,” performed at the bergenPAC in two acts, faithfully followed the plot of the Mel Brooks’ movie, in which Bialystock and Bloom commission and mount a play with the irreverent title, “Spring Time for Hitler,” a musical comedy about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun romping in Berchtesgaden. They procure the script from a most unlikely playwright—Franz Liebkind—an unregenerate Nazi who keeps pigeons and staunchly maintains that Hitler was “a swell guy with a song in his heart.”
After oversubscribing by 25,000%, Bialystock, a totally shameless rogue, obtains $2 million by seducing wealthy widows in wheel chairs and walkers. He and Bloom ensure disaster by hiring Roger De Bris, a flagrant transvestite generally regarded as the world’s worst director, to stage their play, and Lorenzo St. Du Bois, a total weirdo to play the young Fuhrer who danced his way to glory.
But, Bialystock and Bloom’s scheme backfires. The play is a hit, the crooked bookkeeping is revealed and the pair wind up in jail after a trial in which they are found “incredibly guilty.” After serving their sentence, they gleefully revert to their former tactics by producing and overselling a prison show called “Prisoners of Love.”
Audiences at the bergenPAC agreed that the school’s “The Producers” was fabulous and they continued laughing well after the curtain came down.
Diaz was rightfully proud of the production.
“This cast and show is amazing and the students have been working so hard to make it incredible. Broadway bound!” he said.
The students also had a great experience with this production.
“Even though I had been performing for many years, when I came to the PAS, I really learned a lot,” said Haley Karlich, a student at Montclair State University, who played the role of Ulla. “Rehearsing for ‘The Producers,’ I learned new skills, and it is always a joy working with Alex and Rebecca, who have a lot to offer the students. They are very professional people and so prestigious!”
Amongst the packed house at each performance were many proud parents of the actors. They spoke about how extraordinary the the school’s programs are and how they have transformed their children’s lives.
“My son, Michael, was always quiet and reserved,” said his father, Lorenzo Socas. “But, after taking classes at The Performing Arts School and appearing in several of the productions, he is a different person. When he is on stage, it’s magic.”
Elizabeth Marchese also spoke in glowing terms about her daughter Sophia’s experience at the PAS.
“This is her fourth year at Rebecca Sonia’s musical theater class at the PAS and it has really helped her hone her skills and develop great confidence. Rebecca inspired her so much that she is now going University of the Arts College in Philadelphia majoring in musical theater,” she said.
Dominic Roncace, president and CEO of the bergenPAC, also had words of praise for everyone who made “The Producers” a success, and for the Performing Arts School overall.
“It is remarkable how the summer musical has become such a highlight for our Performing Arts School,” said Roncace. “That is all thanks to the hard work of the teens who come out each year and our professional faculty who guide them.”
Roncace noted that the school has spearheaded many professional careers.
“Seeing Steven Spielberg pick Rachel Zegler, our ‘Maria,’ for his ‘West Side Story’ film remake, and Winter Donnelly, our ‘Gavroche’ in ‘Les Mis,’ being cast in Broadway’s ‘Frozen,’ shows that we are not the only ones who think these productions are great. ‘The Producers’ is a great show in which the audience may see another future movie or Broadway star right here.”
The Performing Arts School will host a fall open house on Sept. 4 and 5. For information, call (201) 482-8194, ext. 78 or email education@bergenpac.org.
