“The Producers” Edition
Editor’s Note
Jago Cahill-Patten - Editor and Creator of The Green Room Magazine
Hi all! Welcome to the first edition of ‘The Green Room’ – this is a new Musical Theatre magazine, chronicling the shows the society puts on. I’m super excited to say this edition is about ‘The Producers’, which is on in the Bloomsbury Theatre from the 22nd – 24th February. It’s been excellent fun to work on, so I hope you are going or have gone (depending on when you read this). And I hope you enjoy/ enjoyed it! We have articles on how ‘The Producers’ has evolved as a show and the power of parody. I hope you find them interesting. Additionally, there are interviews with members of the ensemble and the choreographer of the show. If you want an insight into our production of ‘The Producers’, then go have a read! I was having difficulty deciding the name of this magazine – I was umming and aahing between a couple of names. So I went into the Green Room to ask people their thoughts and hence the name was born. I hope you love reading this magazine as much as we did putting it together! That’s all from me, your editor, Jago.
“It’s the funniest film ever written, it’s bold, it’s brave and it’s not afraid of its subject matter which makes it refreshing and original even after all these years”
– Kefi.
The Producers: From Humble Beginnings to a Great, Big Broadway Smash
By Matt Todd
‘The Producers’ started out life as a 1967 Film by the, then, relatively unknown Mel Brooks. The film was led by Zero Mostel (as Max Bialystock, a crooked Broadway producer) and Gene Wilder (as Leopold Bloom, an accountant who dreams of the Broadway life) as our titular heroes, respectively. This marked the 1st major collaboration between Wilder and Brooks, who would go on to collaborate on Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein (both releasing in 1974). The seed of the story came from an interview conducted by Brooks following his 1962 Musical, All American; he was asked what his next project was, to which he flippantly said “Springtime for Hitler” (which later became the gigantic set-piece in both the film and musical – lots of tap dancing, tricks and even a Tank, or two). So there it was, the idea was out in the open. However, Brooks took 5 years to fully realise his concept. Brooks came to the project after having completed work on a TV show in ’65, and after finally finding a producer who would take it on. Here was the challenge: He had 40 das to shoot it, and with only $941,000? Could the team of Brooks and New York Producer Syndey Glazier do it? Of course they could!
So Brooks raised the money, he’s on his way. And despite some production hiccups, and it being his directorial Hollywood debut, Hollywood itself still remained the greatest challenge. The project was dynamite, only not the good kind. The biggest question studio executives had was: How could audiences accept a film that satirizes Hitler, gay men and include some overt misogyny? The result: major studios shying away from it at every turn, deeming its grating satire as too divisive for the US at the time. In all fairness, their claims were not unfounded. By 1968 – when the film released – it had been only twenty-three years since the end of World War Two. Not to mention the deployment of active troops in Vietnam in 1965, the resurgence of the KKK and white supremacy in the 50s and 60s alongside the mounting race relations, to name but a few. Most argued that The Producers would only enflame these social problems, as opposed to creating a space to discuss them. Nevertheless, as luck would have it, Brooks sourced an independent cinema which would screen the film. Finally giving it an audience it deserved.
As can be expected, the flick received mixed reviews due to its content by most critics. The film completed its run at the Box Office making $1.6 Million, a minor sum compared to Brooks later work [Young Frankenstein, $86.2 Million, Blazing Saddle, $119.6 Million]. The Producers’ success was not dictated via box office figures or word of mouth, but its mass cult following it received. That was down to one particular man: Peter Sellers. The British Actor and Comedian held up most of its adverts by paying out of his own funds for both Variety and The New York Times. As word-of-mouth spread, so too did its following start to grow, especially in later years. Also, not to mention, launched the career of THE Gene Wilder, come on that is a pretty impressive thing to boast. And the punchline to this epic story of Samson vs Goliath… 6 Brooks went on to win the Best Original Screenplay at 41st Academy Awards. And what did it beat? Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Brooks would not touch The Producers again until 30 years later, in the late 1990s. He was coaxed back by David Geffen, a film producer known for remakes of dark-comedies. His work included: Risky Business (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and Beetlejuice (1988) – and later was the Broadway backer behind Dreamgirls and Cats [Yes, this is the man you have for blame for the creation of that… that… I can’t even bring myself to call it a show!]. Originally Brooks turned to well-known lyricist Jerry Hermann to collaborate on the project, who declined the offer. Brooks created both the music and lyrics for the show. He did ask Thomas Meehan to work on the writing of the Broadway Book. One of my favourite facets of his later work was its self-referential nature, take ‘The King of Old Broadway’ that features a line from Brooks’ ‘History of the World, Part I’ (1981). Filling out the production team was the husband/wife duo of Susan Stroman (Choreographer) and Mike Ockrent (Director); Stroman eventually ended up stepping into the Director role following Ockrent’s passing in 1999.
