★★★★

“clever, funny, and meticulously crafted”

Adam Riches said of this show that the aim is for the audience to “walk into a room where you genuinely don’t know what it’s going to be” and as that, the show is a resounding success. Though you also walk out not knowing quite what you’ve watched.

Adam Riches and John Kearns are Edinburgh Fringe legends, and beloved faces on the comedy circuit. Kearns is regularly cited by other stand-ups as being their favourite comedian. These are two comics who are clearly fascinated with dissecting entertainment, exploring what makes jokes and performances funny. So perhaps in this way it makes total sense for them to impersonate renowned light entertainment double act Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.

I confess that I was unfamiliar with Ball and Boe’s work, but that didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the show. Riches and Kearns pored through the history and careers of Ball and Boe, ready to bring their impersonations to the stage. The show is packed with references, and nods to specific Ball and Boe moments. It’s an incredible success that the show works, even if you’re not a fan of Ball and Boe, though I imagine being more aware of their careers would make it even better.

The piece is structured as a pre-show work-in-progress of a national tour, which Ball and Boe are still ironing out. There are musical numbers, snippets of games and formats, and lots of backstage bickering.

Riches plays Ball as a schmoozy, slightly sleazy, slick entertainer with a passionate hatred of Michael Bublé. Kearns brings a tragic desperation and earnestness to his portrayal of Boe which is strangely moving. The performances are respectful, but witty and warm. It’s less caricature and more character acting. Riches and Kearns are both strong actors and bring the men to life with vigour.

The show is clever, funny, and meticulously crafted. It riffs on ideas about the art of the cover song, the fan letters Ball and Boe receive, what kinds of brand sponsorship they might get, and the idea for a new show. It’s silly and fun but the relationship between the men is emotionally real. It’s the first time Riches and Kearns have worked together as a duo, but their chemistry is electric, trusting one another with the limelight and playing off the other’s energy. Perhaps, we’re looking at a future Ball and Boe level partnership.

It’s a fresh and original piece which interrogates the very essence of entertainment. But it’s also packed with solidly good gags, and at its heart is a charming story of two best friends navigating the entertainment industry together.

THE PRODUCERS

Menier Chocolate Factory

★★★★★

“Its biting, irreverent satire is the most delicious slap in the face you’ll ever experience”

“It is shocking, outrageous and insulting… and I loved every minute”. That is a quote from Mel Brooks’ and Thomas Meehan’s musical, but it could easily be the tagline of my review of Patrick Marber’s revival at the Menier Chocolate Factory. There are a lot of minutes – about one hundred and fifty of them – but each and every one of them is an inglorious joy.

It is extraordinary how it has stood the test of time. Written in 2001, based on Brooks’ 1976 movie, the bounds of good taste are annihilated. It’s a fun mind game to speculate as to whether it would ever get made today. Imagine the pitch. Camp Nazis goose-stepping while randy old widows tap dance with their Zimmer frames. Characters use sex as a way of extorting money. Jokes that rely on caricature, stereotypes and offending Jews and Gays. Pigeons with Swastikas and an abundance of limp-wristed ‘Heil Hitlers’. A curvy secretary who needs her fix of daily sex each morning. And of course, the show-stopping play-within-a-play ‘Springtime for Hitler’ featuring the Führer in gold spandex. Absolutely not! You’d be out on the street at best. In jail at worst.

Yet “The Producers” has not only survived, but it also feels more pertinent and relevant today than ever. Its biting, irreverent satire is the most delicious slap in the face you’ll ever experience. Wrap it up in Paul Farnsworth’s stunning array of costume, Lorin Latarro’s gorgeous choreography and Mel Brooks’ own score and you have the perfect Christmas present. It is thoroughly modern, yet the sense of vaudevillian nostalgia sweeps you off your feet from the opening bars to the final rousing chorus.

The premise is simple genius. Producer Max Bialystock bankrolls his Broadway flops by seducing rich, little old ladies. One day Leopold ‘Leo’ Bloom, a nervy accountant comes to check on his books but inadvertently hits on the idea that Max could make more money from a colossal failure than a huge hit. Cue the hunt for the worst play ever written, the most lamentable director and incompetent cast. The show will close on opening night and Max and Leo keep the money raised. But… well, you know the rest. You should. I’ve still yet to meet anyone who isn’t familiar with the story.

The show needs a dynamic duo at its heart. And this production beats with the irresistible pairing of Andy Nyman and Marc Antolin as Max and Leo. Nyman is star material from head to toe, full of ironic cynicism and scheming lechery with a taunting twinkle in his eye. Antolin is simply superb as the anxious accountant with dreams of Broadway. They are the oddest couple, yet visually, physically and vocally they are the perfect match. Harry Morrison, as the over-eccentric, Nazi-centric, pickelhaube-wearing writer of ‘Springtime for Hitler’ adds a zillion shades to the word ‘hilarious’, while Trevor Ashley takes ‘camp’ to the highest summits with his glorious portrayal of Roger de Bris, the flamboyant, failing theatre director. Joanna Woodward’s whimsical Swedish secretary adds love interest, sassy sexiness and a touch of tenderness. But we keep coming back to Antolin and Nyman, who steal the show so often they are in as much danger of winding up in jail as their characters.

The musical highlights are many. Antolin’s ‘I Wanna Be A Producer’, Woodward’s belting ‘When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It’ and Morrison’s high-spirited ‘Have You Ever Heard The German Band?’ to name a few. And Nyman’s ‘Betrayed’ during which he brilliantly gives us a speed summary of the show. Not to mention, of course, the ‘Gay Romp with Adolph and Eva’ in which the company, led by Ashley soar way, way over the top with the flamboyantly brazen ‘Springtime For Hitler’.

You really do have to see it to believe it. In fact, shorten that sentence. You really do have to see it! It is selling fast and furiously, but don’t worry too much. This show has ‘West End Transfer’ written all over it. I return to my opening line: “It is shocking, outrageous and insulting… and I loved every minute”. You will too.

BALL & BOE – FOR FOURTEEN NIGHTS ONLY

Soho Theatre

★★★★

“clever, funny, and meticulously crafted”

BALL & BOE – FOR FOURTEEN NIGHTS ONLY

Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 12th December 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Matt Stronge

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BALL & BOE

BALL & BOE

BALL & BOE

THE PRODUCERS

Menier Chocolate Factory

★★★★★

“Its biting, irreverent satire is the most delicious slap in the face you’ll ever experience”

THE PRODUCERS at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Reviewed on 10th December 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE PRODUCERS

THE PRODUCERS

THE PRODUCERS

THE PRODUCERS