I was sorry to see that The Producers has closed in London after two years. 920 performances is respectable but nothing like the run of its Broadway cousin, now in its seventh year. I’ve seen both versions and found them equally slick and funny.
Lyn Gardner was backstage on the last night and wrote an informative piece in The Guardian. She blames the size of the venue (Theatre Royal Drury Lane has 2200 seats) for its relatively early demise. I agree that filling all the seats in a large theatre can be a problem. I always felt Disney’s Beauty And The Beast deserved a much longer London run but the huge Dominion did for it. Well established productions like Phantom or Les Mis often move to smaller venues- and the producers of The Producers did consider this- but early in a run production costs need to be paid back quickly and, when you’re talking about a multi-million pound musical spectacular, you can only hope to do this if you’re occupying a large theatre.
On the other hand, maybe a spoof on putting on a Broadway show doesn’t have the same appeal to British audiences as to Americans. We’ll have to see how well sales go for the superb Spamalot which covers similar ground.
Still, there’s always the tour. Those provincials who didn’t make the perilous trip to the capital now have the chance to enjoy The Producers nearer to home.
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