December 9, 2005

The Producers was a great movie. The Producers was a great Broadway musical. The Producers: The Musical is a 50% an absolute joy and 50% a disappointment. When the musical feels right shot as though it was on stage, it's terrific. There is a scene in Leo Bloom's accounting office that becomes "I Wanna Be A Producer," which is boxed in by filing cabinets, so it is essentially a stage-like box. And Susan Stroman shoots it like a stage. Gangbusters.

The trouble comes when Stroman is called upon to act like a film director and not a stage director. Most of the time that is the case, she fails. And one gets the impression that boss man Mel Brooks wasn't in a big rush to keep her from simply recreating a lot of his handiwork from the original film, as well as from the show. The classic example of this in the movie is "Along Came Bialy," which involves a dozen or so "little old ladies" dancing with their walkers in unison on stage and in the movie involves dozens. But it just doesn't read on screen, even with the additional dancers, the way it did on stage. In great part, this is because Stroman uses Central Park as a backdrop instead of as an integral part of the scene. We have all seen little old ladies around New York City. Movies are more literal than stage… even musicals. So for the gag to work, it needs to be a little tougher… more than just old ladies who we know aren't old ladies dancing with walkers. I don't even have a sure bet answer. All I know is that it needed to feel bigger.

Of course, the great scene in the original The Producers in which Leo and Max end up in front of the Lincoln Center fountain, which shoots to life when Leo decides to go into business with Max is now at Buckingham Fountain… which makes no sense. No one would ever go to Bethesda Fountain at night. And if it was either impossible or too expensive to shoot Lincoln Center, so be it. Find an appropriate alternative that is also a part of the real New York… not an illogical trip to the heart of Central Park.

Even the scenes in front of the recreated Shubert Theater… I just always wanted the show to break out and take over 44th Street. Something that was just not a filmed version of what was on stage. Anything!

The office set is the other big example. There was no fourth wall in that space. And damn it, that is the difference between a movie and a stage show. When Brooks made the original film in 1968, TV directors were moving up in Hollywood and shooting small films like they were live TV was not terribly unusual. But times have changed. Herb Ross did the job well when he shot The Sunshine Boys as a movie in 1975. Rob Marshall, for all his faults, also was effective in opening up Chicago so it didn't feel like a stage show, even when he used very stagey conceits on numbers like "We Both Reached For The Gun" or "Cell Block Tango."

And it's a shame, because this score and story can charm you to within an inch of your life. Uma Thurman is not much of a singer or a dancer, but she does great as Ulla. Will Ferrell chews the scenery, but that's his job here and he is very funny most of the time. John Lovitz gets one scene-stealing scene.

The stars of the show are a mixed bag. Nathan Lane is amazing on stage in this role. But he is just doesn't have Zero Mostel's power on film. Really, I would pay to see Lane in anything on stage. But this is the nature of a medium shift. He does everything right in this role. But really, his biggest problem on film is that he is too young for the role. Mostel was a magnificent grotesque and he looked worn out. The age difference between Mostel and Wilder was 18 years… Lane and Broderick, only six. On stage, not an issue. On screen, it makes the gag that these two men are separated by so many elements of their lives less effective. When Gene Wilder was scared that Zero would jump on him and crush him, we in the audience identified. Zero was scary that way. Nathan Lane just isn't. On stage, you make that leap. On film, no. It is an unadapted screenplay, though the original - straight and musical - was brilliant.

Matthew Broderick is a terrific performer, endlessly likeable and sweet. But I felt much the same way in this film as I did about his performance on stage… a little too much performance for me. I really longed for his to be a little less broad and a little more Broderick. No question, he was pushed from the beginning on Broadway to be wilder. And, as with Lane, the stage is more forgiving. A bit stronger Leo Bloom would break the tradition of the now classic Leo/Max relationship. But it would make, I think, a stronger, tougher Max and certainly, there are few men who wouldn't have to fight not to be a little intimidated by Uma's Ulla.

This is a period movie and it is hard to figure out if there is an answer to a number like "Keep It Gay," which has a natural theatrical irony on stage and seems a little dated on film. The Village People just don't define gay anymore… nor does a lesbian in a plaid shirt. We get it. And it is so over the top on stage, it brings the house down. And the fivesome from Queer Eye For The Straight Guy would be too of-the-moment for a movie you want to be timeless. I don't know… Rex Reed, Ian McKellan, Rupert Everett, and Harvey Fierstein? Something out of the box (no pun intended), please!

There were two moments that were keys for me going into the movie. First, there was the question of how Ms. Stroman would handle Max's soliloquy, "Betrayed." Would this be the showstopper that it was on stage? And the answer was that she did a decent job, but no, it doesn't have the power on film that it does on stage. Part of that is the natural subtext of watching a movie and knowing that the singing's been prerecorded. And part of it, again, was that there was no real invention in the sequence. The filmmaking needed to match the magic of the song and it was lacking. The other key was the on stage gag of Ulla and Leo's faces being projected on the white walls of Bialystock & Bloom during the song, "That Face." It is very hokey, but a lively surprise and very endearing on stage. And on film… skipped. Anyone who put on a happy face watching Bye Bye Birdie on film knows that a little invention can really work on screen. WWVMD. (What Would Vicente Minnelli Do?)

I really wanted to love this movie. And I am actually really anxious to see it again, because what I like about it, I really like. But the frustration of watching an opportunity missed with so much going for it… brutal.

E-ME.