‘The Producers’ at play
The curtain rises and we are confronted with six beautiful girls, dressed in shimmering dresses, standing side by side with a comparatively older looking man in the centre. They start out singing an introductory song to the highly-acclaimed Mel Brooks play, The Producers. There are no musicians present and no band. The song plays in the background with the ensemble on stage singing along at a slightly faster pace.

They leave and the one of the lead characters in the play, Max Bialystock, bursts into the scene from under a pile of newspapers on a couch placed centre stage. The play has officially started with a most unexpected beginning: no one could have fathomed that the couch in the background had been ‘occupied’ while the choir sang. And things only got better as the night progressed.

The Producers is a well-known, award-winning (several times over) play written by Mel Brooks, based on the Academy Award winning 1968 film by the same name. The person responsible for bringing it to Karachi is Nida Butt, a human rights lawyer by profession, who has had a keen interest in drama since her college days. “I came on stage two years ago as an actress in a play and since then decided that this is something that I wanted to do. But I wanted to head my own production and this was it,” she says enthusiastically.

The Producers is a play about a Broadway producer, Max Bialystock, who manages to convince his unassuming accountant into joining him in producing a play that will be doomed to fail from the beginning. They would raise more money than needed for the play and after it does flop, they would end up pocketing the production money. The play that they end up choosing is Springtime for Hitler written by a Hitler aficionado, Franz Liebkind, keen on displaying the ‘lighter’ side of Hitler and his hidden interest in song and dance. The plan backfires and the play ends up becoming a hit with the producers, Max Bialystock and his accountant Leo Bloom, ending up in a bit of a mess.

Memorable scenes from the play include Max Bialystock’s entry and the pains he goes through to extract a check from Ms Hold-me Touch-me, and also Leo Bloom imagining himself as a Broadway producer. Ulla’s audition was definitely another entertaining moment. The actress playing Ulla portrayed the dumb-blonde cliché and was also very convincing despite being a desi in a blonde wig. Hitler enters the play Springtime for Hitler within The Producers from among the audience itself and this is accompanied by high-powered dance sequences by the cast in the final scene of Springtime for Hitler.

The cast comprised primarily of school children who were refreshingly not conscious of the audience and performed enthusiastically. The lead roles of Max Bialystock, Leo Bloom, Ulla (the Swedish secretary), Ms Hold-me Touch-me (investor), Franz Liebkind and the lead singer seemed comparatively older and mature.

Even though those performing in the choir weren’t exactly ‘singers’, the cast and crew of Made for Stage (Nida Butt’s theatrical group) have to be commended for their efforts in trying to bring the play as close as possible to its original film version. From the set design to Ulla’s famous yellow dress, every little detail had been taken care of.

Post-performance talk with Nida Butt revealed that she had begun working on the play five months prior to its launch show. “In April, I started adapting the storyline and concept and held auditions in June. Our rehearsals took place in July and August,” she said.

Elaborating on why she chose The Producers, she said, “I think there are no gaps where the storyline is concerned. The latter is simple but the characters themselves are very flamboyant. A person can find his or her own meaning from each character and it gives you much more scope and room to work with.” Made for Stage collaborated with Flame (Friends of Literacy and Mass Education) on this production. As to why she chose this particular charity, Nida said, “A mutual friend recommended me to Flame and literally everything had been decided in the first meeting. They are an excellent charity, very good and trustworthy, and are very easy to work with especially when it comes to handling the sponsors, etc.”

With the proceeds gained from this show, the charity plans to establish more schools and provide better medical facilities to the underprivileged students studying in their schools.

First Published:
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September 3rd, 2006