Rehearsals begun, under Stroman, from December 2000. The previews for Producers began the year after, and unlike the ’67 film, reviews were immensely positive cause the run to sellout quickly. The show sold itself practically on its line-up alone: Legendary Broadway Star, Nathan Lane (Max), Ferris Bueller and Inspector Gadget Star, Matthew Broderick (Leo), the man who originated Lumiere on Broadway, Gary Beach (Roger Debris), Hercules voice actor, Roger Bart (Carmen Ghia). Following its smash success in Chicago, it ran for 33 previews on Broadway before going on to perform an astounding 2,500 performances up until 2007. The show won a record 12 Tony awards; Nathan Land won Best Actor in a Musical, Brooks won for Best original Score, also Best Musical that year alongside numerous technical awards. This time the production was able to ride off 3 decades of cult support, Brook’s success in his later career, and finding itself in a climate that could accept its wicked and dark sense of humour. For the Friends Fans out there, David Schwimmer once played the role of Leo in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, with Mel Brooks himself providing a cameo too.
Following its smash-run, Brooks inevitably decided that having gone from the screen to the explosive stage, he would cap this journey off by a return back to Hollywood. Cue the 2005 Movie Musical. The early 2000s saw an onslaught of movie musical adaptations – South Pacific (2001), Academy Award winning Chicago (2002), Phantom of the Opera (2004), and Rent (2005). The belief was that the popularity and resurgence of interest in The Producers warranted creating an adaptation of the musical. The majority of the original Broadway cast returned to their roles in the films, with the addition of Uma Thurman as Miss Ulla Inga and Will Ferrell as Franz Liebkind, for added star power. Susan Stroman returned to direct the flick, and Mel Brooks even made a cameo (as was customary of him) at the shows final number, Goodbye. Despite having the same team behind the show, the movie opened to mixed reception. Some thought the film did not work as they had effectively filmed the stage musical; others believed the numerous movie musical adaptations 7 did not help it either. The 2nd time around it closed its theatrical run with $38 Million; based on a budget of $45 Million. History had repeated itself. The film flopped, again. Maybe the Producers never had the great success it was after at the movies. Yet Brooks often lauds the story of The Producers as the “Miracle of his life”; to be fair it was astounding that he even got it up on the big screen. But, perhaps, fifty-six years later its greatest achievement was its musical adaptation. The musical version of the show has been translated onto the West End in 2004, and again on tour in 2015, alongside numerous North American Tours… and a select few schools that can work welfare around it (Melina!)
“I have loved The Producers since I saw the Mel Brooks film when young. It was so irreverent and hilarious, and my late father was a fan so I suppose that is something I took with me. Later I had the fortune to see the West End production with Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock which was stellar. I normally hate musicals, so this is the only exception really”
– Jessica.
The Power of Parody
By Anne Tremaine
What is the enduring appeal of ‘The Producers’? Enduring it is, as numerous people have told me how much they love the film when I mention it. Which is about people behaving very badly: taking advantage of lonely old ladies; objectifying young secretaries; perpetrating a fraud; making a show about the lowest of the low. Could this be its appeal, that every time you think it can’t get any more base, it does? Turning awful, embarrassing things into a joke is a British speciality. It is the basis for our ‘British sense of humour’ which is basically turned against ourselves. If you are embarrassed by being bad or even good at something, make a joke of it. Burn your own face with your own cigarette, make a joke of it. Be freakily good at yoga, normalize it by making a joke. Elizabeth Bennet in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, written in 1813, is embarrassed by being rudely dismissed by Mr. Darcy at a ball so she “told the story however with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lovely, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.” Laughing at something takes away its sting. It is the first step in healing. Making the Nazis into laughing stocks is no new thing. Britain has been doing it since the 1930s. Charlie Chaplin made ‘The Great Dictator’ in 1940. In the 1960s, America’s ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ showed a set of smart American POWs manipulating and triumphing against their clueless Nazi guards. The 1980’s ‘‘Allo ‘Allo!’ had plucky if ridiculous members of the French resistance running riot around clueless Germans in rural France. Making a joke of Nazis is something we have been doing for years.
