Storyline: This is the movie version of the Broadway musical based on Mel
Brook’s classic comedy film about a Broadway producer (Nathan Lane) who
teams up with his nebbish accountant (Matthew Broderick) to produce a flop
in order to pocket the investments of little old ladies in a show that has
no profit. But their Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolph and Eva
at Berchtesgaden is a surprise hit, exposing their fraud.
Mel Brooks must have been sincere when he thanked
arranger Glen Kelly for making his "rude,
simple 32-bar songs ... sound like glorious and memorable Broadway show
tunes." He thanked him when he won the Tony Award for Best Score. He thanked
him in the notes for the original Broadway cast album. Now he thanks him in
the notes of the movie soundtrack album. Well he should, for Kelly's
arrangements -- as orchestrated by Doug Besterman and with the assist of
Patrick Brady's music direction -- do, in fact, make the score sound like --
well, a score. But Brooks isn't the rube he pretends, and his "simple 32-bar
songs" are endlessly inventive, delightfully tuneful and quite memorable. It
is not for naught this is known as the "Mel Brooks Musical."
The movie version captured on this disc was directed by
the same Susan Stroman whose direction of the Broadway show brought her well
deserved Tonys for best director and best choreographer. (The Producers
walked away with a Tony in every category for which the show was eligible --
a record total of twelve.) She knows the material and how to put it over. As
a result, the performances captured here are the equivalent of the Broadway
originals. Most of them are by the same performers . . . Nathan Lane,
Matthew Broderick, Gary Beach, Roger Bart all reprise their roles. Will
Ferrell makes a great former Nazi. It is a shame, however, that Cady
Huffman's oh-so-sexy Ulla Inga Hansen Vensen Jansen Tolen Hallan Spaden
Svansen was replaced by Uma Thurman. John Barrowman is a nice addition as
the tenor who leads off "Springtime for Hitler."
The film cut some of the material from the
show. Lane's "The King of Broadway" didn't make it into the film but it is
preserved on the soundtrack recording. Missing, however, is the very funny
introductory material for Broderick's "I Wanna Be A Producer." A new song was written for the movie. (The better to compete for
an Oscar!) It is "There's Nothing Like a Broadway Show" which is performed
over the final credits in the movie. Also performed over those credits, and
preserved on the album, is a very funny rendition of "Der Guten Tag
Hop-Clop" by Will Farrell as a slow ballad titled "The Hop-Clop Goes On."
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