Thursday, July 31, 2014
Staff report
SALEM
The Mahoning Valley premiere of the musical comedy “The Producers” opens Friday at Salem Community Theater, 490 E. State St., and will run for six performances over two-consecutive weekends.
Curtain times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $14 ($10 for seniors and $8 for students. Call 330-332-9688.
The cast of 26 is led by director Tyler Stouffer, in his directorial debut.
Fans of Mel Brooks will be familiar with the history and plot of “The Producers,” which was originally produced as a film in 1968 starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel.
The story is simple: A down-on-his-luck Broadway producer conspires to bilk desperate little old ladies out of millions of dollars, with the help of his new friend, an accountant-turned-producer.
Everything is going according to plan until what was selected to be the worst show in history (and with the worst director) becomes a smash hit.
When Brooks was persuaded to turn his movie into a stage musical, he wrote the songs himself, and then co-wrote the book for the show with Thomas Meehan. The show opened on Broadway in 2001, garnering three Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards plus a Grammy Award for the soundtrack.
After that success, a new movie was produced in 2005 based on the musical, including the Broadway show’s stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.
Salem’s production offers up a hilarious pairing of leads: SCT veteran Donny Wolford as Leo Bloom (the neurotic accountant) and Chuck Peery, playing washed-up producer Max Bialystock.
Also featured in the cast are Youngstown’s David El’Hatton as the eccentric director Roger Debris; Matthew Malloy as his assistant, Carmen Ghia; and Christopher Hager as Franz Liebkind, the writer of what was supposed to be the horrible stage play “Springtime for Hitler.”
Kathie Steeb stars as Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yonsen Tallen-Hallen Svaden-Svanson, the saucy Swedish secretary for the unscrupulous duo.
Director Tyler Stouffer has been performing on the SCT stage since 2002 and has been performing in the area since 2000. The 2012 Salem High School graduate is studying at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles.
He recently performed in the debut of “My Dirty Little Secret” as part of the Hollywood Fringe Performing Arts Festival in LA.