This is not true in Germany. Timur Vermes’ ‘Look Who’s Back’ published in 2012 was the first German book to poke fun at Hitler. The premise of the book is that Hitler did not die in his bunker in 1945. He pops up in 2011 Berlin and is given a place to stay in a Turk’s newspaper kiosk. This is a watershed moment in German culture, almost 70 years after the end of the war, a moment when the German people finally feel able to poke fun at Adolf Hitler, toppling him off the pedestal he has inhabited - a monster but one still taken seriously. As one reviewer wrote “some say its success is proof that the guilt-ridden post-war generation has given way to one able to laugh at the monster who still haunts them.” This may be true but Steven Poole calls the novel “oddly cosy. No doubt it is much more thrillingly transgressive in Germany, where it remains a criminal offence to give a Nazi salute.” ‘The Producers’ really is “thrillingly transgressive” - originally a 1969 film written and directed by Mel Brookes, working title ‘Springtime for Hitler’. It was turned into a musical play in 2001 by Brooks and Thomas Meehan and then into a musical film in 2005. It’s a funny film and tasteless, but by portraying Nazis and Hitler in such a grotesquely comic way, Brooks reduces Hitler into a bite sized joke. Mel Brooks said, “More than anything the great Holocaust by the Nazis is probably the great outrage of the 20th century. There is nothing to compare with it. And ... so what can I do about it? If I get on the soapbox and wax eloquently, it'll be blown away in the wind, but if I do Springtime for Hitler it'll never be forgotten. I think you can bring down totalitarian governments faster by using ridicule than you can with invective.” It seems a strange medicine, to make a joke of Hitler and laugh at him.
But by doing just that, Hitler is reduced. As Brooks says, “if you ridicule them, bring them down with laughter, they can't win. You show how crazy they are.” And how much would Hitler have hated to be made fun of on stage and screen and by a Jew? That is sweet revenge. Could a non-Jew have written ‘Springtime for Hitler’ and ‘The Producers’? I think not. It takes a very brave person to be so completely wantonly tasteless and irreverent. To channel such anger into a tap dance or a sweet and ridiculous melody. Only someone who owns part of the blistering tragedy of the Holocaust has the right to reduce its architect into a joke. It is how we deal with terrible things. We make them more digestible by breaking them into smaller pieces with humour. ‘The Producers’ explores pretty nasty people doing pretty nasty things. And they end up pretty badly. By making a joke of the action in the play we learn the lesson quite happily as we are laughing along. And by seeing Hitler as a joke, we dismantle him. We deconstruct him. We destroy him. Thank you, Mr. Brooks.
“The musical makes me laugh and smile. The lyrics, the fun. I want to see it time and again!”
– Matilda.
The Interviews
I sat down with 3 of the ensemble members of ‘The Producers’ to have a chat with them about the show. There are a couple spoilers ahead so read at your own risk :)
Jago: ‘I am with three lovely members of the cast of ‘The Producer.’ We’ve got Alfie.
Alfie: Hiya!
Jago: We’ve got Eugenie, we’ve got Anastasia.
Eugenie: (we’ve got pretzels)
Jago: And we’re gonna ask some questions. If you could describe the Producers in 3 words, what would you say?
Anastasia: Shall we give one each?
Jago: Okay 3 words, one each!
Anastasia: Wacky
Eugenie: Satirical
Alfie: I’m not very good at this guys, someone take a word from me. You can do another word.
Anastasia: Another word?
Eugenie: We can collaborate on a word. This production specifically? Or the Producers in general?
Jago: Either! Whatever you want.
Eugenie: Our production has a little twist doesn’t it.
Anastasia: It does yeah.
Jago: What’s the little twist? Or is that a spoiler?
Eugenie: The word gender haha.
