1 Valid for one test booked on or before 30th April 2015. Present voucher at time of test. Cannot be exchanged for cash, used with other vouchers or redeemed by customers already entitled to a free NHS eye test. One per person, at named Specsavers stores only. CODE 8266 Chippenham 17 Borough Parade Digital retinal photography: For over-40s, or when your optician recommends it. © Specsavers. All rights reserved 2 FROM THE CHAIRMAN ANNE HOLMES It is my privilege to welcome you as Chairman of CLOGS Musical Theatre to this performance of ‘The Producers’. After many hours of learning lines, songs and dance routines. Thank you to our Director, Matt Heaton and his assistant, Paul Cullen, to our musical director Peter French and to Lucy Ibbetson our choreographer who have been very patient in skillfully directing and guiding us through rehearsals. We have had a lot of fun in rehearsing this show. Thank you also to CLOGS committee and members, for your commitment and enthusiasm in making this show a success. Our summer 2014 concerts ‘LEGENDS’ were very well supported and as a result we were able to make financial donations to two local charities; Dorothy House and The Rise Trust. In December we entertained the Christmas shoppers in Chippenham with some well known carols. Our singing waiters performed at a fundraising concert in August raising awareness of Pulmonary Fibrosis. Our junior section CLOGETTES meet on a Thursday evening. They have just showcased ‘Harmony’ for family and friends and are now working toward performing as part of our summer concerts in July. As well as giving and supporting our local community, we have gratefully received support and sponsorship from Specsavers in Borough Parade, Chippenham. We are extremely thankful for their financial support as it enables us to develop and reinvest in the group and continue doing what we love to do, perform. Chippenham Borough Lands Charity have also awarded us a grant towards this show and we have recently received a grant from Wiltshire Council that has enabled us to invest in new sound equipment for our concerts. My final thanks go to our patrons and to you our lovely audience for your continued and faithful support. I hope you will enjoy this performance of ‘The Producers’ and look forward to seeing you at our summer concerts in July. chippenham-clogs.co.uk CLOGS Musical Theatre, Chippenham @ChippCLOGS 3 THE MUSICAL: The Producers is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks & arranged by Glen Kelly & Doug Besterman. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich by overselling interests in a Broadway flop. Complications arise when the show unexpectedly turns out to be successful. The humour of the show draws on ridiculous accents, caricatures of homosexuals and Nazis, & many show business in-jokes. The Producers had a pre-Broadway run at Chicago's Cadillac Palace in 2001, starring Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick. After 33 previews, the original Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on April 19, 2001 & ran for 2,502 performances, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards. After the opening, The Producers broke the record for the largest single day box-office ticket sales in theatre history, taking in more than $3 million. The loss of the original stars had a detrimental effect on the success of the production, prompting the return of Lane & Broderick for a limited run from December 2003 to April 2004. The show's sales then broke its own record with over $3.5 million in single day ticket sales. Beginning in September 2002, there were two touring companies that played across the United States, grossing over $214 million. The 1st National touring company starred Lewis J. Stadlen and Don Stephenson. During the Los Angeles engagement in 2003, Stadlen & Stephenson were replaced by Jason Alexander & Martin Short for the duration of the show's run in that city, as well as in San Francisco. The musical was adapted into a musical comedy film in 2005 . The film starred Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Gary Beach, Roger Bart & Jon Lovitz. The Producers opened in London's West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on November 9, 2004 and closed on January 6, 2007, after 920 performances. The production featured Nathan Lane as Max, after Richard Dreyfuss was "let go" by the producers after finding that he was unable "to fulfil the rigours of the role", with four days to go before first previews. Lee Evans played Leo (Lane & Evans had worked together in the 1997 movie Mouse Hunt), with Leigh Zimmerman as Ulla, Nicolas