We saw “The Producers”, the Hebrew show.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: It was crap. Go see the movie instead.<\/p>\n
I wasn’t disappointed from the show because my expectations were rock
\nbottom. Everything i suspected will happen indeed happened.
\nThe 2 English versions I saw at LA and London were marvelous, I even have soundtrack which i hear over and over again.
\nI think the play script itself is brilliant, and that Mel Brooks is a
\ngenius, and i would love to meet him and tell that to him in person
\n(and be the gazzilionth person who does).
\nLike a lot of the stuff Israeli do, the production of this show was sub standard.
\nFor example, The Music:
\nAs I foresaw, there wasn’t an orchestra at the theater. One of the
\ngreatest aspects of this show, was its full size orchestral score,
\nwhich in this case was replaced with a midi-like synthesized
\nplayback. It’s a shame, if you do a playback, you can at least
\nhire an orchestra (we have some very good ones here) and play the score
\nand don’t use synthesizers. Being a perfectionist musicophil it was
\nreally annoying hearing those fake violins and trumpets. I can make the
\nsame sounds with my PC. They tried to “cover it up ” and deceive the
\naudience by putting a synchronized video recording of a person waving
\nhis hands in the air as if he was a conductor and the orchestra was in
\nthe basement. I’m sure they managed to fool some of the fools in the
\naudience. Not me.
\nCasting and acting:
\nOnly one of the roles was actually casted and portrayed well, Franz
\nLipkin, who was played by Eli Gorenstien. He did a good job. I can’t
\nsay the same for most of the other cast members, especially the leading
\nrole of Max Bialostock played by Shlomo Baraba. Talk about over acting
\nthere ! Seesh…
\nThe translation:
\nwhy did they bother translate it to Hebrew if they removed 90% of the
\njokes and those that they kept were said in English by the actors
\n?
\nThis is the 4th incarnation of the producers I saw and the worse so far.
\nFrom before I saw the show i thought to myself : How the hell someone
\ntranslate a song called “I want to be a producer” to Hebrew ?
\nThe answer, in this case, was you don’t. You keep the word “Producers” in English.
\nIt’s a shame, because another one of the strength this play has its in
\noriginal production was its Mel Brooksie sense of humor which was
\nremoved completely.
\nThe direction:
\nAs I’ve seen more then a few examples when Israelis try to do something
\nprofessional, the lack the nessecery finish that makes a difference
\nbetween something spectacular and something mundane.
\nIt was obvious they cut too many corners and removed too many stuff
\nfrom the show and replaced it with “cardboard figures”, for example the
\nstep dancing by the old ladies and their walking carts. The only reason
\ni can see for why you would get such a nice bit from the show is budget
\nreason and lack of rehearsal time.
\nThe show’s black humor was diluted to the level where you can’t almost
\ntaste it. the deep satire that this show was trying to convey and
\nabsent !
\nIn the original show there’s a big scene where you see a the cast form
\nthis huge nazi swastika and reflected with an array of mirrors to the
\naudience, it didn’t exist here.
\nThey changed the name for the show within the show from “Springtime for
\nHitler” to “Sing a song for he fuhrer” and they avoided even mentioning
\nHilter’s name ! When ever they would, Baraba would spit and curse. It
\nwas a complete breach of character.
\nThis version of the show lost it’s validity with the loss of it’s
\nstrong black humor, now instead being a satire it was a weak not too
\nfunny comedy, and it was truly reflected on the amount of laughs from
\nthe audience. I remember sitting in the shows i saw abroad and the
\naudience was laughing their asses off ! Here, there was utter silence
\nmost of the show, not to mention the lack of standing ovations which
\nthe other shows received, I probably wasn’t the only one that thought
\nthis show wasn’t as successful as it’s predecessors abroad.<\/p>\n
Last side note: I can’t imagine how you can successfully tell a
\nholocaust joke (i know a few) without mentioning Nazis, Hitler or the
\nholocaust. Try to tell a black joke (joke about someone black)
\nwithout mentioning the fact he’s black: “Well now, a priest, a rabbi
\nand this other person, who is
\nslightly darker colored and might be African American, walk in to a
\nbar..”. It doesn’t work. It might be more politically corrent but it
\ndoesn’t work. Neither did this version of the show. Black humor needs
\nto be black, not a shade of grey.<\/p>\n
Bottom line, paraphrased: The movie “The Produces” comes to theaters in
\na month. I’m going to watch it. I suggest you do to, and don’t bother
\nwith the show. I’ll probably buy the DVD too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We saw “The Producers”, the Hebrew show. Bottom line: It was crap. Go see the movie instead. I wasn’t disappointed from the show because my expectations were rock bottom. Everything i suspected will happen indeed happened. The 2 English versions … Continue reading