Jago: Yes! Gender bender!
Eugenie: How to describe this musical – gender.
Alfie: Gender haha.
Anastasia: This musical is gender.
Jago: Wacky, satirical, gender.
Alfie: Yes! Everyone wants to come and see it.
Jago: I love it. Okay – following on from that, what are your thoughts on the producers as a show?
Anastasia: I think it’s hilarious. I was slightly surprised when it first was announced it was going to be a Blooms show but after hearing the plan for the show and the directorial vision and everything, I was so on board with it. I think it’s great they’ve done the gender swaps and the way they’re handling the sensitive topics is really, really good. And there’s like a lot of protection and plans in place for that which is great. But yeah, I think I was very excited and it’s just such a fun show to be part of and it’s so big as a show and I think it’s going to be great I’m really excited.
Eugenie: That was very well put.
Jago: Have you guys got anything to add? Or?
Eugenie: Yeah, I think there’s something to be said about how topics are addressed. Just because the content contains something doesn’t mean it endorses it. You can’t really take it out of context. If you take it out of context, it’s out of context.
Jago, Anastasia: Yeah.
Eugenie: You just fell out of a coconut tree! You exist in the context of all– oh this is going to be lost on you guys.
Anastasia: Haha what?
Eugenie: Have you not seen Kamala Harris saying, ‘you think you just fell out of a coconut tree’?
Jago: Haha no.
[Editor’s note: Eugenie has now taught me about the quote]
Eugenie: She’s like, you exist in the context of all that came before you and all that will come after you.
Everyone: Wooow.
Eugenie: Don’t include that.
Anastasia: No, I love the quote, I like the quote. Yeah, no I think you’re right though, satire is one of the most
Eugenie: Artistic, masterful.
Anastasia: I think one of the most effective ways of making a political commentary is through satire, through making fun of it. Like that’s one of the most effective ways. Alfie: And they do it so well. Anastasia: It’s done so well.
Alfie: It’s so silly, so big.
Anastasia: You have to commit to it to properly do it. Alfie,
Eugenie: Yeah.
Anastasia: I think that’s what everyone in the cast agrees on, everyone one is committing to it.
Alfie: From the beginning.
Anastasia: Which is great.
Jago: The performances are big.
Alfie: If you didn’t commit to it fully then it would be a bit suspect. Yeah, all of the cast are performing really strongly.
Anastasia: Everyone is just giving it their all.
Jago: It’s all about removing any power that Hitler or the Nazis have by making fun of them.
Alfie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anastasia: Exactly.
Eugenie: And what’s so great is that when you make fun of them you don’t have to do anything else besides just demonstrate what they’ve done.
Anastasia: Yeah, they did it. The one liners like ‘he doesn’t need our help’ when he’s like, ‘you made fun of the Fuhrer.’
Eugenie: You know what I only just realised. I went onto this trivia website about ‘The Producers’, and they only sign the oath, the Siegfried oath after Franz is like ‘Adolf Elizabeth Hitler.’ They’re like oh it’s not a real person, so I’m not pledging to a real person so it’s fine.
Anastasia: Oh, true yeah, yeah, I didn’t even realise that.
Eugenie: They were like reluctant to take the oath but then after they’ve pledged their allegiance to a fake person because Adolf doesn’t actually have Elizabeth in his middle name, they were like it’s fine then.
Jago, Alfie: Ooh.
Jago: Yeah, that went straight over my head.
Alfie: That is really interesting trivia. Crazy.
Jago: The trivia will be added! Okay, next question. How-
[proceeds to garble his words]
Anastasia: You gonna write that down?
[Everyone laughs]
Jago: How have you guys found the rehearsal process?
Alfie: It’s really full on actually. I wasn’t expecting it for my first show but it’s really nice. I like how it’s separated into – you’ve got the acting, the singing and the dancing rehearsals. And then we just dive straight into the runs which have gone quite well. I think Act 2 went better then Act 1 but both are in a really, good place [FYI this interview is from a couple weeks before the show]. The fact that we just had to combine them all, we’re thrown in the deep end there but we could just see the whole picture coming together.
Anastasia: Yeah, the thing about being ensemble in this show is that it all feels very bitty…
Alfie: Yeah definitely.
