AMERICAN MOSAIC #822 - Tony Awards/The Producers

By Nancy Steinbach

HOST:

On June third, the American Theater Wing presented its yearly Tony awards.The awards honor the best plays and performances on Broadway in New York City.

The musical play "The Producers" won twelve Tony awards. That is the most Tony awards ever awarded to one show. They included awards for best musical show, best performance by an actor in a musical, best dancing and best directing. Steve Ember tells us about the show.

ANNCR:

"The Producers" was first presented as a movie in Nineteen-Sixty-Eight.It was written by Mel Brooks. He also wrote the stage show and its music.

"The Producers" is about two men, Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom.Max is an unsuccessful producer of Broadway shows. The shows are always bad and he loses money. Here the chorus sings about it.

((CUT 1: OPENING NIGHT))

Leo Bloom is an accountant. He records the profits and losses from Max's shows. But Leo really wants to be a producer of Broadway shows. He sings about it here.

((CUT 2: I WANNA BE A PRODUCER))

Max and Leo discover a way to gain lots of money. They plot to get money from investors for a new Broadway show. They want to produce a show that will be so bad that it will close immediately. Then they will keep all the investors' money. They decide to produce a show about Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. But the audience loves the show because they think it is very funny. Instead of a failure, the show is a huge success.

That is what is happening in real life, too. People love "The Producers" because it is extremely funny. In fact, all the tickets have been sold until next year.

We leave you now with the final song from the show, "The Producers."It is Mel Brooks' way of saying good-bye.

((CUT 3: GOOD-BYE))