Battle Light Opera company in rehearsal.

Battle Light Opera presents Mel Brooks’ The Producers

Battle Light Opera Group open a four-day run of their new production, Mel Brooks’ The Producers, on Wednesday 8 May. Last year’s production won the company a prestigious award. Nick Terdre reports.

Mel Brook’s satirical film The Producers, a “cultural assault on fascism and conformity,” turned 50 last year. Battle Light Opera Group is now presenting a stage version directed by Bob Murray, with assistance by Henri Hayler. Abigaile Doherty is the choreographer and Daniel Goodger the musical director.

The plot sees failing producer Max Bialystock and his accountant Leo Bloom scam a group of elderly women out of their nest eggs by convincing them to invest in a horrendously offensive Third Reich-themed musical secretly intended to bomb the moment it opens.

But when high-brow Broadway audiences mistakenly assume Springtime for Hitler is a satire, Bialystock finds himself with the critical acclaim that has long eluded him — and the biggest hit of his career.

The humour of the show draws on ridiculous accents, caricatures and Nazis, and many show business in-jokes.

Battle Light Opera Group won a prestigious NODA – National Operatic & Dramatic Association, South East Region – award for musical excellence for last year’s production of Made in Dagenham, it tells HOT.
 

The Producers Battle Light Opera Wednesday 8 to Saturday 11 May, 7.30pm (Saturday matinee 2.30pm), Battle Memorial Hall, 81 High St, Battle TN33 0AQ. Tickets £14 (£7 conc), Saturday matinee £12 (£6), available on the door, online or call 07970 245 577.

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