Anastasia: …like the rehearsals. So, seeing it come together in the runs has been really cool. How it all pieces together it feels like we have a show now. That’s really cool to see.
Jago: It’s cool as well to see all the other scenes which are just hilarious.
Alfie, Eugenie, Anastasia: Yeah!
Jago: You get a chance to see the complete scene and actually get the jokes. It’s really good.
Anastasia: It’s like wait, this is really funny.
Jago: I’m intrigued, what’s your previous experience with MT?
Alfie: This is my first - I’ve never done anything with MT before.
Jago: Did you do any stuff in school?
Alfie: Yeah, I used to do some theatre at school and outside of it as well but since coming to uni, cause I’m a 4th year now, nothing.
Eugenie: Covid took that opportunity away.
Alfie: yeah, Covid took it away from me.
Jago: You were going to do a show weren’t you and then Covid…
Alfie: Yes, in first year and then it got cancelled.
Eugenie: He was going to be the lead.
Jago: You were going to be the lead! Wow!
Eugenie: In Guys and Doll.
Anastasia: Oh my God!
Jago: That’s so cool.
Eugenie: Nathan Detroit.
Anastasia: Nathan. Oh my God. Damn.
Jago: That’s so cool.
Eugenie: I know someone else who’s done Guys and Dolls.
Anastasia: Haha who could that be? I did it at school, yeah.
Alfie: What’d you play?
Anastasia: I was Sara.
Alfie: Aah beautiful.
Jago: What have you done since coming to uni?
Anastasia: Since uni I’ve done Chess, in my first term. Yeah, that was my first Blooms, my first experience of MT Soc and it was wonderful. And yeah-
Alfie: Came straight back.
Anastasia: Dived straight back in, can’t get enough, can’t keep me away. So here I am again!
Jago: What about you Eugenie?
Eugenie: I also did Chess with Anastasia.
Jago: And me.
Eugenie: And Jago.
Jago: But we don’t really talk to him.
Anastasia: We kind of ignore him.
Jago: This is actually a contractual obligation. I’m paying everyone to be here. Here against their will.
Eugenie: But I think it’s interesting cause this is my second Blooms. So, there’s a comparison between how the Blooms shows are run and I’ve previously only ever done small shows. Every new show is just so exciting.
Jago: This is true, this is true. What are your guys’ roles in the show?
Eugenie: I mean I think we all agree, we play like, we put on a lot of different hats.
Alfie: Haha yeah, we do actually.
Anastasia: Yeah we do, when it’s ensemble it’s not the same as ‘Chess’ which was just a supporting kind of body which wasn’t really roles. But this is a lot more, little individual roles.
Eugenie: Character driven.
Anastasia: Yeah, it’s very character driven.
Jago: A little birdie told me you’re all little old ladies.
Alfie, Eugenie: Yeaah
Anastasia: Little old ladies, pigeons, sergeants.
Alfie: Pigeons haha, Pigeons. Irish Police men!
Jago: Yeah, I’ve heard you’re the most important character in the show.
Alfie: Yeah!
Jago: Can you tell us about-
Alfie: O’Hoolihan. Riley O’Hoolihan. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eugenie: When? When? Act 2?
Jago: What’s his character arc?
Alfie: So, his dad moved over from Ireland. Yeah.
Anastasia: What’s his intention [acting intention that is].
Eugenie: When is this?
Alfie: This is throughout the show, I’ve been one of the leads. Nah he appears in Act 2 when Max gets arrested.
Jago: Alfie does it brilliantly. Alfie performed this and he got a massive round of applause.
Eugenie: Oooh wow.
Jago: Cause it was so, so epic.
Alfie: Well, come see the show. A few of us are in opening night and we’ll be playing show goers. The very next scene will be bums so we’ve got to change quite quickly. And then we’re playing tapping Nazis at some point.
Anastasia: Yeah, lots of dancing.
Alfie: And then sexed up old ladies.
Anastasia, Eugenie: Yeah haha
Alfie: So the show’s got a lot going on. And each of these characters have got a deep story behind them which we’ve all worked on for hours.
Jago: And one last question. What have you liked most about being in the show thus far?
Alfie: The friendships.
Eugenie: The people.
Jago: Aaw lowkey. High key. Every key.
