Q. I heard that “The Producers” had recently opened in Berlin. Do you have any information as to how well it has done?
— Tim Mullis, Roswell
A. Staged at the venerable Admiralspalast Theater, where Hitler himself attended plays during World War II, “The Producers” is in its sixth week, earning strong reviews and a steady box office. Opening night on May 17 ended with a standing ovation and no small relief among the financial backers who brought the Nazi spoof to Germany for the first time.
This was hardly a slam-dunk. In the week leading up to the opening, even the newspaper Berliner Morgenpost had to ask, “Should we be allowed to laugh at Hitler?”
The play had only become available because of a shortened run in Vienna, Austria, which had booked for a year. A lagging gate led to its close after just 10 months, giving Falk Walter, a maverick who owns the Admiralspalast, the chance to bring the play to town for the contract’s remaining two months.
“There was nothing at all that I thought wouldn’t work about it,” Walter told the Los Angeles Times. “Aesthetically, the costumes, the staging, the rhythm, the music, the dialogue, the jokes, its depth — everything seemed to me to work brilliantly as a whole, as a way of reducing Hitler to the ridiculous figure he was.”
Berliners seem to agree. The musical was recently extended another four weeks into mid-August.
Louis Mayeux wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get an answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail l.mayeux@comcast.net (include name and city).
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