June 1, 2001

Tonys' super troupers

By Elysa Gardner, USA Today

NEW YORK - Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane can't seem to look at each other without laughing. Kibitzing over bowls of lentil soup at a midtown Manhattan restaurant, the actors seem more like lifelong buddies than guys who were brought together just over a year ago by a job opportunity. It was around that time that Broderick, 39, signed on to co-star with Lane, 43, in a little musical theater project called The Producers, based on a 1968 Mel Brooks film about a duplicitous duo who solicit investors for a surefire Broadway dud called Springtime for Hitler.

"I remember we both had lunch at this diner after one read-through," Lane says, smirking at Broderick. "And you looked at me and said, 'This will either be a really big hit or the biggest bomb in show-business history.' "

Of course, anyone who hasn't spent the past month locked in a closet knows which scenario prevailed. Brooks' musical adaptation of The Producers - for which the comedy legend recruited esteemed co-author Thomas Meehan and red-hot director/choreographer Susan Stroman but penned songs on his own - has enjoyed a combination of critical and commercial success unrivaled by any original Broadway show in decades. Tickets are being sold at up to $100 a pop at the box office, and far more than that by scalpers catering to desperate fans.

The show set another precedent recently by scoring 15 Tony nominations, including two for Lane and Broderick - both previous Tony winners - who will duke it out in the category of best leading actor in a musical. General consensus has it that either Lane's portrayal of the gloriously slimy impresario Max Bialystock or Broderick's portrait of the hilariously nerdy accountant-turned-producer Leo Bloom will earn one of a stack of statuettes that The Producers is expected to collect.

The competing co-stars also will serve as co-hosts of the ceremony, which airs this Sunday, from 8-9 p.m. ET/PT on PBS and from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. The gig will no doubt enable them to showcase the camaraderie they share even when out of character - a personal chemistry that's apparent in their unscripted dialogue during this pre-show supper.

Q: So when did you both realize that The Producers might turn out to be more than just another moderately well-received Broadway show?

Lane: I guess it was when we started previews in Chicago (in February). It was like a rock concert - I had never experienced anything like it. At first I thought, "Well, maybe these people are just diehard fans of the movie, and they're thrilled to be at the first preview." But the next night, it was the same thing.

Q: Have your lives been changed by all the hoopla?

Lane: No - we're still dead inside. And likely to remain so!

Broderick: We're always saying that backstage. Whenever something good happens concerning the show, one of us inevitably says, "I still feel nothing." It's part of what makes us so immensely appealing.

Lane: Because the show has become this national cultural phenomenon - which really has nothing to do with us - it's true that people who might have crossed the street if they saw you several months ago are now suddenly your best friends. But it's been a great ride. It's wonderful to walk out on stage knowing that people are looking forward to it so much - and that you have the material to back it up.

Q: The Producers is widely considered one of Mel Brooks' funniest films. Did you worry about whether you could live up to the fond memories of all those diehard movie fans?

Broderick: When we were starting, there was all sorts of fear about how good the movie is. But there was some stuff that worked in the movie that just didn't communicate on stage. I remember Mel saying in rehearsal, about two or three weeks in, "We have to make sure we think of this as a play."

Lane: There was about 50% new material in the play. The audiences helped tell us where we needed to cut things down, or to get a little crazier.

Q: It seems that everyone who has worked with Mel Brooks has funny stories about him. Tell me a funny story.

Lane: I ran into Mel at the pool at the Ritz (Hotel) in Paris. He was floating and talking, and he told me he was working on this project and suggested that I play Max. At that point, David Geffen, who had talked him into doing the show, was the sole producer. I said, "Just David Geffen?" And he said, "That's right. I just want one Jew I can take to a Chinese restaurant and talk with. I don't want 14 businessmen from Japan - just one Jew.' "

Q: A lot of people have noted how politically incorrect the humor in The Producers is - how it seems at once old-fashioned and daring, even liberating. Do you think that's a key element of the show's appeal?

Broderick: I remember seeing the movie once while at my mom's house. She hadn't seen it before, and when the Springtime for Hitler sequence came on, she laughed so hard, it was psychotic. There's just something about that Busby Berkeley Hitler pageant that can't lose.

Lane: I think (The Producers) is reminiscent to many people of a kind of show that doesn't happen much anymore, and it's created this excitement about theater you don't see much of these days. So everyone's trying to examine what the formula is.

Q: Speaking of which, what's the lamest line you've been fed by someone trying to get tickets?

Lane: That somebody is dying, and this is the person's last request. I've heard a lot of that. Or, "I've been out of work for a year, and the one thing I want to do is see your show." Sometimes you want to say, "Perhaps you should be saving your money for a therapist?"

Broderick: Or a transplant.

Q: The two of you seem to find each other highly amusing. Did you have a natural rapport on stage from the start?

Broderick: Yeah, it was really an easy thing. We enjoy each other's humor. Plus, we both give performances of riveting intensity.

Q: That bodes well for your upcoming stint co-hosting the Tony Awards, I presume?

Lane: Well, you know, it's not like hosting the Oscars, where every 10 minutes you have to introduce someone. We're really just opening the show on PBS and then the CBS portion. We'll be like the meet-and-greet guys at the airport. Hopefully, we'll be amusing for a few minutes, and then we're off.

Q: You're aware that one of you will probably win a Tony, right?

Lane: No, I think we'll cancel each other out.

Broderick: We won't cancel each other out. (Slouches meekly in his chair, ˆ la Leo Bloom, points at Lane, and silently mouths, "He'll win.")

Lane: (Blushing) No, no ... Look - whatever happens, we'll go up there together, all right?

Q: (To Broderick) Couldn't you always kill him afterward?

Broderick: (Brightening) Maybe I could kill him before.

Lane: Yeah - you could move Robert Blake out of the headlines.

Q: Um, one last question: You're both busy stage and screen actors. The Producers is clearly an amazing gig, but how long will you be able to stay with it?

Broderick: (We're both contracted) for a year after the first New York performance (on April 19). But it's such a fun job that I wouldn't be surprised to stay longer. Of course ... (looks at Lane) I don't know that I would want to, if my lover left ...

Lane: (After about 20 seconds of hysterical laughter) I think that after a year, we'd both want some kind of a rest. What I'd love is to be able to leave, but then come back. That would be ideal. I mean, I don't want to run away from a great part in a great show.

Broderick: Should I not have said that, about being your lover?

Lane: It's too late. The rumors have started.