A producer in disarray and an accountant with dreams of reconversion are scaffolding a scheme. Their plan: put on a woefully crappy Broadway show to flop and pocket the insurance money. They think they can achieve it thanks to Hitler’s Spring, a musical to the glory of the dictator. However, nothing will go as planned. “From a false story,” warns the poster of Producers, on display at the Théâtre de Paris since early December, in case anyone doubted it. This is the first time that this show, created across the Atlantic twenty years ago and inspired by the film of the same title directed by Mel Brooks in 1967, has been adapted into French.
This version is directed by Alexis Michalik, the wonderboy of the tricolor theater which collected five Molières in the space of seven years. The Franco-British brought together on the boards a troupe of sixteen artists who sing, dance and act for two hours without downtime. Outrageousness, absurd humor, a constant fantasy and a good dose of camp… The ingredients seem once again united for a new success in the already well-stocked CV of Alexis Michalik.
What made you want to adapt “Les Producteurs” in France?
I discovered this work on the occasion of the release, in 2005, of the film adapted from the musical – and not of the original film by Mel Brooks. I told myself that she must be pretty amazing to see on the boards. I have always had this project in mind. I knew that if one day I had to put on a musical in France, it would be The producers. Time has passed, the opportunity has presented itself: the rights which were regularly taken by others have been freed.
How do you explain that this show was not adapted earlier in French?
There are a lot of American musicals that have not been produced in France. It’s a bigger market than ours. Why has it never been ridden? There were several attempts but they were looking for headliners to play the two main roles, those of the producers. Which headliner in France can play seven times a week, for several months, or even a full season? There are not a lot. When I came up with the proposal to form a troop, that changed the situation. We did a casting across France and we found sixteen extraordinary actors, singers, dancers.
Did you want there to be no “star” in this troupe?
It was not so much that I was keen on it that I had to be able to sing the score, to play the part, several evenings a week. It’s not easy for everyone. These are very demanding singers’ journeys.
You said that the musical comedy market in France is small compared to the United States. Are you worried that “Les Producteurs” will not find its audience?
I always have this fear, at every show. This is the main fear, but it is measured. I believe that there is an audience in France for the musical and, above all, that there is an audience that does not know that it likes the musical, just as there is an audience that does not yet know what ‘he likes the theater – it’s just that he hasn’t seen the right plays. I don’t really think about how many people are likely to see such a show, I just wonder how to make this musical as attractive as possible to an audience that does not necessarily have an all-consuming passion for this genre.
Was the adaptation work difficult?
No. On the contrary, it is rather a pleasure when we do comedy and we have such a medium, the text of Mel Brooks, to work, to research together. We had a French translation but, during the rehearsals on set, we said to ourselves that if we had the impression that it was not working, we would have to find better, that all the ideas were good to take. Each time we searched for the best way to convey Mel Brooks’ humor or, at least, his wit.
You have slipped in some Franco-French references …
There is few of it. There is the Avignon offspring and the Molières and that’s about it. The off Broadway and the Tony Awards do not mean anything to the French public, it was necessary to find equivalences. For the rest, we are really on the mind of Mel Brooks and in the universe of Broadway.
There is also a line on sexual harassment …
We had to find an intelligent way to adapt a text that was originally written in the sixties. He necessarily peddles elements that today seem dated. The best way is to go overboard for the characters, who are all caricatures, and to find out how to turn around a valve or a line to give a wink or a witticism connecting us to today.
Such a material, which is indeed outraged and assumes the caricature, is a delectable playground, isn’t it?
It’s a playground and then this musical is still about a show about Hitler’s rise, so if you play it in a serious way, there is no more humor and it just becomes very annoying. Obviously it has to be overexaggerated.
One of the main characters in the show is Max Bialystock, a producer who has had his heyday but is failing after failure. You, as a director, have known nothing but success, do you fear that one day it will not work?
No, I am not afraid. Because it’s going to happen. At one point it doesn’t work anymore and that’s okay. When that happens there will be other people, who will come and do great things. At no time did I have the plan to have all these shows showing. I advance show after show and try to do the show I want to see. If it finds its audience, that’s great. Otherwise, it’s life.
Recent news has been marked by the #metootheatre movement, denouncing acts of harassment and sexual assault …
It is important that speech is freed everywhere, that stalkers, aggressors and rapists are denounced and condemned. I don’t think it’s an intrinsic problem in theater, it’s more of a societal problem linked to this patriarchal society and this rape culture. The operation of the theater does not encourage a culture of rape. On the other hand, in theater classes, there are teachers who have a hold on their students and who, in many cases, go far beyond the normality of the function. We saw it recently with a director who was convicted for it [un ex-professeur de théâtre à l’université de Besançon a été condamné fin novembre en deuxième instance à quatre ans de prison dont deux avec sursis]. It’s absurd to think that we have the right to strip students under the pretext of making them work on a stage. It’s a bit weird, especially since we very rarely find this scenario there once we work.