Anastasia: I’ve actually loved getting to know more people from Drama Soc.
Jago: Yes.
Alfie: It’s a big collab in the show actually.
Anastasia: That’s been really cool. I mean was talking to Sara [another cast member] the other day and she was like it’s great because now we have lots of people in freshers, a generation of people in MT and Drama Soc who are friends and who know each other. So, I can see a lot more collabs happening in the future. And I think that’s a really special thing.
Alfie: That is interesting actually. I feel quite lucky that in this show it seems there’s people that do Shakespeare Society, people that do Drama and MT have all come together. Whereas in other shows people just kind of stick to their own society.
Eugenie: The bleeding through the boundaries is so lovely.
Jago: And I think it’s really impressive as well because a lot of people from Drama Soc and other Societies are doing other shows right now as well. So, this week they’re all preparing for ‘Measure For Measure.’ People are doing ‘Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.’
Eugenie: ‘Fusions’, the Jazz Show.
Jago: Yeah, it’s very impressive that they’re able to do it all.
Eugenie: There are people doing the opera as well.
Anastasia: So many things going on. J
Jago: It’s very cool. Well yeah thank you for chatting to me.
Eugenie: No thank you.
Anastasia: Thank you, Jago.
Alfie: Thank you, Jago.
Anastasia: Thank you for your time.
I had a chat with our lovely choreographer Alexis about the show!
Jago: So, first question – I asked the others this as well. If you could describe the show in three words, what would you say?
Alexis: Show biz baby!
Jago: I like that! And you’re a very good choreographer which is clear with what we’re performing – it’s great. I was wondering if you had any previous choreography experience?
Alexis: Oh yeah – I used to choregraph for my dance team in America when we’d do competition dance. And I used to choregraph a little bit for Irish dance for like little kids. And then from there I started choreographing musicals. I was dance captain and assistant choreographer for ‘Addams Family’ – that was the first musical I ever did. Then I choreographed ‘Into the Woods’, ‘Chicago’, ‘Cinderella.’
Jago: Oh wow.
Alexis: Then I did movement direction for a small show, ‘The Covenant of Pleasure’ over the Summer which was a Renaissance piece. I did movement direction for ‘King Charles’ which was a Blooms show last year, and the Greek Play last year and a bit of movement direction for film.
Jago: Wow you’ve done a lot of choreographing, that’s so cool! That’s really, really cool. So how have you found choregraphing this show? How’s it been similar to what you’ve done before? How has it changed?
Alexis: It feels really similar to what I’ve done before because the musicals that I’ve choreographed are all very jazzy, MT. And this musical is very much my style; I’m not really a ballet dancer, I can’t really choreograph ballet.
Jago: You can do those triple pirouettes!
Alexis: Haha I can do pirouettes and stuff like that but my strength in choreography is big production numbers, like big ensemble numbers, big, crazy jazzy – something that’s very jazzy, something that’s very classic MT, musical theatre jazz, ballroom dancing. Anything that’s kind of between two genres, a little bit more contemporary ballet. That’s my thing.
Jago: And there are definitely a lot of big show biz numbers in this. For sure.
Alexis: That’s definitely my strong suit – what I’ve realised in this show is that I struggle to teach people tap numbers.
Jago: We’ve learnt them though – some of us have never tapped before and you’ve taught us well!
Alexis: That’s also cool cause the show has really revealed what I’m lacking as a choreographer, which is so important. Which is cool.
Jago: What’s your process of choregraphing?
Alexis: I think generally I go through the music, normally I have rehearsal tracks. That’s one of the issues the show has proven, that not having rehearsal tracks and having to realise what I’m missing in the choreography from the score to the soundtrack has been definitely a big thing. I generally start with having a list of all my references. For this show it was a lot of Roquettes.
Jago: Oh cool.
Alexis: It was a lot of what Susan Stroman [she directed the Broadway debut of ‘The Producers’] has already done and then a lot of other dance styles that I want to incorporate. I wanted to get a little bit of ballroom dancing in here, so watching a lot of Strictly. I really love precision jazz, which the show doesn’t have a lot of, so I watched a lot of Roquettes stuff. But I really love Susan Stroman as a choreographer, so it was staying true to that and making it my own was really important. And that’s what I do for a lot of musicals, if I really respect the chorography that’s already been there then I will stay pretty-
Jago: Pay homage to it.
