Going full circle — “The Producers!” will mark 50th show from P&J Productions
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P&J Productions brings Mel Brooks' musical comedy "The Producers!" to the Mishler Theatre at 7:30 p.m. June 9 and 10 and at 2 p.m. June 11.
The Broadway production won a record-setting 12 Tonys in 2001, including Best Musical. The play is about two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich by fraudulently overselling interests in a Broadway flop. Unexpectedly, the show is successful and gives rise to complications. The humor of the show draws on ridiculous accents, caricatures of gay people and Nazis, and many show business in-jokes -- in Mel Brooks' comedic tradition of "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles."
"This is Mel Brooks at his finest," said Ian Brumbaugh, who plays accountant Leopold Bloom. "It's a very slapstick, raunchy comedy. It's not woke. If you're easily offended, don't come. He's not that kind of comic."
Brumbaugh, who has acted in eight previous P&J Productions, said, "We really want to do it justice. And, this show is really important because it's the 50th show and because it's the producers doing 'The Producers!'"
When P&J started 18 years ago, Will Jones said he saw himself as the young Bloom to co-founder Neil Port's older Bialystock. Eighteen years later, Jones plays Bailystock to Brumbaugh's Bloom.
"Doing 'The Producers!' is a huge deal," Jones said, explaining that he and Port saw the movie version together and have often quoted the lines back and forth over the years.
"We've always laughed and fancied ourselves as those characters Bialystok and Bloom. So it's great to be able to do that show now as our 50th show. It was a natural fit as it has history for him and I personally and to do it with Ian it's such a natural fit … It's really a joy for me. People are going to love this. It kind of feels full circle and it also feels new with having Ian in this," Jones said.
"It feels like there is some kind of closure and at the same time we're stepping into something new," Jones said. "We're having so much fun and it's an interesting connection."
Brumbaugh joined the P&J Productions team a year ago and serves as show producer along with Jones. Jones and Port serve as executive producers for "The Producers!"
"When we started P&J, we had no idea we'd be in it for 18 years and 50 shows," Port said. "We chose 'The Producers!' because it's representative of what we did as producers."
"The Producers!" features a large ensemble cast that is very "characterdriven," Brumbaugh said. His character, Bloom, undergoes a metamorphosis during the show as a "mousey accountant" who "comes out of his shell."
"He has some absolutely crazy, off the wall scenes. You have to rein him back. And then, he comes out of his shell again. So there's a lot of give and take with that character," Brumbaugh said.
"This type of show is all comedy. You have to make sure you get the beats down, allow enough time for people to get the jokes," Brumbaugh said. "There's also a ton of dancing in this show, including a big tap number. The dancers are phenomenal; they've exceeded expectations."
Other cast members include Cecilia "Ceci" Mazzocco as Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson; Kyle Kelly as Franz Liebkind; Travis Ross as Roger De Bris and Bailey Prebish as Carmen Ghia.
Kolby Wasnick serves as director and stage manager; music director is Eric Foose; conductor is Doug Stephens; vocal director is Brittany Mogollon and choreographer is Nicole Swope.
Forming a lasting partnership
Jones and Port began their collaboration after appearing together in "The Music Man" at Cresson Lake Playhouse in 2005.
"I asked him why I had never seen him on stage before," Port recalled. "He said his passion was in writing musical shows. I don't run into many guys who write musicals."
After listening to Jones' work, the two decided to collaborate on their first show, Jones' "A Christmas Caroled."
"It was a major hit," Port said of the Thanksgiving weekend show in 2005. "We raised $11,000 for charity."
The men formed the P&J partnership as a vehicle for Jones' shows and became a production company out of necessity.
"We really wanted another production company to deal with it but there wasn't enough time so we just decided to do it ourselves ... Life is very serendipitous," Port said.
"Thanksgiving weekend was open because they didn't think they would sell any tickets," Jones said. "So Mr. Port decided to do it ... It was really a make or break thing. We went against all practical thinking. We didn't really know what we were doing. We did it on a Thanksgiving weekend and it was a show written by me, a local guy. It could have been bad. But people did come out and they were in the mood to get into the Christmas spirit. That was the first and the beginning of the P&J journey."
Both are proud of the entertainment they've created and brought to the community through the years and have raised $130,000 for various community charities, "it's been pretty special," Jones said of the past 18 years.
"At first, we started out doing only shows I had written and then we branched into classics such as 'Chicago' and 'Les Miserable"' and then we branched out into promoting Las Vegas music acts and shows at the Jaffa. All were huge successes," Jones recalled. Another highlight was making a film version of his "Ghost the Musical" and his "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." "Music Man" has become a hallmark show as they've done it three times.
P&J Productions "retired" after the 2017-18 season but came back in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the arts, so P&J returned to celebrate the Mishler's reopening in August 2021 with "John Lennon 1980." Jones wrote the screenplay, which he adapted from the book "John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life," by pop culture/Beatles expert Kenneth Womack.
Each has traded off on recent shows, Jones said, with him getting to work on "Tommy" and Port getting to stage "Guys and Dolls."
P&J Productions has the ever-popular Ornament musical show scheduled for later this year.
"We're taking it one show at a time," Jones said. "We might get a second life with fresh legs from Ian."
"Ian is a very talented guy. He does all the running around so we've expanded the troupe," said the 84-year-old Port, adding he will stay involved "as long as I'm able."
As for Brumbaugh, he said he's "learning the ropes from the two of them. I'm part of the legacy they've created in helping bring quality shows to the area. I'm really thankful to be part of it."