Westminster Uses 'The Producers' as Learning Vehicle

Mel Brooks’ hilarious and wildly popular “The Producers” makes fun of Adolph Hitler, Nazis, gays, buxom blondes, and elderly people, not to mention accountants.

“The Producers’” themes might appear unsuitable for a high school production, but theater director sees the school’s performances of the musical next week as a vivid learning experience.

Eric Brannen, director and founder of the Westminster Players, says the play allows an examination of vexing social problems, particularly the bullying of gay students. Brannen said that such bullying is leading to an epidemic of teen suicides.

“We’re using this as an opportunity to hopefully approach issues that are cursing teenagers,” Brannen said.

First a 1968 movie starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, then a Broadway smash musical and subsequent film with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, “The Producers” includes the gay character Roger De Bris, with his outlandish homosexual mannerisms. By taking stererotypes to such extremes, Brooks actually celebrates human differences, and helps teens understand “the other,” Brannen said.

The show teaches that “we need to all appreciate each other and respect differences,” Brannen said. “In that diversity, we are all made richer.”

Westminster invited Bill Nigut, southeastern regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, to address the school’s students, using the musical as a basis for discussing stereotypes and bullying. Nigut said the ADL, a Jewish organization, has a bullying prevention and anti-bias program in 100 metro area schools.

Nigut, whose son graduated from Westminster, said the ADL doesn’t find the play offensive, despite its making light of Hitler and the Third Reich, such as its famed show-stopper, "Springtime for Hitler." Nigut explained why the play’s Nazi themes don’t cross a line.

“The whole issue of the the play mocking Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party is tricky territory,” Nigut said. “In ‘The Producers,’ he mocks Adolph Hitler. We can laugh at making Adolph Hitler look like a fool. Of course what he never does is go near the Holocaust. The issue of the Holocaust, you can’t laugh about it.  He stays completely away from it.”

Brannen said Brooks has a philosophy that in laughing about a tragic event, “you own it, when before it has owned you. You can laugh about Adolph Hitler, but you can never laugh about the Holocaust.”

Some of the language in the play has been adjusted to make it more appropriate for high school audiences, Brannen said, but the broad gestures of the cross-dressing De Bris remain.

In the play’s hilarious plot, failing theater producer Max Bialystock and weak-willed accountant Max Bloom cook up a scheme to fraudulently make money by putting on the worst play in the world. They raise money from investors,  wealthy old ladies, and find the play “Springtime for Hitler.” The unexpected results, including De Bris’ campy portrayal of Hitler, make for a comic masterpiece, including Brooks’ love-based darts at Broadway culture.

Westminster’s production will be performed at 7 p.m. Oct. 13-15 at the school, with senior Ryan Heazel as Bialystock, the role made famous by Mostel and Lane,  and senior Franch as the accountant Leo Bloom, portrayed by Wilder and Broderick. Tickets can be reserved at 404-367-5080.