CenterSeason’s ‘The Producers’ raunchy, memorable

If ever there were a Broadway overachiever, it is Mel Brooks’ outlandish “The Producers,” a musical adaptation of his 1968 film comedy that starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

The winner of a record 12 Tony awards in 2001, “The Producers” is a silly, raunchy and often achingly funny show.

Compelled to offend, “The Producers” is not recommended for the prudish or anyone under 12.

The production now playing at the Jewish Community Campus is a fairly faithful replication of the Broadway smash, marking the first theatrical offering in the CenterSeason’s fifth year.

Set in 1959, “The Producers” tells the story of two desperate men, smarmy producer Max Bialystock (Jay Coombes) and meek accountant Leo Bloom (Cary Mock). When casually looking over Bialystock’s books, Leo notices that a flop could potentially make more money than a hit.

All a producer would need to do, it seems, is raise more money than needed. When the play closed, he would have an excuse not to return the investors’ cash.

Bialystock convinces Bloom to help him go through with an elaborate scam. They will get some love-starved old ladies to invest in their Broadway show, which they have conceived as a sure-fire failure.

When the show tanks, they’ll take the cash and flee to Rio.

They decide to mount the worst script ever written, “Springtime for Hitler,” penned by Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind (Greg Butell).

To make sure the show is a bomb, they hire the worst director available, overtly gay helmsman Roger De Bris (Mark Murphy) and his “common-law assistant,” Carmen Ghia (Rob Reeder).

An opportunity to use their casting couch for someone younger than 85 comes along when a voluptuous Swedish bombshell named Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson (Sarah Dothage) shows up to audition. As she appropriately sings, “When You Got It, Flaunt It.”

Brooks’ script, (co-written with veteran Thomas Meehan, is borsht belt funny. Brooks also is responsible for the show’s loopy songs. Try to sit close so that you don’t miss too many of the clever lyrics. The result is a loving send-up of the whole musical genre.

Coombes and Mock are an amusing team and appear to be having a ball. Dothage imbues Ulla with the requisite “va-va-voom.”

For the most part, director Mark Swezey and his staff manage to give this elaborate show the production values it demands, especially in the costume department.

Leslie Pindler and Debbie Pflumm have created some funny outfits, especially a gown for Roger DeBris that echoes the Chrysler Building and a series of goofy costumes for the chorus girls in the “Springtime for Hitler” number.

Choreographer Ann McCroskey’s contributions are a plus, too. Inspired by the work of the show’s original director, Susan Stroman, McCroskey’s work on the elderly ladies’ dance number “Along Came Bialy” is particularly amusing.

CenterSeason is partnering with the nonprofit American Stroke Foundation. Theater patrons are urged to donate toilet paper, paper towels and copy paper.

Ticket buyers who donate two or more of these items will receive $3 off of their ticket price.

While “The Producers” is long and far too excessive to be a complete success, it has enough laughs and memorable moments to make it an entertainingly bawdy diversion.

“The Producers” runs through Nov. 8 at the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre at the Jewish Community Campus, 5801 W. 115th St., Overland Park.

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