- Title: USA: MEL BROOKS MUSICAL "THE PRODUCERS" WINS 12 TONY THEATRE AWARDS
- Date: 3rd June 2001
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY , NEW YORK, USA (JUNE 3, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD EASTON, STAR OF "THE INVENTION OF LOVE" SAYING, "It certainly is true of me as an actor and it is certainly true I think of Tom Stoppard as a playwright and of Jack O'Brien as a director that we go first for the laughs and once you've set them in then you can get the rest
- Embargoed: 18th June 2001 13:00
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- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVADNW8RZ4SWN45NDZVTM39VG3NP
- Story Text: "The Producers," a musical satire of Broadway that makes fun of Jews, gays, old women and Hitler, high-kicked its way to a record 12 Tony Awards in what amounted to a coronation of the biggest theatre hit in New York in 25 years.
Film director Mel Brooks' adaptation of his 1968 movie met all expectations of critics and theatre audiences by eclipsing the 10 Tony Awards bestowed on the musical "Hello Dolly" in 1964. "The Producers" has been described as the most widely praised and watched Broadway show since "A Chorus Line"
raised the roof in 1975.
"The Producers" won in the Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Director and Best Leading Actor categories, among others. The play "Proof," about a young mathematical genius plagued by fears of inheriting her father's mental illness along with his mathematical talent, won three Tonys in the Best Play, Best Director and Leading Actress categories.
Brooks won the trophy for Best Original Score ahead of a field including the critically acclaimed "The Full Monty," "A Class Act" and "Jane Eyre," musicals that Brooks himself said would have walked away with the prizes had it not been for the phenomenal appreciation for "The Producers."
Funny man Brooks, best known for his humorous movies. In the event's final act, Brooks accepted the Tony Award for Best Musical in the spirit of the show he created, saying: "I want to thank Hitler for being such a funny guy on stage" as he lifted a comb to his upper lip to form a Hitler-like moustache.
The show, which includes a kickline of Nazi storm troopers, is a comedy about two losers, Bialystock and Bloom, played by Broadway stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, who seek success and enrichment by putting on the worst musical of all time, entitled "Springtime for Hitler."
Lane and Broderick were both nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor, but the 705 producers, theatre owners, journalists and others who vote for the Tony Awards, gave Lane the nod. Lane, in accepting the award, said he wanted to share it with Broderick. "We are very much a team, and believe me, without him, I am nothing."
Brad Oscar, who plays a key supporting role in "The Producers" said that he believes the success of the show has a lot to do with it's two star, "Nathan and Matthew have been doing this for a long time, they are stars they are celebrities they have achieved a certain place in this business where an audience immediately comes to them, is thrilled to see them so I think it enables them to sort of let go and do things that an actor who doesn't necessarily have an instant rapport with the audience could do."
The show within a show has been described as an equal opportunity offender, where the Jews are so greedy they make merchandise out of Hitler, gay men are portrayed as limp-wristed and lispy and sexually-depraved old women struggle with walkers to a sexual fling, In a bid to boost TV ratings for the 55th annual Tony Awards, the American Theatre Wing, which bestows Broadway's highest honours, asked crowd pleasures Lane and Broderick to host the live broadcast on PBS and CBS TV.
Such was the domination of "The Producers" -- it had received 15 nominations and millions appear to be prepared to pay the $100 ticket price to see it -- that even "Proof"
director Daniel Sullivan referred to it in his acceptance speech.
"Proof" added to its honours with Mary-Louise Parker winning the Tony for the Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. It also won Best Play, written by David Auburn, who earlier this year won a Pulitzer Prize for the same work.
Auburn says that if the Tony Award brings people in to see his play than all the better, "When I wrote the play I didn't have any idea that it would necessarily be produced so just the fact that we're here a year later and that it's running and that it's getting this kind of attention is what you hope for as a playwright that this kind of thing will bring people to the show and if it accomplishes that then I am thrilled."
The play, "The Invention of Love" by Tom Stoppard, won two Tonys -- Best Performance by a Leading Actor went to Richard Easton. Easton said that his play draws people in with laughs, " we go first for the laughs and once you've set them in then you can get the rest of it and I think it's like Shakespeare who does exactly the same thing he makes the audience laugh and then when the audience is sort of relaxed and the whole thing then you hit them on the head with something serious."
The revival of the musical "42nd Street" won two Tony Awards; one for the Best Revival of a Musical and the other for the Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical to Christine Ebersole who in a poignant moment dedicated her award to her deceased father,
"But this one's for you pop, even though you're not here in the flesh anymore I know you're cheering me on every night because now, you've got the best seat in the house, thank you so much for this honour."
"The Producers" trophies included: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan), Best Original Score -- Music & Lyrics -- Written for the Theatre (Brooks), Best Direction of a Musical (Susan Stroman), Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Nathan Lane), Best Scenic Design (Robin Wagner), Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long), Best Lighting Design (Peter Kaczorowski), Best Choreography (Susan Stroman), Best Orchestrations (Doug Besterman), Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gary Beach) and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Cady Huffman). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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