Producers, The (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "We are pacing anxiously back and forth, Mel Brooks and I, one jittery Jew and one jumpy Irishman, looking like a pair of expectant fathers..." (more)
Key Phrases: ensemble member, musical version, New York, Max Bialystock, Mel Brooks (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is the laugh-out-loud story of two scheming men, Bialystock, a shady producer, and Bloom, his nervous accomplice. Together they come up with the ultimate con: raise more money than needed, produce a show that is bound to flop, and pocket the change. Of course, all best laid plans are subject to be mucked up.

About the Author

Director, producer, writer, and actor Mel Brooks is the creator of such comedy classics as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, and Silent Movie. Winner of an Academy Award for The Producers screenplay, Brooks won three of the twelve Tonys awarded to the record-breaking musical. Brooks is one of a few in the pantheon of entertainers to win an award grand slam: two Oscars, a Grammy, three Tonys, and four Emmys.

Thomas Meehan won his first Tony in 1977 for writing Annie and his second in 2001 for co-writing the book of The Producers with Mel Brooks. He is a long-time contributor to the New Yorker and an Emmy Award-winning television writer, and he has collaborated on a number of screenplays.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Miramax; annotated edition edition (November 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868805
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868803
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #585,439 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Producers a smash book, November 27, 2001

By	D. Clancy (Portland, Or USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unless a person has been isolated in Siberia I think everyone has heard of the Mel Brooks hit musical "The Producers". Written by Brooks and Thomas Meehan it is probably the biggest hit on Broadway in the past 50 years. Tickets are unavailable until July 2002 and "prime" seats are fetching $480. Is the show worth it? You bet and so is the book. And it is only ...
The book is a wonderful coffee table volume full of wonderful photographs from the production, rehearsal, casting and out of town tryout. There are stories from the stellar cast such as Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Brad Oscar and Cady Huffman. Madeleine Doherty relates her hilarious audition as a little "old lady" and Brad Oscar's rise from a swing/understudy to the permanent part of Franz Liebking when another actor was injured.
All of the lyrics and most of the book are included Act by Act. The lyrics for some of the songs that were deleted are hilarious. With Mel Brooks heavily involved in the book, we get to know how this valentine to Broadway was created and how the original 1968 film came to be.
Miramax Books is to be given a standing ovation for the gorgeous design on this publication.
If you have seen "The Producers" in New York as I did one month ago, this book is a wonderful souvenir and a necessary addition to your bookshelf. If you haven't seen it yet, it is still a wonderfully enjoyable volume. Anyone interested in Broadway or musical theatre will pore over the pages for hours.
I highly recommend it and it would make a great gift.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't get a ticket? Here is your 3-step solution...., December 17, 2001

By	David Kusumoto (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As I've written elsewhere, if you can't get a ticket to this, the greatest Broadway show of all time, here's what you should do, courtesy of Amazon.com.

1. BUY THIS BOOK. It contains all of the lyrics, super pictures, and more important, not only the entire script, but the entire chronology, from its inception as a movie to creating the stage story to slapping together the first few songs to nervously hosting the first previews in Chicago to its blockbuster grand opening at the St. James Theater in New York! It doesn't get more comprehensive than this!

2. BUY THE ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM ON CD. This contains every song, from start to finish, sung by the award winning cast. The lyrics are here too.

3. BUY THE DVD/VIDEO, "Recording The 'Producers' - A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks." This is the closest you can get to seeing the musical, albeit not on stage. And don't be fooled by the liner notes. This isn't ONLY the 85 minute version that aired on PBS, it has extra footage that clocks the package at around 1 hour and 40 minutes!

I saw the show in October and I'm going back to New York to see it again in March. I've NEVER been this INSANE about any entertainment product (books, films, music, staged theater) in my LIFE.

With all three items -- the book, the CD and the DVD/video -- you get a pretty good idea of what makes "The Producers," with its spectacular mix of merriment and mirth, mayhem and satire, so great! It deserves all of its hype. You can't oversell it!

Every song is a show-stopper, a throwback to the riffs that feel like a "best hits" package from the greatest musicals ever made. A little bit of Cole Porter, Gershwin, vaudeville and classic dance melodies reminiscent of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly (e.g., "Gotta Sing-Sing!" -- as in prison!), with lyrics that are so happily vulgar and irreverent that you're lucky you're not more doubled-over in pain from laughing so hard if you could only see the girls wearing pretzels on their heads and others doing the swastika "circle" march (visible via a tilted mirror toward the audience), done in Busby Berkeley style! Heck, there's even a bit of an homage to the Andrew Sisters (e.g., "He's a Hot-sie-tot-sie Nazi! Woo-woo, he's a hot-sie-tot-sie Nazi! Woo-woo! The Fuhrer...is in a FUROR!")...

Sadly, this original cast won't be together much longer, but the traveling show officially begins next year (it'll be in San Diego from December 2002 to January 2003)! So the wait won't be as long as we thought!

To recap -- get the CD, the DVD/Video and THIS BOOK! Then you'll save some big-time $$$ until the show arrives in your backyard! Whatta deal!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures the movie perfectly, June 22, 2000

By	Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Producers (1968 Film) (Audio CD)

With all the dialogue in this CD you almost have to wonder what they took out. It's almost like they set out to put the entire movie on CD and ran out at 76 minutes (isn't the movie only about 12 minutes longer?)

On repeat listening you find out that not only are "Springtime for Hitler" and "Love Power" the funniest songs ever written (and if you didn't know that already why are you even thinking of buying this CD?) but the rest of the movie is hilarious including "the toy" scene and all the scenes with the Kraut "No one knew this but the Fuhrer was a TERRRIFIC dancer..." as well as the interaction between Gene Wilder.

Of course since this is a CD you can simply put Love Power and Springtime for Hitler on autorepeat and not believe me.