“I’ve been a producer. Wasn’t much fun, or at least not a good fit for me. Much prefer being a director and/or choreographer. Even stage manager fits me better. The Producers is actually a show on my wishlist of ones I’d want to direct. I knew the soundtrack first. Then I saw the movie musical, which I knew was subpar, but still enjoyed it because it filled in all the blanks from only the soundtrack. I eventually saw the stage show, at the Hollywood Bowl with a cast that included Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Rebecca Romijn (one of those was awesome). Somehow, it’s taken until now to watch the original movie.
Finally got around to it, thanks to that DVD sale at the video store. Yeah, thought I was done with that, huh? Vacation-palooza got in the way of me being able to watch some of those for the blog, but we’re back. If I had come into this movie cold, without knowing the musical as well as I do, I’m sure I would have really liked it. True, Mel Brooks tends to be hit or miss for me, but this would have been a solid hit.
But the truth is, I do know the musical, very very well. So then by the time that I’m actually watching the original movie, it feels lacking. I already knew most of the jokes, and I kept anticipating musical numbers. It’s just not the same for me. It’s good to know that the musical tracks pretty well to the original, but it made for a very frustrating film for me. Also, I much prefer the way the Hitler casting in the musical worked out compared to the original movie. That guy alone was the source of half of my frustrations.
So maybe the movie musical doesn’t have the best reputation, as far as movie musicals (or movies, really) go. I don’t care if source material purists say the original movie is best. Give me Lane and Broderick any day. I’ll even accept Uma Thurman as part of the deal. I’m trying to figure how work the word “”Betrayed”” in to this paragraph so I can link to this video, but I’m drawing a blank. I’ll leave you with Der Guten Tag Hop Clop”