The Franklin Performing Arts Company has announced the cast of Mel Brooks’ The Producers running March 14-23 at THE BLACK BOX in Franklin, MA. The production is directed by FPAC Artistic Director Raye Lynn Mercer, with choreography by Associate Director Broadway’s Clay Rice-Thomson (Moulin Rouge!, KING KONG, Matilda, Newsies), and music direction by Hallie Wetzell. The Producers is a Mel Brooks comedy full of adult humor and innuendo. Audience discretion is advised.
Leading the cast are FPAC’s Nick Paone as Max Bialystock and NYC’s Paul Rescigno as Leo Bloom. They are joined by NYC’s Katie Mariko Murray (Disney’s Frozen on tour) as Ulla, Anthony Fett (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on tour) as Roger DeBris, Robert Mintz as Carmen Ghia, and Franklin favorite Timothy Ayres-Kerr as Franz Liebkind.
The ensemble is made up of artists from NYC, the Boston-Providence-Franklin area, and Musical Theater students from Dean College: Andrew Scott Holmes, Casey Harkness Andrade, Melissa Baratta, Elijah Bondar, Marissa J. Browning, Nya Dekrines, Heather Dorler, Shaina Dunn, Charley Eastman, Kim Frigon, Julia Lavoie, Alex LeBlanc, David Livingston, Conor Meehan, Caroline Merten, Anissa Perona, Myranda Rose Silva, Kellie Stamp, Jason Robert Warner, and Isis Wilson.
Joining the ensemble on stage at THE BLACK BOX are FPAC Student Apprentices from the Franklin School for the Performing Arts: Elena Baker, Ani Corkran, Helena Cornwell, Devin Curley, Brodie DeAngelis, Devin DeAngelis, Baree Frigon, Kayla Hoben, Hailey Hulbig, Madeleine Jacomme, Katherine LeBlanc, Matthew Packard, Kate Settle, Angelina Willey, and Michael Wirkus.
The plot of The Producers is simple: a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history, thereby bilking their backers (all "little old ladies") out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit. The antics of Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom as they maneuver their way fecklessly through finding a show, hiring a director, raising the money and finally going to prison for their misdeeds is a lesson in broad comic construction. At the core of the insanely funny adventure is a poignant emotional journey of two very different men who become friends. With a truly hysterical book co-written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan (Annie) and music and lyrics by Mr. Brooks, The Producers skewers Broadway traditions and takes no prisoners.
FPAC is an Actors’ Equity Small Professional Theater company based at THE BLACK BOX in downtown Franklin. Each season, FPAC produces musicals, plays, ballets, and more featuring Broadway stars, professional actors, local artists, and students of the arts.
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