[title of show] Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 1

[title of show]
MUSICALS/PLAYS
The Producers
The Producers took Broadway by storm when it opened in 2001.
Adapted by Mel Brooks from his 1968 film of the same name,
it tells the story of a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer who
hatches a get-rich-quick scheme with his accountant. The idea is
to raise $2 million dollars from theatrical investors (i.e., little old
ladies with money to spare), produce the worst Broadway show
ever staged on a budget of $100,000 and when the show tanks, take
the money and run. Unfortunately, their intentionally absurd and
offensive production, Springtime for Hitler, is taken by audiences to
be a brilliant parody and becomes a huge hit. Eventually, the two
scam artists are exposed and sent to jail where they continue their
collaboration, writing musicals from their jail cells and becoming the
Kings of Broadway.
The Producers opened on April 19, 2001, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and ran
for 2,502 performances, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards.
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line was based on an idea by Michael Bennett, a Broadway dancer and choreographer,
in which he invited several friends and fellow 'gypsies' to get together and talk informally about
their lives and their experiences as Broadway chorus dancers. These conversations were taperecorded
and eventually assembled into a show in which seventeen dancers audition for a
Broadway show, talking about their lives and careers in between choreography routines. The show
was a rare opportunity for chorus members to tell their own story while showcasing their skills and
talents as both singers and dancers.
The original Broadway production was a box office and critical hit, winning nine Tony Awards,
in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It ran for 6,137 performances, becoming the
longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. It remains the longest running
Broadway musical originally produced in the United States, and the fourth longest-running
Broadway show ever.
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, is not only a 'musical within a musical,' but it
incorporates the work of William Shakespeare, as well. It centers on tryouts of a Broadway-bound
musical version of The Taming of the Shrew in which the actors playing the contentious roles
of Kate and Petruchio were once married, now divorced. The onstage battle of the sexes mirrors
their own offstage romantic struggles. As with Shakespeare's original, the subplots and romantic
complications weave throughout the main plot until all ends happily and the warring lovers are
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 22