When you’ve got it, flaunt it: TCR reopens with ‘The Producers’ irreverent Broadway romp

By Diana Nollen 

CEDAR RAPIDS - Every night will be opening night for “The Producers” at Theatre Cedar Rapids.

The zany Mel Brooks musical is christening the new stage in the renovated Iowa Theatre Building, 102 Third St. SE. So all the audience members will be seeing something new whenever they attend, TCR staff members say.

Friday night's gala celebration (2/26) is sold out, but plenty of tickets remain for the rest of the performances through March 14.

TCR is moving home, after 18 months of roaming the city for spaces to hold classes, rehearsals and performances - from area schools and the Grant Wood House on Second Avenue SE to the stopgap TCR Lindale.

Emotions and interest are running high for the show that reopens the theater's downtown home that lost nearly everything but its shell in the floods of 2008.

“It's a little like holding your breath for a really long time,” says Leslie Charipar, the theater's artistic director and director for “The Producers.” “We're really excited to exhale.”

With a mix of tears and smiles, the cast began rehearsing in the theater's new second-floor dance studio Feb. 8. They had been rehearsing in the chapel at the Grant Wood House, with a couple weeks of dance rehearsals at Washington High School. The troupe made do with cramming 26 people into the chapel for scene work, but the school gave them a welcome reprieve for dance. “It's really hard to tap on carpeting,” Charipar says with a laugh.

A few other jitters have been creeping in for her personally, she admits.

“Then there's that ‘boy, I hope I don't screw this up' factor. It's a huge show and a huge building opening,” says Charipar, 43, of Cedar Rapids. “There's so much anticipation by the public, I don't want to disappoint anybody. We're working double-time to make sure it's everything people hope it will be.”

So how is she approaching the comedy about Nazis, Hitler, theater fraud and backstage flings that won a record-breaking 12 Tony awards in 2001?

“Respectfully,” she says with a straight face. “Working on this show has been really interesting, because it's one of the classic pieces of theater. If you just do the script, you'll be fine and won't wreck it. Just do the script and don't get too fancy, don't try to do too much with this show.

“Mel has crammed in just about as much stuff as you can put in a show. Maybe I should say ‘Mr. Brooks.' We're not quite at the ‘Mel' stage yet.”

The cast is full of faces familiar to TCR audiences. Everyone wanted to be in this show.

“We had a really big turnout (for auditions),” she says. “It was sort of overwhelming how much talent there was that turned out. The fact that it was ‘The Producers' and the grand reopening” stirred up the interest. “Some of our greatest actors and comedians came down because they wanted to be part of the history.

“In terms of casting, our ensemble has a dozen of our principal actors, not your average chorus people who like to be in the chorus and don't want a principal role. These are all people who have had principal roles in the past. It's an exceptional chorus - Maria from ‘The Sound of Music,' all of the Altar Boyz - all of these people in the ensemble have played huge roles prior to this. I don't know that I've ever worked with a cast quite as talented as this one. It's exceptional.”

And heavy hitters are in the principal roles, as well. Scott Schulte, well-known actor and Z102.9 radio personality, is returning to TCR after 20 years to play Max Bialystock, the shady producer portrayed by Nathan Lane on stage and screen. Trevor Debth, whose first lead was the title role in “Oliver” and who later starred in “Crazy for You” is cast in the Matthew Broderick role of reclusive accountant Leo Bloom. Katie Knutson, who played the title role in “Gypsy,” is back as sexy secretary Ulla.

Bialystock and Bloom team up to stage the world's worst Broadway show, “Springtime for Hitler.” Thinking they can make more money with a flop than a hit, they turn to the worst script, penned by crazed Hitler fan Franz Liebkind (Jason Alberty), and the worst director, Roger De Bris (Tim Boyle). The best-laid plans go awry when the show is a hit.

“Scott's fantastic,” says Debth, 29, of Cedar Rapids. “It's been the most fun rehearsal process I've ever had. Hilarity you find in the script, but then there is constant just riffing off each other, taking things on and on. We have equal amounts, if not more, laughter about things not show-related. Knowing we have that trust between each other, that even when things go wrong it's still going to be funny, allows for a lot of freedom, creativity and excitement every time we're doing a scene.”

“Rehearsals are hilarious. You could charge a $2 or $3 cover to see the rehearsals,” says Boyle, 54, of Cedar Rapids. They're also work, he adds. “The music is kind of difficult. We really want to get it right, but hard work is fun also.”

The script is not without its challenges.

“Springtime for Hitler,” a big production number from the show, seemed to make the audience squirm when Brooks was lauded in the recent Kennedy Center Honors.

“We were really sensitive to that one,” Charipar says of the play's Nazi references. “(Scenic designer) Bret Gothe even went so far as to have lunch with some of his Jewish friends and posed this question: ‘What makes a swastika funny?' To have a 12-foot swastika in the show is disconcerting to put together, but we discovered glitter makes a swastika funny.

“The key to this is mockery. Mel is ingenious with this. You take away all the power of something like that by mocking that, and it's interesting to me. It really feels like Mel Brooks' answer to Hitler - everything he's ever wanted to say or do to Hitler is in this play. Everything in his power to take down der Fuhrer is in this play. He has zero respect for Hitler, zero respect for the regime. Hitler's middle name is Elizabeth (in the play). If Hitler were watching this show, he'd be furious. ... Maybe the whole point is to make Hitler roll over in his grave, taking everything (Nazis) stood for and dismantling it with irreverent humor.”

She's hoping “people walk out of here and go ‘holy buckets, that was amazing,' because we're competing with a building here. If people hyperventilate a little bit because there's this amazing building and a great show, that's a good deal.”

FAST TAKEInformation: www.theatrecr.org/season.php?show=The_Producers

What: “The Producers”

Where:  Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

When: Feb. 26 through March 14; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays

Tickets: Friday's opening night gala is sold out; tickets remain for the rest of the performances; $20 to $25 adults, $15 youths, through the TCR Box Office, (319) 366-8591 or www.theatrecr.org $12 rush tickets at the door 30 minutes before show time, when available

Rated: PG-13