Alexis: -Yeah pay homage to it and then kind of make it my own. And then a lot of it I do in the room. I have it in my head and have written down in my script what I want things to look like and I make sure I have an image but then I also, especially with school shows, the big thing is making sure that people feel comfortable doing it. So I know what I want the moves to be and know what I want the shapes to be and I know what I want the beginning, final and images throughout to be and then I kind of tailor it to the bodies that I’m working with. So for ‘When you got it, Flaunt it’ it’s a lot of what are Dom’s [our Ulla!] strong suits and how can I highlight Dom to the best of my ability, without giving limiting choreography. It’s the same for my dancers in ‘I want be a Producer’, it’s about highlighting them as performers and highlighting them as showgirls and how can I alter my choreography and my image so they are the most comfortable and look the best they can look. So, I like to have a lot of collaboration.
Jago: Rehearsals have been fun. You’ve come up with your choreography but there’s also a space for us all to have a discussion as well – it makes it collaborative, which is exciting.
Alexis: I think the easiest way to choreograph would be for me to come and be like you’re doing this, this and this. But I don’t think that’s an effective way to highlight people who are doing school shows. University shows should be about collaboration and be about performers defining themselves and defining what they’re good at. So I really, really enjoy being like ‘I kind of want you to do this turn’, as I’ve done to you multiple times, and you’re like ‘okay I can do that but also I can do this instead’ and then me being like oh shit that’s great!
Jago: It’s fun cause it’s a challenge but also a nice way to get to know people. We’re having a discussion. Also, in the show there are salutes, goose steps, Swastikas; how did you find choreographing those elements into the show?
Alexis: I think trying to acknowledge the comedy behind it is really important. Acknowledging that we’re making fun of this because it deserves to be made fun of; it doesn’t deserve our respect. Me trying to make it as wacky and put it in the weirdest ways possible and always having a moment in the choreography which juxtaposes it really is important. Acknowledging that you can’t pay respect to something which doesn’t deserve respect and so making it as crazy as possible is really important.
Jago: And as satirical as possible.
Alexis: Yeah exactly.
Alexis: I think trying to acknowledge the comedy behind it is really important. Acknowledging that we’re making fun of this because it deserves to be made fun of; it doesn’t deserve our respect. Me trying to make it as wacky and put it in the weirdest ways possible and always having a moment in the choreography which juxtaposes it really is important. Acknowledging that you can’t pay respect to something which doesn’t deserve respect and so making it as crazy as possible is really important.
Jago: And as satirical as possible.
Alexis: Yeah exactly.
Jago: Really tuning into that. Last question, thank you so much, what have you liked most about the show so far?
Alexis: I haven’t done MT in a while because I was doing drama and then after the pandemic, I was like I’m gonna be drama kid because MT is too unstable. So I was telling Josh [our director] that I’m so happy to be back in the room with musical theatre people. Musical theatre people are like, there’s such a beautiful moment with MT where people are so friendly and so welcoming and so excited and so optimistic but so, so professional and so talented. I forgot how absolutely incredible it Is watching a group of people come together and do your vision as a dance number and just be like aaah everyone is so talented, everyone is so on it but at the end of the day so friendly. I’ve just really, really enjoyed being with show people to reference that and the musical. I think I was actually getting emotional with Josh about it, where it was so great to be with what feels like my people again and be with people who just love what they’re doing and are so on it. I could talk about it for ages cause it’s so cool to watch everyone just do their thing.
Jago: That’s a nice note to end on. Thank you so much!
Alexis: You’re welcome! This is a really cool idea.
[Yes, yes it is]
Thanks!
I would like to thank a couple of people for this edition. Firstly Jordan, who greenlit the idea and has been great support throughout the process of setting this up. Secondly, the writers who contributed to this – Matt and Anne; thank you for your insights! Likewise, I really appreciate the interviewees who took the time to sit down with me – I hope you enjoyed it and sharing your views. Medina for all the lovely photos she has taken throughout ‘The Producers’ process. Lastly, Zelda for all the beautiful illustrations (including the cover) she has done! They really bring the magazine to life, so I am very appreciative of that.
Photo wall!
