Jim Mitchell did an outstanding job as the overstated Max Bialystock. I know it’s a tiny thing, but when he broke into his fake Irish brogue toward the end to try to fool the (stereotypical Irish big-city) cop, I laughed for several minutes. Indeed I laughed at his performances and those of his co-stars so much that at time I had to cover my mouth to avoid disturbing my fellow theatergoers.

Joe Philipoom played a good Leo Bloom, transforming from nebbish to hero to nebbish to hero again with aplomb, and, as Bialystock noticed toward the end, had a fantastic singing voice.

Colleen Connor played a terrific Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden-Swamson. She was beautiful and did a tremendous job of actual tap-dancing, taking me back to the black and white movies of my parents’ youth. I don’t know if her parents forced her to tap as a child, but those tap lessons really paid off.

Cameron Lee Conlan played a delightfully over-the-top Nazi (Franz Liebkind); as the friend who went with me commented, Cameron was fearless. Brian Johnson also took his character, the gay director Roger DeBris, entertainingly over the top.

My friend, Brady Russell, made his acting debut in The Producers, playing the Nazi’s disillusioned sidekick (Gunter), the play-with-in-a-play’s Winston Churchill, the police sergeant, and a member of the Ensemble. Since he’s so big and tall that they mostly put in way in the back, yet he managed to act his heart out so that you could see him from the front.

I would be remiss in mentioning the plethora of attractive women in the Ensemble. I think it had some men too, but if you’re interested you’ll have to go see the play and judge for yourself whether any of them was attractive. 😀

I haven’t laughed so much since someone suggested I would make a great father. If you live within driving distance of northern Virginia, I highly recommend that you go see the Zemfira Stage production of The Producers. To misquote the play, don’t be stupid; be a smarty—go and see Zemfira’s party! 😀