The Producers – Menier Chocolate Factory, London

Writers: Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan

Music and Lyrics: Mel Brooks

Director: Patrick Marber

Closing a show in a single night is the kind of power critics can only dream of, and unlikely to affect this already sold-out run of The Producers at the Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Patrick Marber. A musical with a ready-made audience thanks to the film and many stage productions, this latest version enjoys the cartoony slapstick style of the Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan farce, and on the very small stage, the musical numbers have the biggest impact, notably increasing the energy as the production hurtles towards the interval.

‘Top’ producer Max Bialystock gets into trouble with his new accountant Leo Bloom after his Hamlet musical closes on opening night, and Leo suggests with the right financial management, Max could have made money from his flop. Quickly hatching a plan to find the worst play ever written, Max and Leo, who dreams of becoming a Broadway producer, join forces, but their tasteless show about Hitler doesn’t quite go to plan.

This Menier revival has really focused on the big ensemble numbers and in developing the core chemistry between Andy Nyman’s Max and Marc Antolin’s Leo, which balances out the brash amplification of the songs with a likeable friendship between two very different, fairly lonely men who develop a winning partnership. And as much fun as the full-on singing and dancing is, that connection brings it all together.

Marber has concentrated on making those musical numbers as exciting and eccentric as possible within the confines of the small theatre space, and sometimes this is at the cost of the spoken exchanges, a place where energy falters throughout the production. If here and there the director is missing the unstoppable drive of the farce, the selection box of ideas from the sublime to the genuinely ridiculous – a human Nazi pigeon, for example – certainly keeps pushing the comedy. There’s even a moving human statue, which tips a wink to Marber’s Don Juan in Soho from 2017.

And it largely pays off, certainly building pace and purpose towards the end of Act One, most notably with the arrival of the superb Joanna Woodward, whose Ulla is hilarious but also fully investable. And Marber is on a roll as When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It slips into Along Came Bialy and then in Act Two as hit after hit entertains the now willing audience. The choices for Springtime for Hitler led by Trevor Ashley’s Roger are enhanced by Paul Farnsworth’s excellent costume design, notable throughout, and some great set work by Scott Pask.

Lorin Latarro’s choreography is a showstopper here, mixing lots of Broadway styles across very different numbers, using the limitations of the stage to create both space for the lovers and more intimate scenes, but also filling it with movement for the many showbiz-facing songs. So, if Marber and co were hoping for a flop and a trip to Rio, alas, there’s probably very little the critics can do to sink this version of The Producers, which leaves only one option, to wish them “good luck” and say “if you hate it, tell everybody.”

Runs until 1 March 2025