Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/)

Is there a story that Americans like more than one in which a chained-to-his-desk worker chases big dreams by committing a white collar crime, finds friendship (and maybe even love) along the way, and then faces the consequences of his actions?  Throw a couple big musical numbers in there, mix in a gay Hitler, and BAM – you’ve got the massively entertaining Tony-winning musical “The Producers”, currently running at the Little Theatre of Virginia Beach to open the 2025-2026 HRACT Awards season. 

I’m not going to bury the lead here – we loved this show!  It is a romp from beginning to end, with engaging leads, wonderful supporting performances, and a huge ensemble churning out big dance number after big dance number.  With more than a handful of group songs, it would have been easy to focus on one or two, and run out of time to implement fully thought-out blocking and choreography on the others.  However, director Kay Burcher and choreographer Karen Buchheim refused to sink into that trap – instead, they pushed to have one of the more complete shows we have seen ready for opening night, from the tap dancing showgirls of “I Wanna Be A Producer”, to the marching Nazis of “Springtime for Hitler”, to the walker-banging little old ladies of “Along Came Bialy”.  Just when you thought you’d seen the best ensemble number of the night, this cast would hit you with another, keeping the momentum throughout.

And the costuming… my goodness, the costuming!  Burcher and Buchheim, joined by Robert Shirley and the wigs & hair-stylings of Marilyn Abernathy, really out-did themselves on the costumes.   There are shimmery prisoners, Bavarian lederhosen, glittering showgirls, 1970s “passing as straight” outfits, dresses styled with oversize beer steins, and the largest pretzel I have ever seen mounted to someone’s head.  It was over-the-top, wild, and wonderful.  And Shirley himself wears perhaps the statement piece of the night, a sparkling sequin gown that, as Shirley notes, looks like he might be trying to be the Chrysler Building.  You know you’ve succeeded on costuming when there are multiple times the audience audibly gasps upon seeing someone’s outfit – and this was an overwhelming triumph.

Living up to the incredible work of the crew is an equally impressive cast.  Our leads, Clifford Hoffman as Max and Dylan Cavasos as Leo, are excellent.  Hoffman is entertaining as the down-on-his-luck Broadway producer, philandering his way through little old lady after little old lady to raise money for his progressively larger Broadway flops.  His comedic timing was impeccable.  And Cavasos is appropriately stiff in his portrayal of reformed accountant Leo, loosening up throughout the evening as he demonstrates his strong vocals and impressive dancing abilities.  But it is the moments they are together that are most compelling – with Cavasos’ candor and Hoffman’s attitude to not take life too seriously complementing each other perfectly.

We have enjoyed Grace Fitzpatrick in multiple roles throughout the area’s theaters, but her take on the enthusiastic and naive Ulla is perhaps our favorite yet.  Fitzpatrick is fantastic in this role, playing innocent seductress when necessary, genuine love-interest when called for, and always being extremely funny.  She impresses with both her singing and dancing in “When You Got It, Flaunt It” – a song totally reliant on her charisma – that ended up being one of our favorites of the evening.  And Fitzpatrick leans into the character arch of Ulla – not just a floozy, this Ulla has some more depth to her, becoming a trusted member of the team by the end of the show.

When producers Max and Leo need a director for their planned Broadway show, they head straight for the home of Roger De Bris – yet another commanding performance for multiple-time ACT-y nominated actor Robert Shirley.  Shirley is brilliant, strutting around the stage as the clearly queer (but loosely closeted) De Bris.  His ability to perfectly execute a one-liner (see, in response to Leo’s natural odor: “God, if I could bottle you, I’d shove you under my armpits every day”) will have you falling out of your chair.  And Shirley’s interactions with his “common law assistant” Carmen Ghia are spot-on.  Carmen, played by Alan Mathews (who we recently saw in “Memphis” over at LTN), is consistently funny, especially with his physical humor – we loved his exaggerated gait, which we are terming a “limp-wristed high step”, and Mathews and Shirley’s performance of “Keep It Gay” is worth the price of admission.  And we can’t forget Peter Scheible’s Franz Liebkind, the neo-Nazi whose genuine love for all things Hitler led him to write the play which Max and Leo are now producing.  Scheible toes the line between self-seriousness and total absurdity perfectly – not always an easy trick to pull.  Doing so while stroking a truly impressive pigeon puppet?  Even better.  Well done!

The show within a show, “Springtime for Hitler”, is a historical drama meant to be a flop.  Its draw becomes the irreverence with which it treats historical characters and its lack of needing to be constrained by what actually happened.  Last year, we made a trip up to New York to see Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!”, a comedic show satirizing Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln in the days leading up to Abe’s assassination, ignoring (or greatly modifying) the real story to focus on Mary’s desire to be a cabaret performer and Abe’s unclear sexuality.  On the car ride home from “The Producers”, we realized that Escola knew something that Max and Leo did not – that disrespect for historical characters and a lack of facts is the perfect combination for a Broadway comedic hit, not the intended dramatic flop.  Is “Oh, Mary!” this generation’s real-life version of “Springtime for Hitler”?  I’m not saying definitely no, but “Oh, Mary!” was notably missing that big pretzel headpiece…