August 5, 2002

The Producers at MASS MoCA

(North Adams, Mass.) Have you been unable to get tickets to the mega-hit The Producers on Broadway? Don't want to fight the crowds or pay the steep ticket prices? Come to MASS MoCA on Sunday, September 1st, at 8:30 P.M. and see the Mel Brooks movie in all its original hilarity and find out why the Broadway show is sold out months in advance. In Brooks' 1968 directorial debut, which also won him an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, Zero Mostel plays Max Bialystock, a forgotten and bankrupt Broadway producer, with Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom, his corruptible and eventually corrupted accountant. Together they blunder, bite, and bicker their way into producing a show intended to be a big flop, and get a lot of laughs along the way.

Bloom, a nervous and honest accountant, is sent to Bialystock to assess his finances. Bialystock's recent show was a dud but was also over-financed by $2,000. In Bloom's last moment of innocence he comments that "the IRS isn't interested in flops" and Bialystock can keep the extra money. Both men instantly realize the importance of this discovery and begin to create the worst Broadway show possible. The result is Springtime for Hitler: A Musical Romp with Adolf and Eva, a play with a Neo-Nazi writer, a transvestite for a director, and a hippie playing the lead role of the FŸhrer.

Roger Ebert hails The Producers as "one of the funniest movies ever made," but this film does not stop at comedy; the thinly veiled critique of Hollywood morals endows the film with a larger purpose than simple entertainment. In all, the film set the tone for Mel Brooks' directing career as one of comedy and critique.

The Producers at MASS MoCA is sponsored by Holiday Inn Berkshires.

Lickety Split will be open to serve full dinners and snacks starting at 7:30 P.M. when the doors open. There will also be a full bar. The film will be shown outdoors in Cinema Courtyard C on MASS MoCA's 50' screen. In case of rain the film will move indoors where the Hunter Center will have been transformed into a full movie palace.

Tickets to The Producers are $6. MASS MoCA members get 10% off. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located on Marshall Street in North Adams from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or online at www.massmoca.org.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located on a 13- acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings. MASS MoCA focuses on the work of visual and performing artists charting new territory.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org