Colicos as Franz Liebkind, Conleth Hill as Roger De Bris, & James Dreyfus as Carmen Ghia. A UK tour opened in Manchester on February 19, 2007, where it played for three months before moving on. English and Sinclair reprised their roles of Max and Leo, respectively, & Peter Kay was cast in the role of Roger. For the majority of the tour, which ran until early 2008, Joe Pasquale took over the role of Leo & Russ Abbot played Roger. A UK and Ireland tour is scheduled to begin at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, London, on March 6, 2015, starring Cory English as Max, Jason Manford as Leo, Phill Jupitus (until May 16) and Ross Noble (from May 18 onwards) as Franz, David Bedella as Roger and Louie Spence as Carmen Ghia (until May 2). Adapted from: www.en.wikipedia.org 4 1968 FILM: CAST Max Bialystock: Zero Mostel Leo Bloom: Gene Wilder Franz Liebkind: Kenneth Mars Ulla: Lee Meredith Roger De Bris: Christopher Hewett Carmen Ghia: Andreas Voutsinas 2005 FILM: CAST Max Bialystock: Nathan Lane Leo Bloom: Matthew Broderick Franz Liebkind: Will Ferrell Ulla: Uma Thurman Roger De Bris: Gary Beach Carmen Ghia: Roger Bart 5 SYNOPSIS: The Producers is based around the character of Max Bialystock, a down and out Broadway producer whose latest work flopped on opening night. Max, plagued by his former success and scrabbling to stay afloat, experiences a change in fortune when downtrodden accountant, Leo Bloom, discovers there is money to be made in Max’s theatrical failure. As a result, the two formerly defeated business men form an unlikely union with the goal of creating the world’s worst musical. The plot develops as the duo enlists the help of ridiculous and often farcical characters on the way such as former Nazi and on-going Third Reich enthusiast Franz Liebkind, Ulla the blonde bombshell secretary/receptionist and the flamboyant homosexual Director Roger De Bris. As a result of the characters’ combined brainpower and ludicrous behaviour Spring Time for Hitler is born in Broadway. Actt It I Set in New York in 1959, the show opens with Max Bialystock’s musical version of Hamlet, “Funny Boy” closing after one terrible performance. Max tells a seedy crowd of his past achievements and vows to make a victorious comeback to his former glory. The following day a nervy accountant, Leo Bloom, visits Max’s office to assess his books however Leo is told to wait in the bathroom as an ‘investor’ of Max’s (an old lady that deals in sexual favours) visits the office, leaving Max with a cheque to invest in his next play. Whilst in the toilet, Leo reveals his secret dream of becoming a Broadway producer. After a rocky start with Max, Leo announces that he has found a problem with Max’s accounts: he has raised more money for the play than he spent putting it on. This leads Leo to the realisation that a producer could make more money with a flop than a hit. In light of this information Max proposes the ultimate scheme: to find the worst play to be directed by the worst Director in town to be opened with the worst cast on Broadway. Meanwhile the pair will raise two million dollars from old lady investors, open and swiftly close the failed show and move to Rio with their two million dollar profit. Despite his initial refusal a bad day at the accounting office leads Leo to dream of his potential life as a producer resulting in him quitting his dreary 9-5 and agreeing to Max’s scheme. The next day the pair embark upon the quest of finding the worst play ever written. Eventually Max stumbles upon a definite theatrical bomb: Spring Time for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf Hitler and Berchtesgaden , written by former Nazi Franz Liebkind. Max and Leo go to the playwright’s home to discover him reminiscing about the former glory days of the Third Reich. Liebkind agrees to sign an agreement with the producers so long as they promise never to dishonour the legacy of “Adolf Elizabeth Hitler” and the pair join Liebkind in singing Hitler’s favourite song, Der Guten Tag Hop Clop, to seal the deal. 6 SYNOPSIS: The Producers then go in search of a terrible director, calling upon the overtly glitzy, gay Roger De Bris to take on the challenge. At first Roger and his assistant Carmen Ghia refuse the offer due to the play’s political subject matter [ Keep It Gay ] however Max persuades them with the prospect of fame and fortune and Roger agrees with the proviso that the play is altered so that the Germans win the war. On returning to the office Max and meet with Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson who wishes to act in their forthcoming production.