I saw the movie musical The Producers the other day and loved it! In fact, I DEVOURED it!

First off, let me say "shame on Famous Players". They put it in the smallest theater they had at the craplicious Varsity Theaters in the Manulife Center. They decided that the movie didn't rate distribution at Yorkdale or Yonge and Eglinton or any of their other mainline theaters...sheesh! We ended up sitting in the front row, which is a bit close for my taste but still enjoyable.

Congrats to Susan Stroman who did a great job. It was shot like an old-fashioned MGM/Gene Kelly movie, and was not ashamed to show full frame/full body dance numbers.

I really enjoyed how she opened up the numbers and utilized the New York city setting. For example, "We Can Do It" moved from Max's office, into a cab, in front of Sardi's and finally into the fountain in Central Park. It was great to finally see Matthew and Nathan together. You get an idea of what the energy must have been like to see them live on stage every night. They were awesome!

Roger Bart (my personal fav!) and Gary Beach were FAB - U - LOUS as Carmen Ghia and Roger De Bris. And Will Ferrell did a great job as Franz Liebkind (Accroding to my eldest daughter, "he rocked my socks off"). Brad Oscar (the original Franz on Broadway) had a small cameo as the cab driver.

In fact I recognized a few Broadway names in the rolling credits, such as Eric Gunhus and John Tracy Eagan and Debra Monk. And wasn't that Karen Ziemba in the opening number? Wasn't that Richard Kind in the courtroom who proclaims Max "unbelievably guilty"? And wasn't that Andrea "look closely or you'll miss her" Martin as one of the little old ladies? And it was nice to see that Kathy Fitzgerald got to reprise her role as Shirley Markowitz

My only complaint is Uma Thurman as Ulla. Her Swedish accent was so incredibly inconsistent it was irritating. And her voice was just not up to the task. One of my favorite moments in the original soundtrack was when Cady Huffman says "now Ulla belt" and then lets it rip. Unfortunately, Uma's voice is flat and thin, and her dancing is labored. But she is definitely a tall gorgeous blond with nice legs, so maybe no one will notice.

I miss the songs that have been cut ("The King of Broadway" and "Where Did We Go Right"), but they don't ruin the movie, I just really liked those songs.

There are some very funny new bits of dialogue and business as well so it seems fresh even if you have seen the show a few times.

Oh, and stay right to the end of the credits -- Will Ferrell sings a very funny slow version of the "Hop Klop", in addition to other bonus goodies...

I can't wait for the DVD!

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