LANES REPLACEMENT IN THE PRODUCERS

[Joe Mike2]

Did anyone see Nathan Lane's first replacement in THE PRODUCERS? The one who got fired after only a few weeks. I just wondered what his performance was like and if he deserved to go.

[LizzieCurry]

You mean Henry Goodman?
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/96330.html

[BSoBW2]

My uncle saw him.

The man was boring and terrible.

Mel Brooks admitted to his folly.

[WickedOne2]

I thought Gene Gabriel was his understudy. Thank God Nathan and Matthew were both in the show when I saw it. I love them together. Oh and Brad Garrett was hysterical.

[BSoBW2]

Wrong show.

[PJ]

Not The Odd Couple. The Producers.

[WickedOne2]

Oops.. sorry... I really should go to bed as I am typing while I am half asleep.

[ZONEACE]

I rather enjoyed Henry Goodman. I thought he and Steven Weber worked good together.

[BSoBW2]

^WELL^ together.

[ZONEACE]

COUGHgrammanaziCOUGH

[SamIAm]

Goodman created a dark and more threatening vision of Max that just did not work. He is a fine actor but was NOT meant for that role and Brooks made a similar mistake with Dreyfuss in the U.K. That one would have cost them big time if Lane hadn't bailed out their butts by going over there.

Brad Oscar is probably the only other Max I've really liked. Once he came into his own in the role, he was really marvelous.

[Calvin]

I saw him in his first week. He was dropping a lot of lines and getting lyrics screwed up. Just not a good fit for him.

[ShuQ]

SamIAm....Lewis Stadlen does it amazingly.

[GClef2]

lol bsobw2

[Joe Mike2]

Was Goodman's interpretation of the role different, or was he just bad at imitating Nathan Lane? Or just plain bad? The reason I ask is beacuse I've seen him in other things and he's a wonderful actor.

[Horton]

I agree he was nothing short of wonderfull in Tartuffe (sp?)

[NYC_or_Bust]

Why was the guy fired?

[ZONEACE]

Goodman's interpretaion of Max was darker than Lane's. I personally enjoyed that way of playing it.

[jonartdesigns]

if his max is anything like his billy flynn i can see why he got canned. I for one found his Flynn to be horrid on the london revival recording, he seemd to make billy too nice at all the wrong times and not nearly sleazy enough.

[Joe Mike2]

You can tell all that from the CD? How do you know how sleazy his performance was if you didn't see it. He got rave reviews in the role.

[jonartdesigns]

well i'll rephrase, just for you. In the dialogue portions of the cd, in particular his section in mr. cellophane he didn't come off cold and conniving as i like my billy flynns (and how i play him) he seemed to literally be asking the question, as opposed to making a statement and really emphasizing the "would ya" part. Things like that led me to my conclusion. Also i watched some documentary on the making of the london production several times(it was on a video tape of tv appearances i got offline) and what it showed supported my views.

[Joe Mike2]

i still think you're full of it, but everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinion.

[SamIAm]

I love Lewis Stadlen too (his Banjo was a thing of beauty), but I have heard people say they didn't like his Max.

I think that Oscar is probably second to Lane but I would love to see Stadlen play the role.

As for Goodman, and his being dark...the idea that this show (which is supposed to be a musical comedy) could support over two and a half hours of a Max that was somewhat unlikable was not something that the creative team bought into.

Goodman IS a wonderful actor, but not everyone is cut out to play every role.

[South Fl Marc]

I adore Lewis Stadlen, his Pangloss (and other characters) in Candide is still one of my favorite performances, not to mention his Banjo, but I found his Max too one dimensional.

I saw Henry Goodman right before he was fired and I thought his Max was very good. The producers and "creative" team obviously wanted a carbon copy of Nathan Lane. Well if they wanted that, they should never have hired an accomplished actor who probably has never copied a performance in his career. This shows the lack of creatvity of the "creative" team. But then since most of them went on to do the bomb of a movie known as The Producers, they have shown just how uncreative they really are.

[SamIAm]

I won't disagree with you because we are all entitled to our opinion, but I will say that I know several people who watched Goodman during the rehearsal process and said he just didn't GET the character. I am not insulting him as an actor. I happen to think he is very good, but I repeat...I don't think he was right for Max.

As for the movie...I've seen it twice and happened to enjoy the throwback to the old movie musicals and I understand Brooks' desire to capture the stage show (as closely as possible) for posterity.

If you don't care for the show in general (which it appears you do not) I would say it may be hard for you to objective about the show, Lane's replacements OR the movie.