WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Pia Haas, Westchester Broadway Theatre (Edited) July 23, 2008: Listen up guys and dolls, WBT is doin a show, and what a show. This is Good News people!  In a summer where there has been no good news, this all changes on August 7 when WPCNR’s favorite movie, The Producers, and the stage hit of the same name opens up at Westchester Broadway Theatre for a three-month run.

"A little off the shoe tops, my good man, and make it snappy."Bob Amaral as Everybody's Favorite Producer, Max Bialystock with his haberdasher and everybody needs one. Mr. Amaral recreates the Nathan Lane role beginning August 7 at the Westchester Broadway Theatre.

The Producers , the smash musical opened at the St. James Theatre on April 19, 2001 and ran for 2,502 performances, closing on April 22, 2007. The show originally starred Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock and Matthew Broderick as Leo Bloom. It won 12 Tony Awards, breaking the record held for 37 years by Hello, Dolly! which had won 10.  The Producers also broke the record for the largest single day box-office gross in theatre history, taking in more than $3.5 million. In 2005, the musical was adapted into a musical film, becoming a movie based on a musical based on a movie about a musical. It was directed by Susan Stroman starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising their stage roles,

A gleefully vulgar play, The Producers is replete with “slapstick, corny jokes, Borscht Belt shtick, ethnic jokes, unsubtle dirty jokes, hummable melodies, opulent and entirely unmotivated musical numbers and vigorous tap dancing,”

The Play centers around Max Bialystock, played by Bob Amaral, a scheming, down-on-his luck theatrical producer, and Leo Bloom, with Joel Newsome, as  his mousy,  stage struck, accountant. It all starts when Leo points out that under the right circumstances, a producer could actually make more money with a flop than he can with a hit. “No profits” = “no need to pay off the backers”.  

The idea is hatched to find the worst play ever written, hire the worst director and the worst actors in New York,  raise two million dollars from little old ladies willing to invest in a play in return for a little affection,  and when the play closes on opening night,  run off to Rio with the money.  The chosen script, guaranteed to close in one night is "Springtime for Hitler, A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden," written by a nutty neo-Nazi named Franz Liebkind.  Roger De Bris, the worst director in New York and a flamboyant homosexual to boot, agrees to do it, but only if the ending is changed so the Germans end up winning World War II!  The scheme seems surefire,  but anything can happen when the lights go up on Broadway!

The Producers  is adapted from Mel Brooks' wacky 1968 film of the same name, which starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. The film was so brazen in its satire that the major studios wouldn't touch it. Brooks finally found an independent distributor, which released it like an art film. The Producers went on to receive an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and became a smash underground hit   For The Musical, Brooks wrote music and lyrics for 17 new songs to go along with “Springtime for “Hitler and “Prisoner of Love” from his film score. Brooks asked his old friend, Glen Kelly to sign on as the musical arranger, and playwright, Thomas Meehan, who wrote the book for the musical, Annie,  to join him in writing the book for the stage. Tony  award winner, Susan Stroman, who worked on hits like Contact, Showboat, The Music Man, Crazy For You,  and Gypsy (here at WBT!), joined the creative team as director and choreographer.

BOB AMARAL returns to WBT in the role of everybody’s favorite producer, Max Bialystock. On Broadway:  Mr. Amaral has appeared in Lion King, Guys & Dolls, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  National Tours:  The Producers, Lion King, Annie Get Your Gun, and Wizard of Oz.Regional Theatre: Happy Days: A New Musical, Noises Off, Anything Goes, Triumph of Love, The Robber Bridegroom, Mike, Joseph.Dreamcoat, Good News, The Music Man, Guys & Dolls, and was Kromov in the S.F. Opera production of The Merry Widow.Television: Mad About You, N.Y.P.D. Blue, Babylon 5, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Any Day Now, Son of the Beach, My Two Dads, Major Dad, Empty Nest, Love & War, The Second Half, Brothers Keeper, and was Eddie Hayes in Rob Reiner's Morton & Hayes.

JOEL NEWSOME  is the accountant, Leo Bloom  who returns to The Producers once more having performed the show on Broadway and on the National Tour. While on tour, Joel had the honor of playing Leo Bloom as well as Carmen Ghia. Other Broadway credits include the Tony winning revival of 42nd Street where he covered and performed the roles of Bert Barry and Andy Lee. Westchester audiences may remember Joel as Cosmo Brown in Singin' in the Rain..

DAVID EDWARDS(Director) Appeared as both Max Bialystock and Roger DeBris in the First National Tour of THE PRODUCERS directed by Susan Stroman.  He has also directed the musical regionally, most recently at Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, New Jersey Westchester Broadway Theatre audiences will remember him as Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA, Albin in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, Scrooge in two different versions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and most recently, in PHANTOM. 

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