'Springtime for Hitler' still making people laugh

The wildly successful Broadway show comes to St. Louis as part of a national tour

By Sam Blackwell ~ Southeast Missourian

ST. LOUIS

Mike Isaacson booked "The Producers the new Mel Brooks Musical" for its current three-week run at the Fox Theatre and is a producer himself. He won a Tony Award this year for the new production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," now in its 10th month on Broadway. Isaacson comprehends well the central truth "The Producers" has to convey.

"It tells you that producing is insane," he said in a phone interview from his St. Louis office. "It takes an enormous leap of faith and a great deal of insane courage."

Producing is, he says, "an ability to say, 'I don't know how this is going to end up,' but you keep on going."

"The Producers," which just climbed back on top as the No. 1 show on Broadway, tells the story of a shady Broadway producer and accountant whose scheme to make money by over-financing a flop backfires when their show, "Springtime for Hitler," captures the public's imagination. Beginning life in 1968 as a Mel Brooks movie, "The Producers" swept 12 Tony Awards after opening on Broadway in 2001. Brooks, who wrote the two songs in the movie, added 17 more for the musical.

A former assistant to the president at St. Louis University and former theater critic for the Riverfront Times in St. Louis, Isaacson produces musicals for Fox Theatricals. He also books shows for the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, which has 20,000 subscribers to its Broadway series.

"Generally I look for great shows, shows that excite audiences," he says. Booking "The Producers" didn't require any extraordinary acumen.

"From the moment it starts it knocks itself out to entertain," he says.

The original Broadway production starred movie notables Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. The show that opened at the Fox Tuesday has Lewis J. Stadlen in the role of producer Max Bialystock and Don Stephenson playing accountant Leo Bloom. Stadlen is a Broadway veteran who has a recurring role as Dr. Fried on the HBO hit series "The Sopranos."

Stephenson likewise has appeared in numerous Broadway productions, "including "Private Lives" and "Titanic."

Another truth about musicals is that no one knows whether putting amazingly talented people together in a room will result in a good show.

"Musicals are not a formula," Isaacson says. "Musicals are an elixir."

He thinks successes like "The Producers" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" signal a return to the musical's core form after decades of pop operas like "Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables."

In the movie "Shakespeare in Love," the star-struck money-lender says, "Allow me to explain about the theater business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.''

With "The Producers," "something worked and worked splendidly," Isaacson said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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