Village Players close 99th season with ‘The Producers’
After a two-year delay in production due to the pandemic, the Birmingham Village Players will close out its 99th season with the Tony Award-winning hit musical, “The Producers.”
“We were originally going to do the show in May 2020,” said director Michael Gravame, of Detroit. “But with only two weeks of rehearsals the show was closed down due to COVID.”
The hysterical musical comedy — written by Mel Brooks and based on his hit 1967 film of the same name — follows Max Bialystock (Ed O'Sullivan, of Birmingham) and Leo Bloom (Joel Frazee, of Madison Heights), who try to oversell a Broadway flop only to encounter complications when the show unexpectedly turns out to be a hit. Musical highlights include “Springtime for Hitler,” I Wanna Be a Producer,” “When you Got It, Flaunt It,” “We Can Do It” and “Where Did We Go Right?”
The original Broadway production boasted 15 Tony Award nominations, of which it won 12 — setting the record for most wins in history by a single production, and becoming one of the few musicals to win in every category for which it was nominated.
Many of the costumes featured in the Village Players production are the same Tony Award winning costumes seen in the original Broadway production, designed by William Ivey Long.
“So Broadway comes to Birmingham,” Gravame said.
“The Producers” runs May 6-22 at The Village Players of Birmingham, 34660 Woodward Ave. Tickets are $20 and are available online at birminghamvillageplayers.com or by calling the theater box office at 248-644-2075.